Past Exhibition  19.06.24

1/ Museum of Modern Art, Paris, France

The permanent collections of the Musée d’art moderne de Paris still present one of the paintings from Françoise Marquet-Zao’s donation exhibited last year: the large oil painting entitled 01.10.73 (260 x 200 cm). In the Salle Langlois-Meurine, it is shown alongside two works by the artist’s close friends: Hans Hartung’s painting T 1946-16 (oil on canvas dated 1946 bequeathed by Doctor Maurice Girardin in 1953) and Maria Helena Vieira da Silva’s Propositions contestées (oil on canvas dated 1966, purchased by the museum in 1968). 

The other walls of the room show works by abstract artists who have chosen to practice their art in Paris such as Vera Pagava (1907-1988), Anna-Eva Bergman (1909-1987) and the sculptor Isabelle Waldberg (1911-1990), or other abstract artists such as Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) and Jean Degottex (1918-1988).

The works of Hans Hartung, Zao Wou-Ki and Maria-Helena Vieira da Silva in the Abstractions room at the Musée d’art moderne de Paris. Photo Y.H. All rights reserved.

2/ Hirshhorn Museum & Garden, Washington DC, USA

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of its opening, the Hirshhorn Museum & Garden in Washington (DC) has redeployed its very rich permanent collections in an exhibition entitled “Revolutions. Art from the Hirshhorn Collection. 1860-1960”, to be seen from March 22nd  2024 to April 20th  2025. This exhibition presents 208 works by 117 artists, as well as counterpoints by 19 contemporary artists.

This exhibition is an opportunity to discover one of the richest collections of post-war American and European art, including, among others Francis Bacon, Alexander Calder, Helen Frankenthaler, Arshile Gorky, Hans Hofmann, Jasper Johns, Willem de Kooning, Wifredo Lam, Morris Louis, Joan Mitchell, Joan Miró, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, Rufino Tamayo.

Zao Wou-Ki’s painting dated 1958, purchased by Josph H. Hirshhorn in 1959 at the Kootz Gallery and donated to the museum in 1966, is exhibited between Delaware Gap painted in 1958 by Franz Kline and Covenant, painted in 1949 by Barnett Newman.

Link to the exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum    

Zao Wou-Ki. Untitled, 1958, oil on canvas, 162 x 130 cm (inv. 66.5652). Photo Alex Jamison, courtesy Hirshhorn Museum

3/ West Bund Museum, Shanghai, China

The Centre Pompidou and the West Bund Museum in Shanghai continue their fruitful collaboration with the third exhibition dedicated to the Centre’s collections, entitled “Mirrors of the Portrait. Highlights of the Centre Pompidou collection” visible until November 5th 2024 in galleries 1 and 2. 

The section «Homages» shows works created to pay tribute to great figures of painting or relatives of artists, in both cases persons to whom they wished to pay tribute. Francis Bacon pays tribute to Vincent Van Gogh, René Magritte to the painter Jacques-Louis David and Zao Wou-Ki to his second wife May.

Tribute room with the painting  En mémoire de May (In Memory of May) – 10.09.72 (200 x 527.5 cm) by Zao Wou-Ki. West Bund Museum, Photo Alessandro Wang. All rights reserved

4/ Fubon Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

The Fubon Art Foundation, created in 1997 by Tsai Yang Hsiang-Shun and Maggie Ueng, has just inaugurated the Fubon Art Museum in Taipei, in a building signed by Renzo Piano. The two opening exhibitions set the tone for this new venue, a centre for modern and contemporary art. The first one, “True Nature: Rodin and the Age of Impressionism”, curated by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from their collections, focuses on a rich artistic period around the figure of Auguste Rodin.

The second exhibition “In touch. Collection of Fubon”, from May 4th to August 5th 2024, highlights the works of the Fubon Collection, including three paintings by Zao Wou-Ki: 25.04.88, 10.03.83 – Diptyque and Et la terre était sans forme dated 1957.

View of the exhibition “In touch. Collection of Fubon” at the Fubon Art Museum. All rights reserved/ Fubon Art Museum

5/ Musée de l’Hospice Saint-Roch, Issoudun, France

The musée de l’Hospice Saint-Roch honors the painter and writer Henri Michaux (1899-1984), forty years after his death, through the exhibition of fifty works from the museum’s collections. Until December 29th 2024.

These works, from purchases by the museum or donations (works from the Pons studio, personal collection of Cécile Reims and Fred Deux), allow to follow the evolution of the creations of this close friend of Zao Wou-Ki, met in 1949.

Their friendship will last until Michaux’s death in 1984. The presentation of the illustrated books they created together evokes this strong link: Lecture par Henri Michaux de huit lithographies de Zao Wou-Ki in 1950 and Annonciation and Moments, posthumous book published in 1996. 

The exhibition also presents the works of Zao Wou-Ki’s personal collection, donated by his wife Françoise Marquet to the Musée de l’Hospice Saint-Roch in 2015, with ten works by Michaux from 1948 to 1980-1981. The companionship of a lifetime.

View of the Henri Michaux exhibition at the Musée de l’Hospice Saint-Roch, with the works of Zao Wou-Ki’s personal collection and in the showcase the illustrated books. All rights reserved/ MHSR

6/ La Métisse d’Argile, Saint-Hippolyte, France

The new exhibition at La Métisse d’Argile is dedicated to the prints of Zao Wou-Ki. A set of thirty prints from 1962 to 2008 retrace the path of Zao Wou-Ki and the different techniques used such as lithography or etching and aquatint.

This exhibition from June 15th to September 15th 2024 makes it possible to make his works accessible outside major museums and to reach a curious and enthusiastic public.

7/ M +, Hong Kong, China

The M+ dedicates to the Sino-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei (1917-2019) its new major exhibition “I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture”, from June 29th 2024 to January 5th 2025. 

The works of one of the great architects of the 20th Century are presented for the first time in their entirety and on such a scale, by browsing his iconic creations such as the east wing of the National Gallery of Art in Washington (D.C.), the Grand Louvre in Paris and its famous pyramid, the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong and the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha.

I.M. Pei and Zao Wou-Ki met in Paris in 1951 and developed an almost fraternal friendship. Zao Wou-Ki will be a great support during the controversy around the Grand Louvre and I.M. Pei will repeatedly solicit his friend painter by ordering works for some of his achievements: Fragrant Hills Hotel near Shanghai around 1980, the Raffles City complex in Singapore in 1985 and the headquarters of the Bank of China in Shanghai (which was finally not completed).

One of the prototypes made by Zao Wou-Ki in 1979 for one of the two great inks for Fragrant Hills Hotel is thus presented in the exhibition. Measuring 99.5 x 91.5 cm, it allowed the artist and the architect to validate the creation of two large painted panels (280 x 360 cm) made in 1982 for the large reception hall where they still are.

Prototype for Fragrant Hills Hotel, 1979, ink on paper, 99.5 x 91.5 cm, private collection. © Zao Wou-Ki. All rights reserved