Before our eyes is the image of an extremely beautiful young woman with a flowing long dress in the middle of a fragrant lotus pond. A fairy-tale scene that is only seen in dreams…
Nguyen Thi Chin (b. 1937) ‘Maiden picking lotus’ 1958. Silk. 67×50 cm
When looking at the soft, gentle image of the maiden, Viet Art View want to learn about artist Nguyen Thi Chin, who created the painting.
Who is artist Nguyen Thi Chin? According to the book “Urban Fine Arts of Saigon-Gia Dinh 1900-1975” author Uyen Huy wrote: “Artist Nguyen Thi Chin was born in 1937. She graduated from Saigon College of Fine Arts, course 1955-1959 with: Le Ba Dang, Nguyen Minh Hoang, Vinh Phoi, Nguyen Van Minh, Do Thi To Oanh, Dang Hoai Nam. From 1959-1964, taught at Bien Hoa Craft College.”
Exhibition of teacher Truong Van Y (from the right): Ms Nguyen Thi Chin, Ms Hoa (Medical), Ms Vu Thi Nga
Continue to search for more documents and pictures of her biography through some Southern researchers and collectors, fortunately, researcher Nguyen Minh Anh (currently residing in the US) sent more valuable information from his archives.
“Ms CHIN is an artist in the College of Fine Arts, her figure is thin, slender, average, neither tall nor short, very gentle… Ms Chin had a very strong drawing. She drew steady contours (outlines) and always went around in the model class (studio class) correcting each student”.
Researcher Minh Anh also added that artist Nguyen Thi Chin now lives in the United States, Louisiana. Another friend in the research and collectors world sent Viet Art View the resume of the work “Maiden picking lotus”. This painting was auctioned in 2018 in the US. Here, the extreme surprise came. The full text of the introduction from the auction house is as follows:
“The painting of a Vietnamese woman with lotus signed Nguyen Thi Chin, 1958, Saigon, a ravishingly beautiful watercolor on silk of an elegant Vietnamese woman with long flowing black hair tending to lotus blossom water plants, brocade border, with brocade border, framed under glass, not examined outside of the frame. Dimension: 26,5×19,5 inch; with border and frame: 36×25,25 inch. From the Estate of the late Princess Lechi Tran Oggeri Rodriguez of Vietnam and Fayetteville, NC. A direct descendant of the Emperor of Annam, Lechi was born in Hanoi, Vietnam, the daughter of the late Princess Nam Tran and the late Ambassador Tran Van Chuong.
Thus, “Maiden picking lotus” was once owned by one of the most famous families in Vietnam.
Madam Tran Le Chi (1929-2011)
Going back in history a bit. Ms. Tran Le Chi came from an illustrious royal family. Her mother is Princess Than Thi Nam Tran – the daughter of Mr. Than Trong Hue and Princess Nhu Phien; sister of Kings Kien Phuc, Ham Nghi, Dong Khanh. Thus, Ms. Nam Tran called the above kings “uncle”; and Le Chi and Le Xuan called the above kings “grandfathers”.
Mr and Mrs Tran Van Chuong, Ambassador of Republic of Vietnam to the US, at the exhibition of Vietnamese Craft
Nam Tran’s husband, Mr. Tran Van Chuong (1898 – 1986), was a Vietnamese lawyer, who used to hold the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs; Minister of Economy of the Republic of Vietnam before being appointed ambassador to the US. He is the brother of Foreign Minister Tran Van Do and the father of the First Lady (under the First Republic of Vietnam) Tran Le Xuan. Did not have power like Tran Le Xuan – Ngo Dinh Nhu’s wife, and did not share a common voice with this sister, so in 1962, Tran Le Chi with her husband, Colonel Enrique Rodriguez, and her two daughters, Ledzung Larned and Levan Kuck, left Vietnam to settle in the US.
In her inheritance, Ms. Tran Le Chi owned a number of precious paintings. The most typical is the silk painting “Lady resting” by Luong Xuan Nhi created in the period 1930-1940. In 2019, auctioned at Sotheby’s and sold for 2.6 billion VND. At that time, according to the experts, the painting “Lady Resting” reached such a record price for two reasons.
First from its Royal provenance, then comes the artist’s name. Sir Jonathan Rendel, Deputy Chairman of Christie’s once said: “If you were a banker in Manhattan, wouldn’t you want to own a moneyclip that once belonged to the Rockefellers? It places you, the buyer, in the same relation to the object as the people who owned it before. That is why provenance is so important. Provenance is everything, in fact: where a piece comes from matters as much as what it is.”
Back to the painting “Maiden picking lotus” by Nguyen Thi Chin. This is a very beautiful silk painting, created when the artist was 21 years old, she had not graduated from the Saigon College of Fine Arts (course 1955-1959). The painting depicts a young woman with a fairy face, sitting in the middle of a lotus pond, her hands gently holding a white lotus branch. To see the white lotus closely, to fully appreciate the beautiful body shape under the skillful and delicate brush strokes, we must look very carefully, very deeply because the entire surface of the painting is as if lightly covered with a thin layer of mist.
Compared to many paintings with an older age, after 64 years, the surface of “Maiden picking lotus” is tinged with more time colors. We don’t know if it was because of preservation or because Ms. Chin painted in light colors, or painted with some kind of color that made the work become illusory and smoky. But in fact, it is the special natural feature that makes the painting strangely beautiful.
The motif of a young woman wearing a flowing long dress, with long hair that falls past her waist (even knee-length) picking lotuses in the middle of the pond, sitting and resting, combing, washing hair, doing family activities… are quite common in the 40s, 50s, 60s in Vietnam but perhaps more common in the South of Vietnam. Famous painters such as Le Van De, Pham Tang, Nguyen Van Minh, sisters To Oanh – To Phuong, Truong Thi Thinh, Luu Tan Phuoc, Truong Dinh Que… all painted young women like that. Especially painter Le Van De (1906-1966), took the first course of Indochina Fine Arts College together with Mai Trung Thu, Le Pho, and Nguyen Phan Chanh, they built many works in the shape of a long-haired woman.
The trend of depicting the subject of women with such enchanting long hair can came from a sense of the time when a typical favorite image was considered a symbol of beauty. As well as the standard beauty of the Greek and Roman times of antiquity or the prosperous beauty of the Renaissance, the 15th-16th centuries.
On the right corner under the painting is the signature line “Nguyen Thi Chin, 1958, Saigon”. About when the painting was purchased, there are two possibilities. Firstly, the painting could be purchased in Vietnam before 1962. Because after that, Ms. Tran Le Chi’s family went to America. Second: the painting was purchased in the US from Ms. Nguyen Thi Chin because after that (unknown year) Ms. Chin also settled in the US.
In terms of mood, “Maiden picking lotus” by Nguyen Thi Chin and “The lady resting” by Luong Xuan Nhi as well as a number of other artworks that could be purchased in Vietnam when the family was on the pinnacle of power. And Tran Le Chi brought the art collection to the US in her family’s belongings when she left Vietnam.
Whatever the reason, Ms. Chin’s “Maiden picking lotus” has become special because it had been kept in a royal family — once powerful regal in Vietnam.
By Viet Art View
Copyright belongs to Viet Art View
