Unknown facts about the most expensive painting in Vietnam

The auction record for Vietnamese paintings belongs to the painting "Portrait of Miss Phuong" by famous painter Mai Trung Thu, with a hammer price of 3.1 million USD (more than 72.7 billion VND). Talking about this painting, painter Le Thiet Cuong said that this painting was a work of homework by famous painter Mai Trung Thu.

Picture Mai Trung Thu's million USD

Artist Le Thiet Cuong introduces the book to the public Chat with painting in a set of 4 books on fine arts and painting Vietnam. Selected works from a series of articles about painting by the male artist published in newspapers and magazines from 2005 to present.

The book is over 500 pages thick, including 3 chapters with more than 70 articles on fine arts, pottery, sculpture, realistic painting, war propaganda, portrait paintings... Each article is printed with paintings by the artists mentioned in the article.

The book introduction ceremony of Talking with Painting by artist Le Thiet Cuong was held on June 3 in Hanoi .

At the book launch ceremony, artist Le Thiet Cuong expressed his joy that in the past 15 years, Vietnamese painting has had a niche market and many exhibitions. Auction at home and abroad. Also in these 15 years, the painting began to have Vietnamese visitors. However, he wanted to share frankly about the reasons why people praised the painting. Portrait of Ms. Phuong by Mai Trung Thu.

"This is a homework painting. He studied in the first class in 1925, and he painted this in 1930. This painting was his homework and has no unique features. The price of the painting is not only determined by its artistic value. This painting is sought after because it belongs to the Indochina painting genre and the fashion of collectors at that time. Later, he had his own path, combining graphics with the Dong Ho painting trend... This is Mai Trung Thu's own style," said painter Le Thiet Cuong.

The painting "Portrait of Miss Phuong" by famous painter Mai Trung Thu was hammered for 3.1 million USD (more than 72.7 billion VND).

He believes that it is no coincidence that in 1925, France opened the first course of College. Indochina Fine Arts in Hanoi. "The French saw that Vietnam had a tradition of painting, so they decided to establish the Indochina School of Fine Arts. Looking back at the works of modern Vietnamese painting, we can see that the most successful authors are those who combine tradition with modernity. A typical example is painter Nguyen Tu Nghiem," said painter Le Thiet Cuong.

Lost friends for writing criticism

The content of the book has many similarities to an art criticism book, however, artist Le Thiet Cuong is determined not to put the word "criticism" on the cover. He frankly shared the reason: "I don't dare", because criticism requires criticism.

"There were two times I wrote critical articles and lost two friends. The ability to listen to criticism of Vietnamese artists is very poor. Therefore, I no longer criticize. To me, friends are assets and I value friendship more. Right or wrong in a criticism is useless. To write criticism, the first thing is to be free of expectations and without thoughts," said artist Le Thiet Cuong.

At the book launch, the audience also got to admire 40 selected paintings of Vietnamese fine art from the Gallery39 collection.

Speaking more about current works of art criticism, he said that many works of art criticism are written in an essay style. The writers play with words, play around with them, and dance around those works of art. "Another case is writing a whole book of criticism but only writing about one person and especially praising them all. I think that is meaningless," said artist Le Thiet Cuong.

For him, when writing about a painting, one must focus on its form. The form of a painting includes shape, color, brushwork, materials, composition, etc. These are all the ingredients that make up a painting.

"When writing about a work, you must focus entirely on the form. These are the points for each individual to prove that he or she is different, creative, exploratory, and researched... The works I collect all exude that story. I do not buy paintings randomly. All the differences contribute to Vietnamese painting," said artist Le Thiet Cuong.

The book consists of three chapters: Chapter I of Chat with painting named Indochina Fine Arts and Resistance Course To Ngoc Van writing about the Nghiem Lien Sang Phai quartet to the painters Dao Duc, Luu Cong Nhan, Linh Chi, Tran Luu Hau...

Chapter II Next phase Collection of articles about the next generation of painters such as Ly Truc Son, Trinh Thai, Nguyen Hai, Nguyen Quoc Thai, Dao Hai Phong, Dinh Y Nhi, Truong Tien Tra, Lap Phuong... General stories about art is the name of chapter III - a chapter that is likened to propaganda paintings, war sketches, and portrait paintings of Vietnamese art...

Source: https://baoquangninh.vn/dieu-chua-biet-ve-buc-tranh-dat-nhat-viet-nam-3361094.html