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Zao Wou-Ki

Zao Wou-ki was born on February 13th 1921 in Beijing into an educated family.   He is one of the most famous artists of lyrical abstraction and considered one of the most successful Chinese painters alive. After passing his Fine Art diploma in Hanghzou, he decided  the age of 27 to leave for France. In 1948, he arrived in Paris and settled in Montparnasse. He attended classes at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and made friends with Sam Francis, Alberto Giacometti, Pierre Soulages , Hans Hartung. His first solo exhibition in Paris was in 1949. From then on, his fame never stopped growing and group and solo exhibitions followed all over the world : Galerie de France in Paris, Kootz Gallery in New York, Perls Gallery in Los Angeles, Pierre Matisse in New York… In 1976, an exhibition at the Centre Pompidou, in 1981,a solo exhibition at the Grand Palais  and in 2003, Zao Wou-Ki had a restropective at the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume in Paris. In 2002, Zao Wou-Ki is elected a Member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts of the Institut de France. The Raymond Dreyfus Gallery has organized four exhibitions of his work in 1997, 1999, 2001 and in 2005 at the art fair “Art Paris”. The Gallery displays paintings, inks, watercolours , lithographies and etchings.