The lines from a German auction house read: HUỲNH VĂN GẤM, PORTRAIT OF A GIRL; Vietnam, 1960; Lacquer on wood, framed; 48.5×32.5 cm (65×49.3 cm with frame). Thus, this is a lacquer painting by artist Huỳnh Văn Gấm. A rare work of Huỳnh Văn Gấm; for the first time Viet Art View (subjectively) saw a painting of him appear on the international auction block.
HUỲNH VĂN GẤM (1922 – 1987). A girl reading. 1960. Lacquer on wood. 48,5×32,5 cm
The painting was auctioned on June 2, 2023, sold for 28,000 EUR. After adding taxes and fees, returning to Việt Nam will be about 35,000 EUR. A price could not be more reasonable for a painting that is both beautiful and rare by Huỳnh Văn Gấm.
From a shaping point of view, this is a beautiful portrait, depicting a young girl sitting on a low wooden chair, with a headband (maybe a handkerchief – a very popular accessory among young women in Việt Nam the past). Just looking at ‘A girl reading’, we can immediately see the similarity with ‘Ms Liên’, lacquer, 1962, Vietnam Fine Arts Museum.
According to Ms Nguyễn Phương Liên, the painting ‘Ms Liên’, 1962 was created by Huỳnh Văn Gấm first in oil, then in lacquer.
In the book ‘Dictionary of Painters’ by Quang Việt fine arts researcher and critic, the section about painter Huỳnh Văn Gấm, p.87 writes: “‘A girl reading’, 1962, oil painting…” Also according to Quang Việt, this material he took from the National Library.
Thus, ‘A girl reading’ has an oil version created in 1962 and a lacquer version in 1960 (just auctioned). This seems a bit reverse (or maybe the material is incorrect) because Vietnamese painters often work in other media first and then making the artworks to lacquer.
On the surface of the lacquer painting ‘A girl reading’ has two signatures. A lowercase signature in the top right corner “hyunhvangam60”. Another signature in uppercase “HUỲNH VĂN GẤM 60” in red in bottom left. We also have not found out why he signed two signatures. After looking at the second signature (in photo) we see that maybe the signature (below in red) is added (by someone)? But one thing we see that this is a work by Huỳnh Văn Gấm.
Thus, if we consider the date, ‘A girl reading’, 1960 was created before ‘Ms Liên’, 1962. If that is true, then we can see the unique and homogeneous visual style of “the talent for painting portraits” of Huỳnh Văn Gấm. In addition to ‘Ms Liên’ there is also ‘A girl reading’ extremely charming, typical human and beauty for Hà Nội young women in the 60s and 70s.
The character’s posture is solid, the shaping is soft and flexible, the sharp lines of the Vietnamese woman in Huỳnh Văn Gấm’s ‘A girl reading’, ‘Ms Liên’, ‘Sunday’ by Huỳnh Văn Gấm have made art lovers imagine a painter with a lot of humanity with a kind heart, love for the kind, pure beauty…
In addition to top works such as ‘Heart and gun barrel’, 1953, lacquer, Vietnam Fine Arts Museum and some other typical works such as ‘Cochinchine uprising’; ‘Red Union meeting’; ‘Ngô Gia Tự’; ‘Võ Thị Sáu’… have created a Huỳnh Văn Gấm – with vigour, a rich inner life with beautiful lacquer paintings, which have artistic value, historical value…
Artist Huỳnh Văn Gấm was born in 1922 in Bình Lập, Châu Thành, Tân An (now Long An town). He attended Gia Định Practical Fine Arts School in 1940, attended Indochina Fine Arts College 1941-1945.
He was awarded ‘Hồ Chí Minh Prize for Literature and Art’ in 2001, the highest award in the field of Art…
Written by Viet Art View
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