“Even with this thick brush,” he says, “you can still capture fineness.” It all comes together on the paper. It is impossible to amend: you can only add, but you cannot remove.’
- Zao Wou-Ki (Adapted from Bernard Noël, ‘Le Vide et l’Encre’ (‘Void and Ink’)

The following works presented in the current sale hail from a collection spanning nearly four decades, one which features a singular preoccupation on fine art created by the world’s most renowned Asian artists that resided and worked in postwar Europe. These pioneering artists, including Zao Wou-Ki, Chu Teh-Chun and T’ang Haywen, brought with them to Europe a multitude of Eastern traditions that were central to their thinking. With this background, they began to create bodies of work that paid homage to that past, even as they found new sources of inspiration in the present. The present collection showcases the expressiveness of the artists’ dexterity, achieving dramatic effects through the use of vivid colours, and further consolidates their significant roles in spearheading the modern Asian abstraction movement.

Phillips is thrilled to have the opportunity to offer a selection from this collection across our upcoming sales of 20th Century & Contemporary art in Hong Kong, a collection as unique in its personality and passion as the collector himself.