The world record for the artist Nguyen Phan Chanh’s Les Couturières (Seamstresses at Work) with HKD 10,930,000 (USD 1,396,144) at Christie's Hong Kong, 3 December 2020.
Nguyen Phan Chanh (1892-1984)
Les Couturières (Seamstresses at Work)
signed and dated 'Hong Nan Early Summer of Gengwu Year' in Chinese (upper left); inscribed in Chinese (upper right); titled and inscribed 'Les Couturières 102 5 x 93' (on the reverse)
ink and gouache on silk in its original Gadin frame
65.5 x 88 cm. (25 3/4 x 34 5/8 in.)
Painted in 1930
one seal of the artist
Collection of Jean-Marc Lefèvre, Paris, France
Christie's Hong Kong, 3 December 2020Exhibited
Exposition Coloniale Internationale Paris 1931
Christie's Paris Specialist Fiona Braslau and Collector Jean-Marc Lefèvre at his apartment in Paris with the world record for the artist Nguyen Phan Chanh’s Les Couturières (Seamstresses at Work) in 2018.
Nguyen Phan Chanh’s Les Couturières (Seamstresses at Work) at Christie's Hong Kong, 3 December 2020
"Nguyen Phan Chanh and Sanyu are the two great masters of 20th century Asian painting. Both fervent calligraphers, their subject is inscribed before it is described.
Phan Chanh: a supreme talent, a refined genius dedicated to the sincerity of depiction. “Les Couturières” are, for me, the most beautiful work by the artist: the serenity of the scene, the gentle dignity of the women, the colours… and a magnificent text which delights me. An unparalleled marvel"
Nguyen Phan Chanh’s Les Couturières (Seamstresses at Work) exhibited at Colonial Exposition, Paris, France, 1931.
NGUYEN PHAN CHANH, LES COUTURIÈRES, 1930: THE EPICUREAN OF SIMPLICITY
As early as 1929, Victor Tardieu knew that the participation to the Colonial Exhibition - planned for 1931 in Paris - would be decisive for the future of "his" Hanoi School of Fine Arts : it could mean the dierence between stagnation or success... to be confirmed, as the idea to create a true modern and ambitious Vietnamese painting may seem excessive.
The first years of teaching since 1925 have certainly revealed talents among the students but the director of the School knows that in art there is no talent without an audience. Their audience in Hanoi remains very restricted. For the great exhibition in Paris, where a large public is expected, Tardieu calls upon his best students, including the oldest among them, Nguyen Phan Chanh. His request is received with unanimous enthusiasm.
Painted during the summer of 1930, Les Couturières will take part in the Colonial Exhibition (which will welcome 8 million visitors) and will be one of the major Asian works presented there.
Its dimension, 65.5 x 88 cm., is exceptional - the artist usually uses smaller sizes- it has kept its original Gadin frame (named after the Parisian framer in charge of the works presented in Paris) as well as its specific assembly demanded by the artist : the painting is off center, set lower to create a double rectangle, the one above being the largest.
The genius of the artist is expressed in the extraordinary geometrical intricate composition that characterizes the works during his first period: the construction of a double triangle (each of the angles being represented by the black ink), the subtle additions of a circle at the top left, the airy rectangle in the center of the background but also, a triangle pointing upwards, slightly to the right, vertical or horizontal lines structure the space not unlike a Kandinsky to subtly bring us to these four beautiful, dignified, attentive and busy young women.
In a poetic and magnificent text written in beautiful calligraphy, the painter explains the feeling they inspire:
" Their elegance and their purity are unmatched.
Which lady is the most desired ?
Like the silk they are sewing,
Each is unique and beautiful in their own way."
The choice of words: "elegance", "purity", "desired", "unique", "beautiful", creates an earthly mysticism to sacralize a voluntary monotony of the monochrome tones in the gouache and adorns these young women with an elegant sensuality found also in the silk used by the artist as a comparison.
Nguyen Phan Chanh is not nostalgic of the past and instead conveys a fascinated praise for timeless beauty. The painter knows it: time is only a thief of love.
Jean-François Hubert
Senior Expert, Vietnamese Art
