Publication of “Zao Wou-ki’s Self-Portrait”

In the late autumn of 1989, the manuscript of “Zao Wou-ki’s Self-portrait” was completed. I first tried to bring the manuscript to France to ask Zao Wou-ki to proofread it personally, but none of the teachers from the art academy who were going to France for further studies were willing to do so, preferring not to be too ambitious. Finally, Zao Wou-ki wrote to me that he trusted me and it would be fine to publish it directly. However, publishing such a pure art book in China was indeed difficult. Even a biographical portrait of a celebrity like Picasso took 10 years to publish, let alone Zao Wou-ki’s abstract art! Both Shanghai and Hangzhou were not suitable, but fortunately, my old classmate Professor Chen Weikun and Liaoning Fine Arts Publishing House were planning to publish “Album of Chinese and Overseas Chinese Artists,” and so I obtained the consent of Liaoning Fine Arts Publishing House. But later, the publishing house was concerned that the book might not sell well and hoped to discuss with Mr. Zao about giving up the copyright. So I wrote to Zao Wou-ki and he agreed in his reply. This process dragged on until 1993 when the publishing house finally agreed to print it. However, fearing that it might not sell well, the print run was only 960 copies (Fig. 48.1).