• LOCATION

    Phillips Hong Kong
    G/F, WKCDA Tower
    West Kowloon Cultural District No. 8 Austin Road West
    Hong Kong (map)

  • VIEWING

    6 – 17 March 2026
    Monday – Friday 11:00AM - 7:00PM
    (Closed 18 & 19 March)
    20 – 29 March 2026
    Monday – Sunday 11:00AM - 7:00PM

  • CONTACT

    Ally Cheung
    Associate Specialist,
    Private Sales and Modern & Contemporary Art
    AllyCheung@phillips.com

Exhibition Highlights

Zao Wou-Ki: Infinite Dialogues presents a rare opportunity to encounter Zao’s oeuvre in dialogue with works by artists with whom he shared profound affinities, including Hans Hartung, Georges Mathieu, Sam Francis, Jean-Paul Riopelle, and others. Featuring a remarkable selection of paintings, works on paper, sculptures, and prints spanning more than six decades of creation, the exhibition highlights the dynamic exchanges between East and West in the postwar era. Coinciding with Phillips’ West Kowloon neighbor M+’s Zao Wou-Ki: Master Printmaker, it extends a unique moment for audiences to rediscover the artist’s legacy in depth.

Portraits of Artists Jacques Germain, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, Zao Wou-Ki, Georges Mathieu, and Jean-Paul Riopelle with art dealer Pierre Loeb at Galerie Pierre, 2 rue des Beaux-Arts, Paris 6th arrondissement, 1953.

© Ministère de la Culture - Médiathèque du patrimoine et de la
photographie, Dist.GrandPalaisRmn / Denise Colomb



Zao Wou-Ki’s remarkable career was profoundly shaped by his years in Paris from the late 1940s onward, when he became immersed in a circle of artists whose ideas nurtured his reflections on painting and abstraction. In 1951, only three years after his arrival in Paris, Zao began exhibiting at the avant‑garde Galerie Pierre alongside leading abstract artists of the time, including Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, Georges Mathieu, Jacques Germain, and Jean‑Paul Riopelle—who would go on to become his lifelong friend. Friendships proved pivotal for his career: poet Henri Michaux introduced gallerist Pierre Loeb to Zao’s studio in the early 1950s, while Pierre Soulages later connected him with influential New York dealer Sam Kootz, who began representing Zao in 1957. These encounters formed a rich tapestry of artistic exchange, underscoring the networks that propelled his career and the dialogues between East and West that lie at the heart of this exhibition.

HANS HARTUNG, T1977-E33, 1971




At the center of the exhibition is Retour de pêche, a work created during a pivotal year in Zao’s career as he transitioned from still-life compositions toward abstraction. The present work depicts a sweeping oceanic vision where indigo light illuminates two-thirds of the canvas and vessels drift into the night. The sea is articulated through rare, linear brushwork that layers rippling waves into rhythmic order, recalling the Water Painting (Shui Tu) tradition of Song master Ma Yuan—whom Zao deeply admired—and lending the work a distinctive resonance within his early oeuvre. The piece occupies an especially important place in his artistic development, and its distinguished provenance further enhances its significance, having once belonged to New York collector Patti Birch, an early and ardent champion of Zao’s art.

ZAO WOU-KI, Retour de pêche, 1953

Another highlight is Les Attiseurs (The Guardian of The Flame), distinguished by its provenance as part of Myriam Prévot’s collection at Galerie de France, where Zao later forged a landmark three‑decade collaboration. Le Attiseurs is one of the first truly abstract works in Zao’s oeuvre where figurative elements in his previous compositions dissolve into abstract sign inspired by Chinese ancient ideograms.

ZAO WOU-KI, Les Attiseurs (The Guardian of The Flame), 1955

Jean‑Paul Riopelle’s Vol de Chute stands out as a fresh‑to‑market masterpiece, distinguished by its vibrant palette and exceptional impasto that exemplify the artist’s dynamic approach to abstraction. Exhibited extensively across major cities—including Montreal (1963), Toronto (1971), Vancouver (1973), and New York (2005)—the work carries a rich exhibition history that underscores its importance within Riopelle’s oeuvre. As a close friend of Zao Wou‑Ki, Canadian Riopelle shared the cross‑cultural dialogues that shaped postwar abstraction, making this canvas a compelling highlight of the exhibition.

 

JEAN-PAUL RIOPELLE, Vol de Chute,1961

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