Sans titre, 1989, eau-forte et aquatinte, 38,7 x 63 cm, Donation M+. Droits reservés
Events 25.03.24
Announcement of the donation by Françoise Marquet-Zao to the M+ in Hong Kong of a set of prints and illustrated books by Zao Wou-Ki
The first Hong Kong International Cultural Summit (March 24th – 26th) highlighted the extreme vitality of Hong Kong’s new West Kowloon district. The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority has signed cooperation agreements between the Hong Kong Palace Museum and the M+ Museum with, among others, the National Museum of Asian Arts – Guimet, the Picasso National Museum, the Pompidou Centre, the National Museum of the Castles of Versailles and Trianon, the Prado National Museum, the Qatar Museums, the Tate or the Tokyo National Museum.
Montagnes et oiseaux, 1951, lithograph, 45,5 x 33 cm, Donation M+. Reserved rights
Untitled, 1963, etching with aquatint, 49,5 x 43,2 cm, Donation M+. Reserved rights
The official opening of the Summit has also offered an opportunity to Henry Tang, Chairman of the Board of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority to publicly announce the donation by Françoise Marquet-Zao to the M+ Museum in Hong Kong of a significant set of prints and illustrated books by Zao Wou-Ki.
Untitled, 1974, etching with aquatint, 43,5 x 61,5 cm, Donation M+. Reserved rights
Untitled, 1995, lithograph, 48,6 x 64 cm, Donation M+. Reserved rights
This set covers the whole career of the artist, from 1949 to 2000, when he decided to stop making prints himself. With more than 230 prints, it highlights the full range of techniques of prints he practiced : lithography, dry point, etching and aquatint, screen printing. The donation also includes copper plates for engravings, intermediate states of prints and plates of decomposition, in order to capture the complexity of the techniques implemented.
Untitled, 1981, etching with aquatint, 49,6 x 39,4 cm. Intermediate states, copper plate and final state. Donation M+. Reserved rights
The twenty-seven illustrated books of the donation, including 160 additional prints, evidence the links that Zao Wou-Ki maintained with writers and poets and the importance he gave to the link between text and poetry. We find both great names of literature – André Malraux, Ezra Pound, Leopold Sédar Senghor – and close friends – René Char, Philippe Jaccottet, Henri Michaux, Dominique de Villepin, Bernard Noël.