Le Thi Luu (Vietnam/France, 1911-1988) painting at L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts de l'Indochine (The School of Fine Arts of Indochine), Hanoi, circa 1930.

Le Thi Luu was born on 19 January in Tho Khoi which was the province of Ha Bac, North Vietnam. Her father, Le Van Que was a civil servant, and because of his position, he travelled extensively in Tonkin, bringing his family along with him. Being very traditional, Le Van Que would insist that his daughters keep their hair long, wear black trousers and lacquer their teeth, all of which were age-old Vietnamese customs.

With such austere upbringing, Le Thi Luu grew to be a very delicate child and a good student as she finished her primary education at the age of 14. She did not care much for a conventional academic education but wanted very much to be a painter and at the tender age of 14, made the decision to prepare for the entrance examinations of the L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts de l'Indochine, the first school of Fine Arts started by the French painter Victor Tardieu in the year 1924.

Le Thi Luu herself recalled two incidents at an early age which contributed to her vocation as a painter. She had once, by chance, saw a photograph of a young Laotian girl in a book, and lying beside it was the enlarged version of the same photograph. Quite puzzled, Le Thi Luu asked her teacher about this strange alchemy before her, and she was completely taken aback when the teacher explained the science of photography, of which duplication and enlargement were part and parcel of this marvellous art.

The second incident occurred while she was visiting a friend in a theatre in Hanoi. On that occasion, she saw, on the stage, a man laying patches of colour with a brush on a canvas. Rather amazed, the curious 14-year-old asked, "What are you doing?" To that, the man answered, " You would understand better if you take a step further and look at it again." As Le Thi Luu retreated, she discovered, much to her amazement that what previously seemed to be a formless riot of colours took the shape of the magnificent landscape depicting the Hoan Kiem lake as well as the Den Ngoc Son temple in Hanoi. From that moment, Le Thi Luu decided that she would dedicate her life to the pursuit of the translation of reality through painting and more importantly, an advocation for the power of imagination.