1, LOT 124. TRẦN PHÚC DUYÊN (1923-1993)
Riverbank, 1950
Lacquer
8 panels, 80×200 cm
Provenance: Considered to be purchased by Mr. Robert Dubois, then inherited in the family.
Sold for 377,000 EUR
Born in 1923 in Hanoi, Tran Phuc Duyen is a great artist of Vietnam in the 20th century. Coming from a wealthy family, he studied at the Indochina Fine Arts School and majored in lacquer. He graduated in 1946 and went to France in 1954 to study at the School of Fine Arts. Tran Phuc Duyen had developed his reputation and career between the East and the West.
The exhibition commemorating the 100th birthday of Tran Phuc Duyen at the Quang San Museum of Art, Ho Chi Minh City in 2023 highlighted his screen works. His talent was recognized right from the beginning of his career, when a painting by Tran Phuc Duyen was presented to Pope Pie XII by the Vietnamese government on the occasion of the Jubilee Year in 1950, thereby raising his influence and his reputation among the public.
Initially figurative and decorative, his art developed towards minimalist abstraction, elevating Vietnamese lacquer to a great artistic level. The screen here belongs to the first part of the development of his composition. It combines Eastern aesthetics and Western techniques typical of graduates of the Indochina Fine Art College with distinctive colors of black, vermilion and yellow. The work has a lake landscape, most likely located in the rice growing region of Northern Vietnam. The mesmerizing blue used by the artist to depict the river gives the work all its splendor, contrasting with the black of the rocky peaks appearing in the distance. Images of women and animals are also highlights of human life appearing amidst majestic scenery and demonstrating the genius of an excellent painter even in the smallest details.
This piece is by far one of the largest available on the market in terms of dimensions.
2, LOT 140. LƯƠNG XUÂN NHỊ (1914-2006)
Lilies. Oil on canvas. 64×49 cm
Provenance: The painting belonged to the artist’s family, currently belongs to Mr. N.M, Hanoi.
Sold for 100,100 EUR
Lilies are a very familiar subject to Vietnamese artists. Artist Luong Xuan Nhi is no exception as he had several paintings about this flower. In this painting, the color of earthy yellow and green are immersed in the clear space typical of Luong Xuan Nhi style. A vase of lilies gently radiates cool fragrance.
3, LOT 137. VŨ CAO ĐÀM (1908-2000)
The poet. 1978. Oil on canvas. 71.7×90.5 cm
Provenance: Private collection in Vietnam
Sold for 83,200 EUR
Vu Cao Dam, originally from Nam Dinh, was born in Hanoi, was the fifth child of 14 children in the family. He graduated with a degree in sculpture, class II (1926-1941) from Indochina Fine Arts College. From 1931, after his parents passed away, he went to France to study and settle. He had mostly created paintings since World War II. Around the 1950s, he and his family moved to Vence. Here, he was fortunate to meet and become friends with two famous painters, Matisse and Marc Chagall. From here, Vu Cao Dam’s painting style moved into a new phase, with the color of Impressionism.
He especially liked ancient stories such as Kieu and Chinh Phu Ngam. Pictures of Thuy Kieu sisters; Kim Trong; young women; women and children; horses and soldiers; chickens appear in most of Vu Cao Dam’s compositions.
The painting was created in 1987 and titled “The poet”. In fact, the characters in the work are part of a series of basic characters that Vu Cao Dam had built to be able to suit the content of his paintings. This poet here could be Kim Trong. The image of two young women could be Thuy Kieu and Thuy Van, it could also be two young women having a conversation, or sometimes two sisters talking.
The vibrant colors of Impressionism with red and yellow are softened by the cool blue of the characters’ costumes. Time and space in Vu Cao Dam’s paintings are always placed in the midst of vague subconsciousness, but viewers sometimes like such vague things to guess, to think about, and seem to follow in daydreaming.
4, LOT 107. VICTOR TARDIEU (1870-1937)
Teabreak. Oil on canvas. 81×65 cm
Exhibition / Reference: Certificate of provenance by Mr. de Coninck, director of Galerie Jonas, who presented the works in a monographic exhibition titled “Victor Tardieu, 1870-1937” in December 1977, displayed under the number 25.
Sold for 81,900 EUR
The subject of women in gardens was a favorite of Victor Tardieu from 1911 to 1914, when he and his family spent the summer at Orlines, near Lyon. The memory of “the house where the vast garden reigned” reminded young Jean Tardieu of the impression of a “paradise” land. The green space inspired the artist to create several outdoor works with his wife, Caroline Luigi, and friends. Using a vivid palette and adopting a style close to Impressionism, these works are a testament to the artist’s position in the artistic field at the turn of the century.
5, LOT 132. LÊ PHỔ (1907-2001)
Flower still life. Oil on canvas. 44×25 cm
Provenance: Private collection in Vietnam
Sold for 72,800 EUR
Le Pho was born in 1907 in Ha Dong. His father was Le Hoan, a mandarin of An Nam (Ha Tay province) under the reign of King Ham Nghi (1884-1885). Le Pho became an orphan at the age of eight after his parents passed away. Because of the lack of parental love, for Le Pho, his “extremely beautiful years” were when he studied at Indochina Fine Arts College. Le Pho loved his teacher, Mr. Victor Tardieu and his second teacher, Joseph Inguimberty.
