Thursday, November 30, 2023, 2:30 PM, Neuilly-sur-Seine
Since 2014, some 1,000 works related to modern Asian art – including nearly 150 paintings by Lê Phổ, more than 115 works by Mai Trung Thứ and nearly 100 works executed by Vũ Cao Đàm – have been sold at Aguttes.
This November 30, 2023 will see the 40th dedicated sale. It presents a selection of works representative of the revival of modern art in Vietnam at the beginning of the 20th century, and provides an overview of the techniques worked on at the School of Fine Arts in Indochina. This will be followed on December 18, 2023, by a section devoted to modern Chinese art, featuring in particular the fine work of Sanyu.
ALIX AYME: ETHNOGRAPHIC ARTIST
Alix Hava, better known by her married name, Alix Aymé, was born in Marseille on March 21, 1894. In Paris, she studied with George Desvallières and Maurice Denis, with whom she maintained a close correspondence throughout her career. It was while accompanying her husband, Paul de Fautereau-Vassel, a professor appointed to Shanghai, that the artist developed a passion for the Asian continent. The couple settled in Hanoi in 1921. During her many trips to Asia, she became interested in the art of lacquer.
Teaching drawing in Hanoi, she became involved with the Indochina School of Fine Arts, where she taught from 1935 to 1936. She took an interest in silk work and helped to develop lacquer art alongside Joseph Inguimberty. Her subjects of predilection revolved around motherhood and childhood, taking as her models young Vietnamese women from her entourage and her own sons.
Alix Aymé returned to Paris in 1945. This was followed by a commission for large lacquer panels for the liner Antilles and numerous exhibitions in Paris and other French cities, as well as in Morocco and Italy. She decorated Bảo Đại’s apartment. A friend of Foujita and the Saint-Exupéry family, she frequented Parisian intellectual, literary and artistic circles, where her open, lively, free and curious spirit found expression.
ALIX AYMÉ (1894-1989)
‘Michel à la chemise blanche, Hanoï’
Tempera on canvas, signed bottom right,
65 × 49,5 cm
PROVENANCE Private collection, Paris (acquired in 1991 and kept since)
ALIX AYMÉ (1894-1989)
‘Jeune mère et sa fille’,
Lacquer with gold highlights,
Signed bottom right
46 × 36 cm
PROVENANCE Private collection, Paris
ALIX AYMÉ (1894-1989)
‘Nature morte aux fruits’, circa 1935,
Tempera on silk
PROVENANCE Private collection, Southeast France (acquired from the artist and passed down through the family)
EXHIBITION 2022-2023, “Women Artists, the Call of Distant Lands (1880 – 1944),” Palais Lumière,
Évian-les-Bains (December 11, 2022 – May 21, 2023) then at the Musée de Pont-Aven (June 24 – November 5, 2023)
LÊ PHỔ: PAINTER OF WOMEN
Considered one of the leading figures of modern Vietnamese art, Lê Phổ was born in 1907 in the province of Hà Tây into a respected family of mandarins, his father being the last viceroy of Tonkin. He soon caught the eye of the school’s director and founder, Victor Tardieu, for whom he remained deeply attached throughout his life. In 1931, he came to France to present his work at the Exposition Coloniale Internationale. He chose to stay in Paris for a year, taking courses at the School of Fine Arts, before embarking on several trips to Europe. After a brief stay in Hanoi in the mid-1930s, he decided to settle permanently in France in 1937, and quickly gained a certain notoriety.
Rich from his exhibitions at the Romanet gallery, Lê Phổ was approached by gallery owner Wally Findlay, who wanted to commission a number of his paintings for the American public in 1963. His works became more flamboyant and were produced in large format, as a tribute to Matisse, of whom Lê Phổ was a fervent admirer. The depiction of a woman and child in a verdant, flower-filled garden is a recurring theme for the painter, and his most prolific during this period.
The legacy of Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse is essential to Lê Phổ’s career.
LLÊ PHỔ (1907-2001)
La lettre
Oil on canvas, signed bottom left, titled on the back
74 × 92 cm
A certificate of inclusion in the artist’s forthcoming catalogue raisonné by Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier
for the Association of Asian Artists in Paris will be provided to the buyer.
