At the Arts d'Asie auction held by Sotheby's Paris in France, the painting "Folk Singers" (Les Chanteuses de Campagne) by famous artist Nguyen Phan Chanh was successfully priced at 1.02 million EUR (equivalent to 1.09 million USD).
With this price, the painting “Folk Singer” is in the top 20 most expensive Vietnamese paintings to date. The work is ranked 15th, alongside works by famous painters Le Pho, Mai Trung Thu, Le Quoc Loc, Pham Hau, To Ngoc Van...
Oil painting “The Folk Singers” (Les Chanteuses de Campagne) by famous painter Nguyen Phan Chanh. Photo: luxuo.vn
This is also the second work by artist Nguyen Phan Chanh to reach the million USD mark, after the painting "The Seamstresses" (Les Couturières), which was hammered for 1,390,000 USD on Christie's in December 2020.
Previously, the work “Folk Singer” was the highlight of the auction program introducing many famous paintings, ceramics, and sculptures in Asia, valued at 600,000 - 900,000 Euros.
According to the auction house, the painting was skillfully painted using silk techniques using oil paint on canvas in 1930 and was then selected by the principal of the Indochina College of Fine Arts, Victor Tardieu, to participate in the 1931 Colonial Exhibition in Paris.
Nearly a century after the French doctor couple bought the painting and kept it for three generations in their modest country home, the painting was recently introduced to the public by Sotheby's Paris.
At this auction, many other Vietnamese works also attracted attention with successful auction prices such as: "Hương hoa" (Parfum de fleurs), 1940s by famous painter Le Pho, reaching 288,000 Euro (previous estimated price: 120,000 - 150,000 Euro); "Bến cửa cửa" by famous painter Mai Trung Thu, reaching 84,000 Euro (previous estimated price: 70,000 - 90,000 Euro); "Chấn dung anh anh Indo-chinois" (Buste de jeune indo-chinois), by famous painter Vu Cao Dam, reaching 60,000 Euro (previous estimated price: 20,000 - 30,000 Euro); “Bac Ky Landscape” (Paysage au Nord du Vietnam) by a group of students from the Indochina College of Fine Arts achieved 72,000 Euros (previous estimate: 60,000 - 80,000 Euros).
Mr. Ace Le, Managing Director of Sotheby's Vietnam Market, said that since 2019, the market has had at least one million-dollar transaction every year. Sotheby's also holds all three million-dollar records in 2023 and 2024.
The painting “Folk Singer” was displayed together with “Portrait of Miss Phuong” by Mai Trung Thu in the 1930 exhibition at the gallery of the Indochina College of Fine Arts, Hanoi . Photo: luxuo.vn
Nguyen Phan Chanh was born in 1892 in Ha Tinh . He is a representative painter of Indochina painting and a pioneer of Vietnamese silk painting art.
The artist began painting at the age of 33 when he became a student of the first class of the Indochina Fine Arts School. In 1929, he had his work displayed at the Colonial Art Exhibition (Salon de l'art colonial) in Paris, marking an important milestone in his career.
From an early age, Nguyen Phan Chanh chose his own path with themes of simple workers and villages imbued with the spirit of the Northern countryside, quite different from the romantic and elegant style of contemporary painters such as the quartet Pho - Thu - Luu - Dam, who all came from the mandarin class.
Not only passionate about silk, famous painter Nguyen Phan Chanh also created a silk washing method that has become a unique specialty of Vietnamese silk paintings. Nguyen Phan Chanh's works often have a deep brown tone, do not depict many details but focus on exploiting flat areas with soft and gentle shapes.
Many reviews say that Nguyen Phan Chanh with silk paintings, Nguyen Gia Tri with lacquer, Nguyen Tu Nghiem with pigments... are separate realms of early modern Vietnamese painting.
Nguyen Phan Chanh left behind about 170 works. He is the record holder for the number of works displayed at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum.
His famous paintings include: "Washing vegetables at the pond", "Baby feeding birds", "Playing checkers"...
Khanh Ngoc
Source: https://www.congluan.vn/tranh-cua-danh-hoa-nguyen-phan-chanh-duoc-go-bua-trieu-usd-post299468.html
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