“A YOUNG WOMAN” – NGUYỄN TƯ NGHIÊM (1918-2016)

Nguyễn Tư Nghiêm studied in class 15 (1941 – September 3, 1945) of Indochina Fine Arts College with Bùi Xuân Phái, Huỳnh Văn Gấm, Tạ Thúc Bình, Trần Dzụ Hồng… Nguyễn Tư Nghiêm, one of the quartet “Nghiêm, Liên, Sáng, Phái” is a painter with many achievements. His career reached its peak with the work “Gióng”, lacquer, which is one of the nine national treasures in Việt Nam Fine Arts Museum. In addition, the works “Con nghé quả thực”, “Giao thừa bên Hồ Gươm”, “Kiều và Kim Trọng” (Collection of Việt Nam Fine Arts Museum) are all important works of Nguyễn Tư Nghiêm contributing to the history of Vietnamese fine arts.

The painting “A young woman”, created in 1989, uses traditional lacquer colors with warm tones and deep yellow tones. The artist did not use the cold colors in this work. The pattern on the young woman’s shirt was taken from the motif of the chrysanthemum vine of the Trần Dynasty. In particular, the cubist image of the young woman’s face was divided into many different angles, giving the work a modern nuance that is not easily perceived in the usual aesthetic sense. However, it brings the novelty of exploring the modern visual language on traditional Vietnamese materials.

NGUYỄN TƯ NGHIÊM (1918-2016)
“A young woman”
Lacquer
67 × 50 cm
Provenance: The work belongs to an artist family in Hà Nội, passed down to descendants; Published in the book “Painters of Indochina Fine Arts College” by author Quang Phòng, Fine Art Publishing House in 1997; Published in the book “Vietnamese lacquer painting”, Fine Arts Publishing House in 2005.