A work by artist Phan Ke An. Photo: Le Auction House
This is also an activity to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Indochina College of Fine Arts, now the Vietnam University of Fine Arts.
Le Auction House’s “20th Century Vietnamese Art” auction brings together more than 200 diverse works by master artists, covering a unique period of modern Vietnamese Fine Arts; as well as works by contemporary French artists such as: Victor Tardieu, Alix Aymé, André Maire, Jules Galand, Maurice Menardeau...
Specifically, from the end of the 19th century, the French expedition to the East paved the way for the travels of painters, explorers, photographers, and writers with the aim of spreading information about the colonies. Particularly, the painters who came to Vietnam not only explored the culture and civilization of the colonies to spread in France, but also left important contributions in teaching art. We can mention the names of famous painters such as Victor Tardieu, Joseph Inguimberty, Alix Aymé, André Maire or Evariste Jonchère...
Coming to Vietnam within the framework of the Indochina Prize program, Victor Tardieu was the person that the famous painter Tran Van Can later mentioned that without his personal role, Vietnamese painting would have followed a different path. In 1924, with Victor Tardieu's submission to Governor General Martial Merlin about the urgent need to open an art school in Hanoi , the Indochina College of Fine Arts (L'école des Beaux Arts de l'Indochine) was officially established and began enrolling students for the first class of 1925.
The birth of the school pushed Vietnamese visual arts at that time out of the period of anonymity and trained generations of professional artists. For the first time, there were no longer “painters”, “masons”, “drawers”, but painters, sculptors, and artists. From here, a series of generations of painters shaping the country’s fine arts associated with national character and 20th century Vietnamese fine arts were recognized such as: Le Pho - Mai Trung Thu - Le Thi Luu - Vu Cao Dam, Nguyen Gia Tri - Nguyen Tuong Lan - To Ngoc Van - Tran Van Can, Nguyen Tu Nghiem - Duong Bich Lien - Nguyen Sang and Bui Xuan Phai.
The Quartet Pho - Thu - Luu - Dam are four students who inherited theeducation of the Indochina Fine Arts School and migrated to France, creating a glorious quartet of Vietnamese painting in Europe. These are all names that have created for themselves not only their own artistic mark but also the excitement in the public trading market both domestically and internationally in recent years. In the list introduced by the Auction House, there are works on the theme of Vietnamese women such as: "Young girl with flowers" by Le Pho, "Young girl" by Mai Trung Thu, "Portrait of a girl" by Le Thi Luu, "Motherly love" and excerpts from "The Tale of Kieu" by Vu Cao Dam and many other works.
At the upcoming auction, there will be on display works by four great painters who have made many typical contributions to Vietnamese fine arts: Tri - Lan - Van - Can.
Nguyen Gia Tri, with the desire to serve lacquer, together with a number of other painters, developed this indigenous material to its peak (1938-1944), pioneering the elevation of lacquer from a material for producing handicrafts to a creative material with high artistic value. Nguyen Tuong Lan was a painter who was able to put pure colors into his paintings while still maintaining a beautiful, elegant and refined overall look. To Ngoc Van and Tran Van Can were talented oil painters, who held the position of principal of the Vietnam Fine Arts University and were dedicated to building a Vietnamese painting with national characteristics in the spirit of still absorbing the beauty of Western painting.
The next special quartet of painters are Nghiem - Lien - Sang - Phai. Each person has their own direction and has made significant contributions to building the Vietnamese art landscape in the second half of the 20th century. Among them is a Nguyen Tu Nghiem who is absorbed in "searching for the nation and seeing in the nation humanity and modernity", a Duong Bich Lien who is sensitive and wandering with portraits of young women, a Nguyen Sang who is passionately dedicating works full of spirit about revolution and nation building, and a Bui Xuan Phai who has hidden the nostalgic memories of many people in the colors and drawings of Hanoi streets.
After the Indochina College of Fine Arts in Hanoi closed in 1945 due to the Japanese coup against the French, a course called the Resistance Course was established and led by principal To Ngoc Van. The Resistance College of Fine Arts recruited a total of two batches in January 1950 and August 1950. Including special cases, this course had 22 students, of which four later formed the outstanding quartet that matured from the Resistance Course: Luu Cong Nhan, Le Huy Hoa, Tran Luu Hau, and Nguyen Trong Kiem.
In the auction, paintings of landscapes and young women from this quartet, along with some other faces of the Resistance Course such as Mai Long, Linh Chi, Tran Dong Luong, etc., are also listed in the catalog. They are many distinct personalities who all matured during the Resistance Course and devoted themselves to the development of modern fine arts in our country.
In particular, the 20th Century Vietnamese Art auction also features works by sculptor Diem Phung Thi, painters Le Ba Dang, Le Van Xuong, Nguyen Huyen, Tu Duyen, Nguyen Quang Mau, Tran Ha, Dinh Minh, Pham Dang Tri, and some works by contemporary painters emerging after the Doi Moi period such as Dang Xuan Hoa, Pham An Hai, Bui Huu Hung and many other prominent painters.
In addition, works by other talented artists who studied at the Indochina College of Fine Arts such as Nguyen Van Ty, Ton That Dao, Do Dinh Hiep, Pham Van Don, Tran Van Tho, Tran Duy, Jean Vo Lang, and Nguyen Nhu Huan were also introduced by the auction house in the auction.
To have a collection of original works, Le Auction House has had to work hard to collect from domestic and international markets, many paintings were auctioned to bring Vietnamese fine arts back to domestic collectors. Therefore, the auction was organized towards transparency and public disclosure of information about the works, commitment to the origin and quality, ensuring the rights of collectors and sponsors before the auction. In addition, Le Auction House also organized exhibitions to facilitate collectors to see the paintings directly.
Developing art towards international standards, Le Auction House is expected to become a Vietnamese auction house with enough stature, prestige, and potential for future development, a partner of many famous auction houses in the world such as The Sotheby's, Christie's or Phillips and have many auction and art exhibition activities in the future.
Le Auction House representative said that the Auction House aims to develop art towards international standards, and wishes to become a Vietnamese auction house with enough stature, prestige, and potential for future development, to be a partner of many famous auction houses in the world such as The Sotheby's, Christie's or Phillips and to have many auction and art exhibition activities in the future.
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