PROVENANCE
Wally Findlay Galleries, New York
Private collection, Christie’s Auction, 1998, Singapore
Private collection, Singapore (acquired at the 1998 auction)
LÊ PHỔ (1907-2001)
Fleurs
Oil on canvas, signed bottom left
101 × 65.5 cm
PROVENANCE
Wally F Galleries, New York,
Inv. no. 42266 Private collection,
United States (acquired from the previous owner)
Private collection
LÊ PHỔ (1907-2001)
La maternité, circa 1960
Oil and gouache on silk, signed bottom right
81 × 50.5 cm
A certificate of inclusion in the artist’s forthcoming catalogue raisonné by Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier
for the Association of Asian Artists in Paris will be provided to the buyer.
PROVENANCE
Romanet Gallery Private collection of an industrialist from Northern France
Private collection,
Paris region, by inheritance from the previous owner
MAI TRUNG THỨ: PAINTER OF DAILY LIFE
Born in 1906 near Haïphong, Mai Trung Thứ was a member of the first graduating class of the Indochina School of Fine Arts, founded and directed by painter Victor Tardieu. Invited to the 1931 Colonial Exhibition, Mai Trung Thứ discovered France.
Fallen under its spell, he settled there in the late 30s and remained for the rest of his life. Although strongly influenced by the artistic education he received from Victor Tardieu and Joseph Inguimberty, he was the one of his comrades who retained the deepest Vietnamese identity.
Mai Trung Thứ devoted himself to gouache or ink on silk, typically Asian processes that enabled him to develop an art rich in reminiscence of traditional Chinese and Vietnamese art. An independent artist, he is no less committed to his country’s future.
Known for his taste for music, his favorite subjects include ephemeral, idealized moments, compositions featuring musical attributes, where beautiful young Vietnamese women relax in idyllic landscapes. Equally attached to illustrating a peaceful family universe, he likes to convey, through his painting, his taste for the beauty of family relationships, the transmission of knowledge between generations, the wisdom of a mother or grandparents guiding young children…
MAI TRUNG THỨ (1906-1980)
Cousette, 1954
Ink and colors on silk, signed and dated bottom left, titled, monogrammed, and dated on the back.
In the original frame created by the artist.
A certificate of inclusion in the artist’s forthcoming catalogue raisonné by Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier
for the Association of Asian Artists in Paris will be provided to the buyer.
PROVENANCE
Private collection,
Southeast France
MAI TRUNG THỨ (19 06-1980)
La flûte, 1942
Ink and colors on silk, signed and dated bottom right,
countersigned, titled, and numbered on the back.
45 × 25.8 cm
A certificate of inclusion in the artist’s forthcoming catalogue raisonné by Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier
for the Association of Asian Artists in Paris will be provided to the buyer.
PROVENANCE
Private collection,
Sao Paulo, Brazil (acquired in France in the 1940s – 1960s and passed down through descent)
MAI TRUNG THỨ (1906-1980)
Le coup de vent, 1978
Ink and colors on silk, signed and dated bottom left.
In the original frame created by the artist.
60.6 × 38 cm
A certificate of inclusion in the artist’s forthcoming catalogue raisonné by Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier
for the Association of Asian Artists in Paris will be provided to the buyer.
PROVENANCE
Apesteguy Gallery,
Deauville Private collection (acquired from the previous owner around 1980)
Private collection, Southeast France (gift from the previous owner in 1998)
VŨ CAO ĐÀM : SCULPTOR AND PAINTER
Born in Hanoi in 1908, Vũ Cao Đàm was immersed in French culture from an early age. He entered the Indochina School of Fine Arts in 1926, where he studied drawing, painting and sculpture under Victor Tardieu, the school’s founder, and Joseph Inguimberty.
After graduating in 1931, he was awarded a scholarship to continue his training in France. After exhibiting his sculptures at the 1931 International Colonial Exhibition, he decided to settle permanently in France. He pursued his artistic development, rubbing shoulders with all the great European masterpieces, such as the works of Renoir, Van Gogh, Bonnard and Matisse, as well as the creations of Rodin, Despiau and Giacometti, who particularly inspired him. He was also influenced by Western avant-gardes such as Fauvism and the School of Paris, whose imprint can be seen throughout his production.
Today, Vũ Cao Đàm is considered one of the greatest Vietnamese painters and sculptors of his time, and his paintings are part of the permanent collections of many museums around the world, including the Quai Branly Museum in Paris.
VŨ CAO ĐÀM (1908-2000)
L’anneau de jade, 1965
Oil on canvas, signed and dated bottom right.
