The Chinese-French painter Zao Wou-Ki (1920-2013) developed a distinctive abstract style blending the visual poetry of Chinese painting and calligraphy with European pictorial traditions. This stunning volume presents a richly woven narrative of the artist's life and work. Reintroducing Zao's work to a North American audience, the authors make a substantial contribution to scholarship on transnational art movements in the 20th and 21st centuries. Their essays consider the reception of Zao's work in the United States; his engagement with post-war abstraction; and his exploration of various artistic media. Zao Wou-Ki lived and worked at the intersection of two cultures. He blended Chinese calligraphic and ink painting aesthetics with European printmaking and abstract oil painting, becoming one of the earliest trans-cultural painters of the 20th century. His legacy reverberates in the global success of Chinese artists today.

Distributed for the Colby College Museum of Art and the Asia Society Museum