Zao Woo-Ki

Zao Wou-Ki (Zao, from his surname, Wou-Ki or Wou-ki from his first namenote 3; simplified Chinese: 赵无极; traditional Chinese: 趙無極; pinyin: Zhào Wújí), born February 1, 1920note 1 in Beijing, and died April 9, 2013 (aged 93) in Nyon, was a Chinese painter and engraver naturalized French in 1964.

In the 1950s, he was associated with the New School of Paris, then with lyrical abstraction, before becoming, as defined by Claude Roy:His work is vast. It includes the realistic paintings of his early years, which are mainly portraits, a few still lifes and landscapes (1935-1949), as well as large-format oil paintings inspired by Paul Klee, which tend towards abstraction from the 1950s, then lyrical abstraction in the 1960s, Chinese inks and calligraphy.

Appreciated in the West, as a friend of Pierre Soulages, Joan Miró and Henri Michaux, he gained recognition in his own country in 1983. At that time, he was welcomed in Beijing, where his works were exhibited at the National Museum of China.