Parrots are birds with beautiful feathers, not only that, they are intelligent and can imitate some words in human language. According to Eastern cultural concepts, parrots symbolize prosperity, intelligence, freedom, and openness.
Some artists of the Indochina period used the image of parrots in their works such as Nguyễn Phan Chánh with “Girl with parrot”, silk, 1933.
Lê Phổ also used the image of birds, including parrots, in his works. His famous paintings with the appearance of birds include “The boy and the yellow bird”, lacquer, 1936; some silk works such as “Dove and hibiscus”, “Mandarin ducks playing with lotus”, “Birds and hibiscus flowers” are very popular. And in particular, the two paintings “Lady and the parrot”, made of silk, created in 1938, have attracted special admiration from art lovers in 2022, in Hong Kong, one of which was sold for 635,434 USD, equivalent to 15 billion VND.
LÊ PHỔ (1907-2001). Lady and the parrot. Circa 1938. Ink and colour on silk.
Provenance: Private collection, France, passed down to descendants.
The remaining painting will be auctioned in the “Legends from Indochina Fine Arts College” auction of Millon on October 12, 2024.
Visually, it can be seen that the painting “Lady and the parrot” is a beautiful silk creation by Lê Phổ. At first glance, it feels like the two paintings are identical, but in fact, the two paintings are two characters with two separate emotional states. Perhaps, Lê Phổ had to create two paintings with two different intentions, in order to fully express his thought. There are several important details that we need to pay special attention to in order to understand the message and intention of Lê Phổ in this work.
The back of the painting
The lady – the main character – was intentionally placed in the center, the largest position, up to 3/4 of the painting’s surface. Based on the costume, from the bright-colored scarf on the head, the blue silk áo dài, the soft thin veil shows that this is a woman of the civilized class in Việt Nam at that time.
The second character is a parrot, a bird with beautiful feathers and bright colors, so it is often kept as a pet. The dry branch where the parrot perches is almost as tall as the lady character, showing that the diameter of the tree needs a large enough space. This shows that the bird and the tree must be arranged in a large living room. In addition, the bowl containing food for the parrot is yellow – the color of maturity. Perhaps, Lê Phổ intended to use yellow to imply the description of an independent and confident woman.
The scene of the work is in the space inside the house. This is a subtle symbolic space when the inside and outside are separated by a double-sided yellow and green curtain. Hidden behind the curtain are a few leaves, both decorative and a perfect complement to the suggestion of a cool nature, without the need for any flowers such as hibiscus or camellia often seen in Lê Phổ’s paintings. And the most important point, the main focus of the painting is the mood, the attitude of the lady owner. Let’s look at the parrot stretching its neck, opening its beak up high. It seems to be chirping or saying a few words in the language it has been taught. The effort shows that it is interacting alone and wants to attract attention. The owner stands right there, one hand is raised towards the parrot; the other hand holds a bowl of food for it. She is still showing interest in it, but it seems that the noise of the parrot does not affect her mood. Because the owner’s eyes are not directed towards the parrot. She is concentrating on her own thought. She seems not to notice the loose outfit, the unbuttoned shirt, the scarf draped over her shoulders as if about to fall off. All of these intentional details focus on expressing the attitude of a mature, independent woman with a strong personality. The parrot is meant to “play the role” of a noisy, chaotic society… but it still cannot distract the owner. This is her own space, she is the master and does everything according to her own will.
To complete all the above ideas in a profound way with the art of painting, Lê Phổ used his refined classical academic techniques to reach the ultimate softness and depth of the silk material. In particular, the thinking about shape, color combined with the wonderful innate talent for color harmony has made the painting perfect in grace, tenderness, smoothness and freshness. All create a strange, passionate attraction for the viewer.
And that, we can only see in the works created by masters of painting like Lê Phổ.
Written by Bùi Hoàng Anh, Viet Art View
