HONG KONG.- Christie’s announced Zao Wou-ki’s 29.09.64. (estimate: HK$220,000,000 – 280,000,000/ US$29,000,000 – 36,000,000), the largest and the most important canvas of the artist’s “Hurricane Period” in the 1960s still in private hands today, which will lead the 20th and 21st Century Art Evening Sale on 26 May, at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Francis Belin, President, Christie’s Asia Pacific, remarked, “Leading our Hong Kong Spring Auctions, 29.09.64. represents Christie’s leading role in presenting masterpieces by Asian artists from different eras to art connoisseurs globally. Building upon the collaboration between our international specialist teams, 29.09.64. will continue our long history of establishing world auction records for prominent Asian artists, and will attract the attention of global collectors on the evening of 26 May through our wide livestreaming and social media platforms.”

Eric Chang, Chairman, 20th and 21st Century Art Department, Christie’s Asia Pacific, commented, “In spite of current economic volatility, masterpieces by iconic Eastern and Western artists have established remarkable prices in recent years and continue to do so, reflecting the sustained demand for best-in-class artworks in the market. It is our ultimate honour to have been entrusted with the sale of the seminal 29.09.64."

29.09.64. – A masterpiece that launches a new era of Zao Wou-Ki’s artistic oeuvre in the 1960s:

The pinnacle of Zao’s “Hurricane Period” in 1964: The 1960s is universally recognised as a new phase of Zao’s artistic achievement, which brilliantly translates in 29.09.64. Zao integrated his Chinese classical cursive writing approach into landscape and calligraphy, marrying these elements with Western abstract artistic explorations. 29.09.64. forges a new path for Asian Modern art, and is praised as a monumental milestone in art history.

Exceptional provenance: Mr. M, the previous owner's father who originally purchased the work directly from the artist, was a successful French architect and engineer who saw flourishing professional activity during France’s most opulent post-war years, commonly referred to as “The Glorious Thirty” spanning from 1945 to 1975. A period of intense modernisation and industrialisation brought the architect to conceive hospitals, various scientific research centres, and administration buildings throughout France and also in Algeria, still a French colony at the time. Technological progress and scientific discoveries, in which Mr M. played a crucial role, strongly influenced the development of a new modernist aesthetic in architecture, art, and design.