High Life

HIGH LIFE 43 时至1948年，赵无极偕妻子赵景兰离开中国。他们在马赛登陆后到达巴 黎，在位于第十四区绿磨坊街的某公寓安顿下来。他们与瑞士雕塑家阿尔伯 托·贾克梅蒂为邻，更结交了不少终身好友，如法籍俄裔画家尼古拉·德·斯塔 埃尔、美国画家兼版画家山姆·弗朗西斯、德法画家汉斯·哈同、法国画家兼艺 术理论家乔治·马修及法国画家兼雕塑家皮埃尔·苏拉吉等人。绿磨坊街是赵无 极在巴黎的第一个家，亦是本次画展的标题，展出上述艺术家们的作品，揭示赵 无极早年在巴黎的生涯、二战后巴黎在艺术领域的时代精神以及他与亲朋好友之 间的艺术互动。 踏入二十一世纪，赵无极的巨作往往显得神圣不可侵犯，却令人忽略其生路 历程，以及凡人皆有的喜怒哀乐。赵无极的一生以艺术为主轴，艺术亦深受其人 生阅历影响。第一任妻子赵景兰于1957年离他而去后，赵无极在世界各地游历 了两年，并在美国参观了众多画廊和艺术馆——现代抽象艺术的大门，就此为 赵无极打开。1959年普遍被视为赵无极艺术生涯中的第一个分水岭，是为他在 1960年代衍变成抒情抽象画风之滥觞。与此同时，在法国文化部部长兼小说家 及艺术理论家安德烈·马尔罗的举荐下，赵无极于1964年归化成为法国公民， 幸免于故国接二连三出现的社会政治动荡。 Leaving China for France in 1948, Zao and his first wife Lalan settled at an address on Rue du Moulin-Vert in Paris’ 14th arrondissement. Their abode was close to Alberto Giacometti’s, and the couple were friends with Nicolas de Staël, Sam Francis, Hans Hartung, Georges Mathieu and Pierre Soulages. Named after Zao’s first address in Paris, the exhibition shed light on his early years in France and the artistic Zeitgeist of postwar Paris, as well as how the friends artistically inspired one another. Zao’s chefs-d’œuvre may appear sacrosanct in the 21st century, but the man was of flesh and blood; it would appear that his life journey informed his art more than the other way around. As his first marriage ended in divorce in 1957, he travelled extensively for two years, especially in the US. The experience opened the door of abstract art to Zao, with 1959 generally considered the watershed. Upon attaining French citizenship in 1964 on the recommendation of Minister of Culture André Malraux, himself a novelist and art theorist, the influence of lyrical abstraction on Zao deepened and persisted throughout the 1960s.