In 1931, Le Pho was chosen by teacher Victor Tardieu to be an assistant at the Exhibition of Colonial Countries taking place in Paris in 1931. This was the first time young Le Pho went abroad. In 1933, he returned to Vietnam to teach. During that time, he had the opportunity to go to Hue and painted portraits of King Bao Dai and Queen Nam Phuong. After four years returning to Vietnam, as Artistic Director of the Indochina display area at the Paris International Exhibition in 1937, Le Pho returned to France from Vietnam and decided to stay in Paris, considering this place his second hometown.
6, LOT 136. VŨ CAO ĐÀM (1908-2000)
Conversation. Oil on canvas. 60×49 cm
Provenance: Private collection in Vietnam
Sold for 61,100 EUR
Vu Cao Dam loved the theme of couples. He had several series on this theme. For example: Jade ring, Conversation, Returning man, Hand… “Conversation” is one of the very beautiful and typical paintings by Vu Cao Dam on the theme of conversation. The image of a man and woman in familiar Vietnamese costumes with a horse in the distance… delicately describes the long distance the young man has gone through.
Since moving to Vence, and starting to work in the Impressionist style, his characters sometimes appear in very special architectural contexts. They are a mix of styles between his hometown, Vietnam, and where he lived – Vence. They seem to had been created in a dreamy subconscious between the past and present. The roof structure is in the style of a “Vietnamese village communal house roof”, but the window where the young woman is standing seems to be very similar to the architecture of houses overlooking the French coast. The white color of the walls is also typical of European architecture. It could be seen that in his mind he never lost the nostalgia for his homeland. He only had a few paintings of the landscape of Vence, all of his remaining works are about Vietnam, the beloved homeland.
7, LOT 133. LÊ PHỔ (1907-2001)
Flower still life. Oil on canvas. 44×25 cm
Provenance: Private collection in Vietnam
Sold for 55,900 EUR
Flower still life is probably the subject that Le Pho painted the most. The flowers he often used seem to be colorful. From tulips to roses, chrysanthemums, lilies, daffodils… he arranged and placed them reasonably and harmoniously. His flower paintings exude splendor and royalty. The oil material seems to suit this brilliance very well. Just one flower painting by Le Pho makes the space of the house bright and full of vitality.
8, LOT 129. PHẠM HẬU (1903-1995)
Goldfish. Lacquer. 71×121 cm
Provenance: Private collection from Bretagne, purchased by the current owner’s grandfather when he worked in Saigon as an engineer at a cold ice factory from 1947 – 1954 and later transferred to the descendants.
Sold for 54,600 EUR
Goldfish belong to the same family as carp and are a symbol of prosperity and luck according to Eastern beliefs. Therefore, paintings depicting goldfish and carp are very popular in Vietnam and China.
In 2019, Pham Hau’s four-panel lacquer screen Nine Carps in the Lake was sold for $1.68 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong. This was the first time a lacquer work by Pham Hau reached a million-dollar price.
The lacquer painting Scène d’aquarium avec poissons rouges d’abondance by Pham Hau in Millon’s auction also has 9 goldfish gathering. According to feng shui concepts, the number 9 is the number of the king, long-lasting, eternal, and a symbol of luck and wealth.
During his career, Pham Hau created paintings of goldfish and carp (according to the tastes and demand of the time). Most of the painters specializing in lacquer materials during the same period as Pham Hau also made paintings on this theme.
With a fairly large size, 71×21 cm, signed Pham Hau and a seal in the lower right corner, this is a lacquer work completed with the technique of a meticulous, thorough master on a rich color palette.
9, LOT 106. VICTOR TARDIEU (1870-1937)
The hammock. Oil on canvas. 47×47 cm
Provenance: Galerie Atlantis, 33 rue de Seine, Paris, exhibited in the show “Victor Tardieu 1870-1937” at Galerie Jonas in 1977, with the number 44 in the catalogue.
Sold for 53,300 EUR.
Another work has the same theme of teabreak in the garden and shows two female characters, including a third female character in a hammock on the right side of the work, also created by Victor Tardieu and titled “White in sunshine”, displayed in the same exhibition at Galerie Jonas, under number 45.
The painting “White in sunshine” makes us think that the work “Hammock” was made by Victor Tardieu as a study of a female character languishing in a hammock, preparing for the work mentioned above. Indeed, the woman wearing the same white outfit and large hat, in a similar position, resting her head on her hand, is certainly reminiscent of the figure on the right in “White in sunshine”.
10, LOT 141. LƯƠNG XUÂN NHỊ (1914-2006)
Yellow daisy. Oil on canvas. 49×35 cm
Provenance: The work was originally one of three wedding gifts that artist Luong Xuan Nhi gave to the wedding of the children of a friend he was close to. This friend is the owner of a cafe in Hanoi. Many years ago, these works were given to the son of the family to keep. Currently, the painting belongs to a private collection in Hanoi.
Sold for 52,000 EUR
The work was created around the 1980s, this was the time when artist Luong Xuan Nhi painted with a relaxed and peaceful mind. His concerns about the topics and style, whether simple or complex, seem to be expressed in a calm and gentle manner. Whether it’s joy or worry, he balanced his emotions.
At first glance, the viewer has a feeling of clarity, peace, and purity. The chrysanthemum flowers are more evocative than descriptive. The background shows light delicately, changing soft green tones with the fabric behind the vase.
