GAO XINGJIAN (b.1940) La Mémoire Lointaine, 2009GAO XINGJIAN (b.1940)La Mémoire Lointaine, 2009Ink on paper, signed at the bottom left corner, framed. 145cm high x 144.5cm wide (57in high x 56 3/4in wide).高行健（1940年生） 遙遠的記憶 水墨紙本 鏡框 2009年作Published, Illustrated and Exhibited: Michael Goedhuis, The Ink Art of China, London, 2015, pp.56-57. 展覽著錄：Michael Goedhuis著, 《水墨中國》，倫敦，2015年，第56-57頁。Born in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, in 1940, Gao Xingjian is best known for being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2000. Gao is a reminder of the close connection between painting and writing in Chinese culture and encapsulates the ideal of the well-rounded literati scholar. Indeed, his style can be characterised as 'writing/sketching the idea' (literally, xieyi 寫意), which allows him to create subtle, intuitive works that move between figurative and abstract art.Interested in literature and for a time a student of painting while young, in 1962 he received a degree in French from the Beijing Language Institute. During the 1960s and the 1970s, Gao worked in the capital as a translator while writing novels and painting, and during the Cultural Revolution he was sent to the countryside for re-education, at which time he burned some of his manuscripts. In the 1980s, he published experimental literary works as well as nonfiction, but after one of his plays was banned in 1986, Gao retreated to nature to avoid any further exposure to controversy. In 1986 Gao was misdiagnosed with lung cancer, and began a 10-month long trek along the Yangzi river, which resulted in his novel Soul Mountain (靈山). In 1987, Gao Xingjian left China for Paris, and was granted French citizenship in 1997. In 1992 he was awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.The expressive paintings that spring from Gao's introspection are characterised by a spontaneity of touch, and their ink tones that range from subtle greys to jet blacks can either swallow or emit light.Gao Xingjian's paintings are in numerous prestigious collections globally, including the Musée Guimet, Paris; the Nobel Foundation, Sweden; the Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Singapore Art Museum; Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan; and The Chinese University of Hong Kong.