Zao Wou-Ki : Watercolors And Ceramics

Exhibition at Dixon Gallery & Gardens, Memphis, 30 April - 16 July 2023

Zao Wou-Ki (1920-2013) was the first artist from the Chinese diaspora to achieve international recognition. His lyrical watercolours and ceramic designs combine the dynamic energy of abstract expressionism with the formal qualities of traditional Chinese calligraphy.

Drawn largely from private European collections, the works in this exhibition catalogue have hardly ever been exhibited before and have remained deeply personal to the artist.

The ceramics consist of two main groups: plates produced in the late 1970s in association with Sèvres, based on designs created expressly for this purpose by the artist, and designs from the 2000s painted directly onto vases, bowls and plates that were subsequently published by the Maison Bernardaud in Limoges.

Zao worked in watercolour throughout his long life and this catalogue presents early examples dating from 1960. In his later years, the artist rediscovered the medium with new enthusiasm and turned more and more to nature as a source of inspiration. In 2008 he abandoned oil painting altogether and for the next two years watercolour was his main mode of expression.