４月９日に瑞西の病院にて、画家の趙無極（Zao Wou-ki）氏*1が亡くなっている。合掌！
Reutersの記事；
美術史で言えば、ピエール・スーラージュやアンリ・ミショーとの関係が問われなければならないのだろう。北米の抽象表現主義と同時並行的に仏蘭西で展開されたアンフォルメルの中心的人物であり、その抽象画はありえないノスタルジーを感じさせるものだった。ところで、趙無極とほぼ同世代で仏蘭西に留学したアーティストとしてはほかに、朱徳群と呉冠中がいるが*2、その中で生き残っているのは朱徳群だけか。因みに、趙無極の作品を多く所蔵している美術館の一つに東京のブリヂストン美術館*3である*4。
Chinese abstract painter Zao Wou-ki dies aged 93
ZURICH | Wed Apr 10, 2013 1:22pm EDT
(Reuters) - Abstract master Zao Wou-ki, one of China's most significant artists whose works routinely fetch millions of dollars at auction, has died in Switzerland aged 93.
Zao, who suffered from Alzheimer's, died on Tuesday and had been in hospital for 10 days in the western Swiss town of Nyon, his widow's lawyer Marc Bonnant told Reuters.
Born in Beijing, Zao moved to Paris in 1948 before the Communist takeover of his country. In Europe, he was inspired by artists like Paul Klee, Alberto Giacometti and Joan Miro and had his first solo exhibition in New York in 1959.
He became a French citizen in 1964 and only returned to China for the first time since leaving in 1972.
Zao's son from a previous marriage, Jialing Zhao, had fought a legal battle with his third wife Francoise Marquet over guardianship of the artist since the couple moved to Switzerland in 2011, Bonnant said.
Renowned for combining Chinese and European influences, his paintings -- like "10.1.68" and "Hommage a Tou-Fou" -- have sold for millions of dollars at auction in recent years.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius expressed sadness at the passing of a "great artist".
"He mixed Western influences with his Chinese identity to give his work a universal scope," Fabius said in a statement. "With him, we are losing an emblematic figure of lyrical abstraction whose work made an outstanding contribution."
Soaring Chinese demand has driven prices for expensive art and luxury goods in recent years although that trend has cooled along with the pace of growth of China's economy.
(Reporting by Emma Thomasson, additional reporting by John Irish and Chine Labbe in Paris, editing by Paul Casciato)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/10/entertainment-us-art-zaowouki-death-idUSBRE9390KH20130410
See also
AFP “Le peintre Zao Wou-Ki est mort” http://next.liberation.fr/arts/2013/04/09/le-peintre-zao-wou-ki-est-mort_894931
Philippe Dagen “Zao Wou-ki, la puissance du geste” http://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2013/04/09/le-peintre-franco-chinois-zao-wou-ki-est-mort_3156919_3246.html
“Mort le 9 avril 2013 du célèbre et magnifique peintre Zao Wou Ki” http://www.artemedia.fr/breves/mort-le-9-avril-2013-du-celebre-et-magnifique-peintre-zao-wou-ki/ *5
徐佳和「他的絵画把東西調和在了一起、成為西方現代叙情抽象派的代表」『東方早報』2013年４月11日
葛熔金、金暁依「美院人憶趙無極絵画講習班 趙無極：抽象画不是乱涂、絵画要呼吸」『東方早報』2013年４月11日
葛熔金「回国見恩師長跪不起」『東方早報』2013年４月11日
*1:See eg. http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zao_Wou-Ki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zao_Wou_Ki_%28Zhao_Wuji%29 http://www.asianart.com/exhibitions/zao/index.html Mentioned in http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20060409/1144599467 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20060913/1158149645 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20110518/1305732275
*2:呉冠中だけが母国に帰るという途を選んだ。
*3:http://www.bridgestone-museum.gr.jp/
*4:「東京都内でブリジストン美術館が最も好きな理由の５割くらいは、ザオ・ウーキーの絵があるからだ」という人もいる((http://d.hatena.ne.jp/falken1880/20121123
*5:Aurélie Filippettiによるコメントの引用あり。
