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An old Chinese saying goes, "Above there is heaven, and below there are Suzhou and Hangzhou." Indeed, in areas south of Jiangsu province, Hangzhou was the favorite haunt of scholars and literati wanting to relax or looking to be inspired by beautiful vistas since ancient times. And since the Song Dynasty, the West Lake has epitomized Hangzhou's picturesque appeal, with common references to the ten, eighteen, or even as many as twenty-four renowned "scenic spots of the West Lake". All this bears testimony to the West Lake's prominent place in the Chinese imagination, as do Su Dongpo's famous lines,

"Rippling waters shimmering dazzlingly bright on a sunny day,

Or misty hills rising hazily in a shroud of rain:

Like the celebrated beauty Xishi,

West Lake always looks wonderful,

Whether made up lightly or richly adorned."

When Zao Wou-ki entered the Hangzhou National College of Art at the age of fourteen, the school's dorm was still situated near the West Lake, and during his six years as a student there, he spent much time reveling in the exquisite scenery. Looking back later in life, the West Lake came to symbolize all the joy and wonder of his youth. In his autobiography, Zao reminisces,

"This was a place where all the Chinese poets gathered to recite their works. As a teenager, I would come here every day, walking along the banks of the lake without ever getting tired, enraptured by the spectacle of nature changing constantly according to the time of day and with the changing of the seasons. I was fascinated by the diversity of the space on the surface of the water, by the weightlessness of the light and by how thin it seemed to be between the lake and the sky. I would spend hours watching the effect of the wind on the calm waters, the breezes that disturbed the leaves of the birch and maple trees. My vision of this world did not encompass any ornate bridges (although they certainly existed) or bamboo leaves fluttering down onto the surface of the clear water; what I wanted to see was the space, the way it stretched and contorted itself, and the infinite complexity of the blue in the tiny reflection of a leaf on the water." ("C'est un lieu où tous les poètes chinois sont venus se recueillir. Chaque jour de mon adolescence, j'en ai parcouru des miliers de fois les rives à pied, sans jamais me laser, absorbé par le spectacle d'une nature perpétuellement changeante selon les heures de la journée et l'alternance des saisons. J'étais fasciné par la multiplicité de l'espace à la surface de l'eau, la légèreté de la lumière ou son épaisseur entre le lac et le ciel. J'ai guetté pendant des heures le passage de l'air sur le came de l'eau, le soufflé du vent qui agite les feuilles des bouleaux et des érables. Il n'y avait, dans ma vision de cet univers, ni pont tarabiscoté, bien qu'il existât, ni feuilles de bambous se détachant nettement sur un fond clair. Ce que je cherchais à voir c'était l'espace, ses étirements et ses contorsions, et l'infinie complexité d'un bleu dans le minuscule reflet d'une feuille sur l'eau.") (Zao Wou-ki & Françoise Marquet, Zao Wou-ki Autoportrait, éditions Fayard, Paris, 1988 p. 26)

As a Chinese master of abstract painting, for Zao the West Lake, both in physical reality and as an almost iconic image of his native culture, represents the highest aesthetic and philosophical spheres, as they are encapsulated in the lines, "Translucent waves are lapping against the length of the shore, all the way to the distance where sky and water merge." Here we find unmistakable echoes of the Eastern view that "man, heaven, and earth are one," a concept so deeply rooted in the artist's mind that even after having lived in France for many long years, it still very much affected his creative process. Zao paints as a way of expressing his innermost emotions and aspirations, but the lofty idealism is always mixed and tempered with the more mundane experiences of his everyday life.

Completed in the summer of 1983, "1.8.83" is an oil painting emanating subtle refinement. The background is kept in shades of white, applied with a dry brush and gradually segueing into soft shades of muted hyacinth and lilac. Light and shadow are interwoven in elusive patterns that serve to bring out the layered dapples of brown in the foreground. The whole composition is a dialogue between void and existence, an abstract panorama of remotely glimpsed soulscapes. The meticulously designed interplay of color and form invites the viewer to lose himself in the painting's atmosphere, and mentally float above the sublimated West Lake imagery, intimated by rhythmic lines and gently trembling hues: gardens, towns, little bridges and flowing water, green willows and shore promenades…

Memories are larger than life, yet at the same time vague and mysterious. They may seem shadowy and insubstantial, but they are also the stuff of which the ideal worlds in the artist's imagination are largely assembled. The Taoist philosophy states that at the heart of the cosmos lies emptiness, a notion reflected in the often ethereal nature of traditional Chinese landscape painting. Zao was unique in his ability to blend that distinctively Oriental sense of space with the Western approach to light and color, perfecting his art during the 1980s, when he completely abandoned all representational elements and focused entirely on abstract visions—this gave him even more creative freedom, and allowed his spirit to roam the boundless realms of pure intuition. During this period of his career, Zao Wou-ki frequently had his work shown at the Pierre Matisse Gallery, and established himself once and for all as one of the big names on the international art scene. This lot, "1.8.83," was among the works previously displayed at the Pierre Matisse Gallery, a wonderful gem that makes a worthy addition to any collection.