Discussion with Alain Le Kim, son of painter Le Pho (left) and Jean-François Nguyen, son of Prince Nguyen Phuc Buu Loc (middle) at Sotheby's gallery, Paris
Painter Le Pho was born in Hanoi in 1907 and died in Paris in 2001. He was one of the leading painters of Vietnamese art, and also a successful painter in France, along with Mai Thu and Vu Cao Dam. In the same year that the Indochina College of Fine Arts was founded (1925), Le Pho passed the entrance exam to the first class of the school, led by Victor Tardieu. With his passion and talent, the French painter helped his students find their own inspiration. On the one hand, he helped his students master Western painting techniques, on the other hand, he encouraged them to focus on the traditions of indigenous art. In 1931, some of the school's students were taken to Paris by Victor Tardieu to attend the Colonial Exhibition, in which Le Pho acted as Victor Tardieu's assistant and was in charge of decorating the Lacquer Room of Angkor. At the same time, Le Pho and the school's students also exhibited some of his paintings there. The Indochina College of Fine Arts was already famous at this time and the artists who participated in this Colonial Exhibition made the school even more famous. Le Pho stayed for a year in France, studying at the Paris School of Fine Arts.
Painting Duck and Lotus by artist Le Pho, ink and gouache on silk, 64 x 96 cm. Painted in the late 1930s. First auction result: 197,500 euros
He returned to Hanoi in 1933 as a lecturer at the school. During that time, Le Pho's paintings were very famous and he had many orders. In 1937, he returned to the Colonial Exhibition in Paris, working as the artistic director of Indochina. After this return, Le Pho settled in France. World War II broke out. During this period, Le Pho married Paulette Vaux, a journalist for Time and Life, and had two sons. In an interview with journalist Thuy Khue, Le Pho affirmed that life at that time was very difficult: “In the beginning in France, it was very difficult to become famous: it was not difficult to make some people know you, but it was much more difficult to become truly famous and successful. Because we wanted to maintain a tradition, to have a different style of painting from European painting at that time. When Mr. Tardieu taught us, he did not want us to imitate Western painting, but to maintain our own tradition, and then from that tradition, create something different. The four of us: Luu, Dam, Mai Thu and I were the first painters to venture to Europe, leaving the environment of Hanoi, coming here to meet other painters, working with them to understand European painting - something completely different from what we had learned - born from the Paris school, with the great painters of that time. When we first arrived, all three of us (Mai Thu, Vu Cao Dam and I, Luu had not yet arrived) had a very hard time: Trung displayed paintings but sold very few…”. That was when Le Pho started his job as an interior decorator for a number of families. The artist’s first client was Prince Buu Loc, also a friend, they knew each other when the Prince was studying at Albert Sarraut High School in Hanoi and were very close when they were in France.
Introducing Prince Buu Loc at Sotheby's exhibition room
Prince Nguyen Phuc Buu Loc, born in 1914 in Hue and died in 1990, was the 5th generation grandson of King Minh Mang. He was a lawyer, a diplomat , and served as chief of staff to King Bao Dai... He was also a scientist, with a doctorate, and a non-resident member of the French Colonial Academy of Sciences. The prince was an art lover, and was very attached to Vietnamese traditions. He wanted to bring a Vietnamese soul to his apartment. The scene of a country market with a banyan tree, a communal house roof, a cockfight, a lotus pond with ducks, a woman wearing a scarf, lilies, tea time in the family... are familiar images of the homeland that make up for some spiritual deficiencies of a prince living far away from home. And that scene was decorated by a master painter of Vietnam, Le Pho.
Interior decoration sketches drawn by Le Pho
Prince Buu Loc began collecting Vietnamese art in the 1940s, and was particularly drawn to the paintings of Vu Cao Dam, Vu Tuong Lan and Le Pho. The paintings by Le Pho in the Prince's collection include Duck and Lotus, Family Tea Time, Mother and Child with Irises, and Woman in a Scarf. Prince Buu Loc told his son that he had exchanged a painting by Matisse for Family Tea Time. Jean-François Nguyen, the Prince's son, recalled: “We lived with these paintings around us. My father did not collect works to keep in a safe. In the middle of the dining room of his Paris apartment hung Duck and Lotus…. We admired the painting during meals, sitting on chairs designed by Le Pho”. And the large lacquer painting Countryside Market Scene by Le Minh Tho serves as a striking backdrop of a miniature Vietnamese village in the heart of an apartment in Europe.
Chair set designed by Le Pho
Le Pho was the one who decorated the entire apartment of Prince Buu Loc in Paris. According to Mr. Alain Le Kim, his father paid attention to the harmony of the colors of the walls, and found antique Vietnamese and Chinese objects, along with available objects, to decorate each room of the apartment. Sketches of the apartment's layout are still preserved. In addition to lacquer, silk and oil paintings by Indochinese artists, the Prince's house also has four red chairs designed by Le Pho in the early 1950s and a number of Chinese antiques from the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Porcelain vase decorated with dragon, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period, height 26cm. Auction result 368 300 euros
These paintings and antiques were exhibited and sold at the auction called Magnificence and Regality held by Sotheby's Paris on November 7, 2023. The auction was successful with a total of nearly 3.8 million euros, of which the painting Duck and Lotus by Le Pho achieved the highest price of nearly 1.2 million euros, followed by the painting Sitting and Resting by Vu Tuong Lan at 444,500 euros, the Woman in a Scarf by Le Pho at 406,400 euros, and the Cockfighting by Vu Cao Dam at 393,700 euros. Among the antiques, the dragon-decorated porcelain gourd from the Qianlong period achieved the highest price, 368,300 euros.
Auction of the painting Mother and Child with Irises by Le Pho and
Auction result 202 200 euros
Before the auction, interested people were able to enjoy the works hanging at Sotheby's gallery on the rue Faubourg Saint-Honoré, opposite the Élysée Palace, learn more about the life and career of painter Le Pho as well as the Nguyen Dynasty Prince, meet and participate in a discussion with Alain Le Kim, son of painter Le Pho (he is an expert in appraising his father's works), and Jean-François Nguyen, heir of Prince Nguyen Phuc Buu Loc. For the two children, the exhibition and auction is to commemorate their father, two great figures who have passed away, and also to share, so that this Royal heritage can be introduced more widely, beyond the personal scope of the collection, and also to bring about continuity. The Prince's family is very happy that many works in the collection have also returned to Vietnam.
PERFUME RIVER (from Paris, France)
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