Lifting the veil on Indochinese art

Fate from the hobby of tea drinking

On the backdrop of the book launch of Indochina Modern Art (January 11, in Hanoi ) is printed the picture of the painting Enjoying Tea by the famous painter Le Pho. This work marks the beginning of the research on Indochina modern art by author Charlotte Agutte - Reynier. "In 2014, during a chance meeting, on a rainy evening, in District 17, Paris, I found myself standing in front of the work Enjoying Tea by Le Pho, a beautiful silk painting. I began to research in depth about this painting, about the painter, his career... and found passion in it", said Ms. Charlotte Agutte - Reynier, Deputy Director of Aguttes Auction House.

Female author signing books in Hanoi

Tea drinking , then led Ms. Charlotte Agutte - Reynier to travel everywhere to learn about Indochina art, although she had previously organized auctions of paintings by Le Pho and Mai Trung Thu. At that time, according to her, no one in the market was really interested in the subject of modern Indochina art. Research led her to archives, owners of collections, close individuals and families of artists... to learn about that period of fine art.

In the book Modern Art of Indochina (English - French - Vietnamese, In Fine éditions d'art Publishing House), Ms. Charlotte Agutte - Reynier shared: "In the past 9 years, at Aguttes, there have been more than 150 works by Mai Trung Thu and nearly 100 works by Vu Cao Dam brought to me for appraisal and auction". But her research does not stop at these authors. She also researched works and prominent authors of modern art of Indochina whose paintings and statues Aguttes Auction House did not have for sale, such as To Ngoc Van or Georges Khanh...

The book Modern Art of Indochina uses 3 languages: English, French, Vietnamese

Lifting the veil

The book Modern Art of Indochina shows that Ms. Charlotte Agutte - Reynier searched for many documents in many archives in France. "In the first part of the book about the history of modern art of Indochina, I completely searched for information from articles published in that period. In the second part about the careers of typical artists, I used documents of Aguttes' works auctioned in 10 years, some documents from other auction houses. I also asked the artists' families to read and edit and supplement," she said.

Therefore, the book contains documents about exhibitions related to the Indochina College of Fine Arts in Hanoi (also known in the book as the Hanoi University of Fine Arts). The 1929 Indochina Economic Bureau newsletter stated: "The Hanoi University of Fine Arts exhibited a series of kakemono paintings (Japanese-style scroll paintings), attracting public attention thanks to the emotions in the paintings and the way the faces and gestures were expressed. Some very touching themes such as the painting of an old woman leaning on a cane, walking with unsteady steps, while a child was stretching his arms towards this old image". Ms. Charlotte Agutte - Reynier assessed that these were positive reviews from critics at that time when the exhibition was held in Paris.

She also built artistic profiles of prominent painters of the Indochina period, describing their works in detail. For example, Mai Trung Thu's success, according to her, was predicted early on. In 1929, author Yvonne Schultz evaluated his paintings as follows: "He will bring glory to the Indochina College of Fine Arts and the Annam School".

Ms. Charlotte Agutte - Reynier's research has also had a significant impact on lifting the veil on the Indochina College of Fine Arts as well as the famous artists from here. According to her, many modern Indochina art works bought by collectors at low prices between 1995 and 2010 have been resold earlier than expected in the domestic Asian market. However, her greatest wish is to support information for researchers and collectors of works from this period, in the context of increasingly fake paintings.

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