Without a doubt, 1960 was a year of immense significance to Zao Wou-Ki’s life and artistic career. He had just returned to Paris from a world tour, during which he felt the impact of post-war American Abstract Expressionist art. It was also in this year that he met his second wife, May Kan. His encounter with a new artform and newly ignited passion together greatly energised Zao and inaugurated the most productive and consequential phase of his career. Earlier in what is known as the artist’s Oracle Bone Period, Zao excavated totemic symbols of an archaic past. In 1960 he entered the Hurricane Period, painting in an unrestrained manner to create capacious visions of a cosmic scale. Created in this very year, 09.02.60 (Lot 1017) is a superb example of Zao Wou-Ki’s new style, combining symbols resembling Oracle Bone and seal script characters with the energetically expressionistic brushwork of his Hurricane Period.09.02.60 originally belonged to Myriam Prévot, the director of Galerie de France and a crucial supporter of Zao Wou-Ki in the 1960s. After Zao’s first exhibition at Galerie de France in 1957, Prévot helped to organise many more exhibitions of his work in galleries and museums throughout France and Europe. In 1960, Prévot included 09.02.60 in Zao’s eponymous solo exhibition at Galerie de France and illustrated it in the accompanying catalogue, which was lavishly produced and featured an enthusiastic appreciation by Prévot herself.

09.02.60 reflects the expansive inner vision of Zao Wou-Ki following his world tour. It retains traces of the archaic Oracle Bone and seal scripts that were a feature of the series of paintings in stele form that Zao created in the 1950s, including Hommage à Chu- Yuan and Hommage à Tou-Fou, paeans to cultural heroes of classical China, and Stèle pour un ami (1956), dedicated to his old friend Zhuang Huayue. Like the stele paintings, 09.02.60 expresses a longing for the past and an aspiration toward t.mes lessness. At the same t.mes , here Zao Wou-Ki combines abstract expressionism with the cunfa, or texture strokes, of classical Chinese landscapes. The robust black lines cut through the centre of the composition, where they are transmuted into totemic symbols amidst an atmospheric golden glow. The freely expressive lines fuse into rich textures that vaguely evoke precipitous mountains shrouded in mist. Like a stream, a primal vitality issues gently from this abstract landscape, recalling the circulation of cosmic energies in Guo Xi’s monumental landscape Early Spring. By reforming the visuality of western oil painting with the techniques of traditional Chinese ink painting, Zao Wou-Ki forged a unique aesthetic, which he continued to develop in the 1970s, at once global and grounded in East Asian traditions.

An imaginary journey through cloud-piercing mountain peaks, 09.02.60 absorbs the viewer into the resonance and interconnectedness of all things in the universe. The painting forms an instructive comparison with 05.11.62 (Lot 1019), another work from Zao’s Hurricane Period. The latter composition confronts the viewer with unbridled passion, as if harnessing explosive cosmic energies. By contrast, 09.02.62 is introverted and solemn, delicately poised between stillness and motion. The two masterpieces of the Hurricane Period, both included in the Spring Auction, are perfect illustrations of the polarity that Zao Wou-Ki embodied as he reached the height of his career. Ambitiously and valiantly charting his own path through the international art world, Zao Wou-Ki retained the evocative subtlety and self-possessed gentility of traditional Chinese art.

1960年無疑是趙無極藝術和生活上相當重要之年份，當年正值趙無極完成環球旅行回歸巴黎之時，旅途中不但受到美國戰後抽象表現主義風格之激盪，還結識了第二任妻子美琴，炙熱的愛情與新藝術形式的碰撞，給予了藝術家源源不斷的創作動力，更加大膽地投入未來，開啟創作生涯的黃金年代。其作畫風格以此為分水嶺，從「甲骨文時期」追溯上古時代的神秘符號，走向了「狂草時期」更自由、更廣袤的無形宇宙中，同年誕生的《09.02.60》（拍品編號1017）即為此時期之珍稀佳例，畫面集結甲骨文金石篆刻之符號與狂草時期跌宕天地之筆觸。《09.02.60》最早源自巴黎法蘭西畫廊，畫廊主理人米雅安可謂趙無極六〇年代如日中天的繪畫事業之重要伯樂及幕後推手。自1957年第一次展出於法蘭西畫廊起，米雅安便開始為趙無極在當地以及歐洲眾多國家的畫廊、博物館連續舉辦展覽。1960年，本畫誕生之後即於巴黎法蘭西畫廊舉辦的第二次〈趙無極〉個展展出，並刊載於當年精裝出版的展覽畫冊中，米雅安更是在展覽畫冊中親自撰文表達對趙無極的賞識之情。

《09.02.60》呈現了趙無極遊歷世界所納得之廣袤視野與心境，畫面依稀可見甲骨文金石篆刻之上古痕跡，創作手法呼應藝術家五〇年代懷古望今、懷念友人所作的一系列碑石結構畫作，譬如致敬古代文豪的《向屈原致敬》、《向杜甫致敬》，以及1956年因紀念老友莊華嶽所創作的《致友碑》等，可見趙無極於本畫中將一方畫布比作古代碑碣，寄託深情，傳唱永恆。與此同時，他將西方抽象繪畫與中國畫中之「皴法」結合，強勁有力的墨色筆觸如刀鋒一般於畫面中央切割視線，進而幻化成神秘符號懸浮於淡金的主色調中；自由馳騁的線條構成豐富的肌理，磷峋山川從白霧繚繞中浮現，生命能動猶如涓涓溪流一般從山間溢出，令人遙想北宋山水名家郭熙《早春圖》中峰巒秀起、雲煙變換之跌宕景緻。趙無極運用傳統水墨技法重塑西方油彩之視覺呈現，這種獨特的美學視角在其七〇年代及之後的作品中得到進一步延續和發揚光大，為亞洲藝術的世界性發展鋪陳錦繡藍圖。

從觀者視角而言，觀畫猶如登高遠眺高聳如雲的綿延山脈，悠遊其間，情景交融之際傳達藝術家天人合一，萬物相生之宏大宇宙觀。若將本畫與同場呈獻的另一幅趙無極狂草時期作品《05.11.62》（拍品編號1019）並觀，《05.11.62》畫面激情澎湃、氣力萬鈞，宛如宇宙能量的碰撞，滿寫瞬間之動勢；本幅《09.02.60》則顯得內斂沉穩，高古之意徜徉其間，生命動勢含蓄且莊重。兩幅傑作一動一靜，同場亮相是次春拍，將引領藏家深刻體會藝術家步入六〇年代黃金年代最具代表性之藝術呈現及情感表達：在能量飽滿、雄心壯志地闖蕩國際藝壇之際，盡顯中國文化中純粹內斂、自信穩重的風範與氣度。