NAMIKI Emperor Zao Wou-Ki Limited Edition Fountain Pen 09/50 Michifumi Kawaguchi

Description

Namiki Emperor "Zao Wou Ki" Limited Edition 50 Fountain Pen
Ref. FFK-LP-ZAO-F-N
Maki-e Artist : Michifumi Kawaguchi
Design by : Zao Wou Ki
Limited Edition: 09/50.
Year 2002
18k - 750 Fine (F) Old Style #50 Nib
When Zao Wou-Ki learned to draw his first Chinese characters, his Taoist grand-father drew on the back of each of them the object signified by this character. Claiming his convinction that art requires a link with the concrete, Zao Wou-Ki explained : « I have thus ununderstood that calligraphy becomes artistic when it is alive, that is to say when it is capable to conveyan emotion to the person who is looking at it. »
A fascinating instrument that bridges the gap between fine pens and fine art.
As noted by Christophe Larquemin, “this pen
[…]
is a singular case in the modern Namiki collections.
It is exceptional in that the design was not created by a Japanese lacquer master but by a painter, the Chinese-born French artist Zao-Wu-Ki".
When Namiki asked Zao Wou-Ki, one of the greatest artists of our time to decorate a pen, the latter was both amused by the idea to exercise his talent on an unusual support and attracted by this new expression which gave him the opportunity to take part in the creation of a beautiful project.
Fine (F) 18 K gold #50 nib. The pen comes in unused and pristine condition (it has never been inked) and it is presented in a two-toned lacquer box with Outer box, display box, ink bottle, leather pen sleeve,
Zao Wou Ki
Certificate of Authenticity (09/50), papers, booklet. Full set configuration.
Provenance: Pen Sense LTD, 5 King Street, Nottingham, UK.
Born in Beijing, Zao Wou-Ki 趙無極  or 赵无极 (13 February 1920 – 9 April 2013) studied painting at the Ecole des Beaux Arts of Hangzhou before coming to Paris in 1948. His work is the symbol of the fusion of culture and artistic expressions between France and China.
The painter who has always had close ties with writers and poets (A.Malraux, Leopold Sedar Senghor, Claude Roy, Yves Bonnefoy and of course Henri Michaux who dedicated his "Jeux d'encre"... to him), has been especially inspired by this writing instrument, a reservoir of ink and thought that the English have poetically called "Fountain Pen", and that the Japanese when they discovered it, have called the "Brush of 10,000 years"
To decorate it, he has drawn from the sources of calligraphy, interpreting in his own style the ideograms finely engraved four thousand years ago on the chinese bronzes. The great artists who master the art of lacquer this modern version of the ancestral writing on each of the 50 numbered copies published by Namiki and which bear the name of "Zao Wou-Ki"
Namiki honours A lengendary 20th Century Contemporary Artist -- Zhao Wu-ji with a 50 pieces Born in 1920, his paintings graces buildings, public places and holds in high esteem among world's art collectors. Original paintings of the late Zao Wou Ki are selling today for millions of euros.
Apparently, the yellow striations on the roiro background came from his painting 1.4.66.
A few dates ...
1921
Zao Wou-Ki was born in Beijing on February 13th in an aristocratic family. At 14, he attends the Ecole des Beaux Arts of Hangzhou, regarded as the best in China . In 1947, he exhibits his work in Shanghai .
1948
He settles in Paris where he meets Henri Michaux, Pierre Loeb. He makes friends with the composer Edgar Varese, travels a lot in Europe and in the United States .
1962 He makes 10 lithographs to illustrate "The Temptation of the West" by Andre Malraux, the Minister of Culture who intercedes in his favour in order that he gets the French citizenship.
1972 He goes back to China after 24 years of absence.
1993
He is made Commander of the Legion of Honour by the president of the French Republic .
Presentation of
Zao Wou Ki work :
Exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris and at the National Library of Paris as well as in Japan (1976).
Many exhibitions in New York during the 80's.
Retrospective at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon (1992).
Retrospective at the Cultural Centre of Contemporary Art of Mexico (1994).
He is awarded the "Premium Imperiale Award of Painting" in 1994. The Emperor of Japan hands him over this honour in Tokyo .
Retrospective at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan and at the Museum of Art of Hong Kong (1996). Retrospective in Shanghai , Beijing , Canton (1998-1999). Retrospective at the IVAM in Valencia , Spain (2001).
French text:
NAMIKI Zao Wou-Ki, stylo plume série limitée sortie en 2002 à 50 exemplaires (n° 09). Sur la base de l'Empereur, en laque urushi noire avec un décor créé par l'artiste en couleur or. Plume or 18 carats moyenne, remplissage compte-gouttes. Dans son coffret laqué, avec papier et flacon d’encre
Bibliography:
Larquemin, Christophe.
The Four Seasons of Namiki
. Paris, 2009, pp.180, 181.
A Heritage of Maki-E pens. The Briggs Collection
(limited edition publication). Singapore, 2013, pp.2,3,195
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