55.5 × 46 cm
A certificate of inclusion in the artist’s forthcoming catalogue raisonné by Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier
for the Association of Asian Artists in Paris will be provided to the buyer.
PROVENANCE
Collection of Mr. Maurice Brasseur, Belgian politician,
Minister of the Interior in 1950, and later Minister of Foreign Trade in 1961.
Private collection, Belgium (passed down through inheritance from the previous owner)
VŨ CAO ĐÀM (1908-2000)
Tête de jeune femme
Bronze with green-gray patina, signed on the reverse.
Artist’s proof, marked EA and with the foundry stamp Valsuani on the base.
25 × 11.5 × 10 cm
A certificate of inclusion in the artist’s forthcoming catalogue raisonné by Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier
for the Association of Asian Artists in Paris will be provided to the buyer.
PROVENANCE
Private collection, France (acquired directly from the artist)
Collection of Madame D. (passed down through descent)
VŨ CAO ĐÀM (1908-2000)
Divinité, 1992
Oil on canvas, signed and dated bottom right.
65 × 54 cm
A certificate of inclusion in the artist’s forthcoming catalogue raisonné by Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier
for the Association of Asian Artists in Paris will be provided to the buyer.
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Germany
THE GENESIS OF A UNIQUE ART: LACQUER
In Vietnam, the art of lacquerware is a major art form, inseparable from the country’s cultural history. A traditional art par excellence, it also shines abroad, making Vietnam a bastion of this ancestral technique. Although this know-how dates back to the 15th century, its current influence owes much to the impetus of Joseph Inguimberty at the Indochina School of Fine Arts, who introduced lacquerware courses as early as 1927.
With the help of Alix Aymé, a free-spirited and talented artist, they enriched the use of colors. Traditionally, only red, black and brown were used, as well as silver and gold.
With the introduction of new materials such as eggshell, cadmium sulfide and chromium oxide, other colors such as white, yellow and green appeared. This creative revival has continued ever since, enabling artists to establish this Asian technique as the equal of Western painting.
ÉCOLE DES BEAUX-ARTS DE L’INDOCHINE, CIRCA 1940-50
Jonques dans la baie
Lacquer with gold, silver, and mother-of-pearl highlights, signed with the stamp “XN MY NGHE V.N HANOÏ” on the back.
Four-panel screen.
Full screen: 100 × 157.9 cm. Height: 100 cm. Width of panels: 100 × 157.9 cm.
Width of each panel: 39.5 + 39.4 + 39.5 + 39.5 cm.
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Paris region
Upcoming Asian Painters Auctions
[41] – Monday, December 18, 2023. The Modern Chinese Art
SANYU (1895-1966)
Femme à la robe grise, 1920-30
Watercolor and ink on paper, signed at the bottom left
30.5 × 42.5 cm (visible dimensions) Provenance Nieszawer-Princ Collection,
Paris Boscher-Flobert-Lasseron Auction, Paris, June 25, 2007, lot 136 Private collection,
Paris BIBLIOGRAPHY Sanyu, Catalog Raisonné: Drawings and Watercolors.
Rita Wong. Li-Ching Cultural and Educational Foundation, 2014, reproduced on p. 190, reference W64 (dimensions 28 × 40 cm).
[42] – Thursday, March 7, 2024
For more information, contact:
Asian Painters Expert
Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier
+33 1 41 92 06 49 – reynier@aguttes.com
LITERARY NEWS
L’ART MODERNE EN INDOCHINE, L’ÉCOLE DES BEAUX-ARTS DE INDOCHINE BY CHARLOTTE AGUTTES-REYNIER
Publication date: December 6, 2023
As we prepare to celebrate the centenary of the Indochina School of Fine Arts, Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier highlights, in 432 pages, the contributions of this institution to international art history, and shares the fruit of her ten years of research and expertise on the genesis of modern Vietnamese art. The expert in modern Asian art brings together in a single publication the key players in this institution, recounts the high points between 1925 and 1945, and describes the exhibitions organized in Hanoi, Saigon and Paris, as well as their critical reception. The book features 319 illustrations, 28 biographies of students and teachers, and numerous archive documents. The author also opens the doors of numerous private collections and museum reserves…
Price incl. VAT: €75
Description :
Binding : Laminated board
Pages : 432
Illustrations : 319
Format : 22 × 32 cm
Languages: Trilingual French-English-Vietnamese
Publisher: In Fine éditions d’art
Source: Aguttes
