On July 4, 2023, in France, a very rare painting by Lê Phổ will be auctioned…
The languid young lady, 1932 | Estimate: 150,000 – 200,000 EUR
Information:
- Artwork: ‘Jeune Vietnamienne alanguie – Young Vietnamese languid’. Dated1932. Oil on canvas. Dimensions: 110,5×170,5 cm.
- Provenance: Brought from Indochina by the current owner’s father.
- A certificate of ownership made by Mr. Alain Lê Kim, son of Lê Phổ, will be given to the buyer.
- Estimate: 150,000 – 200,000 EUR.
A very good starting price, reasonable for a beautiful, precious painting like this.
For researchers (understanding Lê Phổ’s composition and working process); knowledgeable people; Vietnamese major collectors who own many precious works, especially interested in ‘Jeune Vietnamienne alanguie’.
In 1931, Lê Phổ was chosen by Victor Tardieu as assistant to the Paris Colonial International Exhibition. Lê Phổ had direct contact with European painting the first time through visiting museums in a number of countries such as Belgium, Italy, and the Netherlands. After that, studying for a year at the Paris National College of Fine Arts gave young painter Lê Phổ a great view of the art world from early times to modern times. After that, Lê Phổ returned to Hà Nội, where he was an apprentice painting teacher in 1932 at Indochina Fine Arts College and Albert Sarraut High School.
Thus, this painting was created after Lê Phổ returned to Việt Nam from Europe. In fact, the oil paintings are created in the basic European academic visual language with the theme of Vietnamese social life or the portraits by Lê Phổ, the period before 1945 (especially from 1929-1935) always have high artistic value. Despite the fact that the silk paintings of the Romanet period and oil paintings of the period that Lê Phổ was an exclusive artist under the management of Wally Findlay Galleries are Lê Phổ’s most popular and sought after. It can be said that it is thanks to the cooperation with famous galleries that helped Lê Phổ’s painting reach far, gain a position and raise the value in the international art world compared to domestic artists.
Back to ‘Jeune Vietnamienne alanguie’, the painting depicts a portrait of a young girl languidly sitting on the ‘phản’ (‘sập gụ’) [a Vietnamese wooden furniture used for lying and sitting], behind is a round window with a lotus pond. On the wall is a kakemono (Japanese or Chinese scroll), a colorful lacquer box on the tabletop. Maybe she just took a break from embroidery and sewing. It is the languid appearance, lack of coolness and relief of a young woman with her youth that makes the mood of the painting become deep and sad. But it is the same “dull” space that makes the viewer stop for a long time, looking for details in the scene of the work, something to explain the inner world of the young woman… That’s what’s interesting about the work.
A few years after graduating from Indochina Fine Arts College, Lê Phổ made quite a few portraits ordered of oil. Is it possible that oil painting with its superior quality expression ability made Lê Phổ choose oil as a medium for making portraits (with sitters) in the academic realism style taught by his teachers Victor Tardieu and Joseph Inguimberty whom he adored.
With many thousands of paintings that Lê Phổ created throughout his life of all materials of oil, lacquer, silk, paper, the works of oil, in the early period, show the technique of using materials, academic shaping, and his simple and emotional realistic style have always won the special attention and love of art lovers.
Hopefully ‘Jeune Vietnamienne alanguie’ will be auctioned at a high price (at least double) to be worthy of its actual value. A painting very Vietnamese, very Indochinese, reflecting the people of that era.
And collectors who can afford this painting, please appreciate the artistic value of ‘Jeune Vietnamienne alanguie’ to bring the painting to a new level, enhance it to a level that is true to its own value.
In this difficult time of liquidity, if many collectors like it, the price will be high, which means that the buyer will have to pay a high fee… But that’s okay, because only Vietnamese people have the ability to raise the price of Vietnamese paintings in the international art world (so are all other countries). Viet Art View believes that, being true tycoons, they all love their homeland and want the best to enhance their national culture…
And this painting is worth collecting…
P/S: Viet Art View would like to share some more oil paintings of the period before Lê Phổ came to France to establish his career in 1937…
Happy times, 1930
The dreamer, 1930, oil, 70×82 cm
Portrait of a mandarin’s wife, 1931
Portrait of Lê Thị Lựu, 1935, oil, 145×76 cm
Portrait of a young lady, 1935, 78,8×60,5 cm
Portrait of Quy (the artist’s cousin), 1928, oil | On the back – A mother and her child
Self-Portrait, 1929
Nude, 1931, oil, 90,5×180,5 cm
Written by Viet Art View
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