Hoang Tich Chu (Vietnam, 1912-2003) at Hanoi Fine Arts School, Hanoi, 1958. Hoang Tich Chu is a significant artist amongst his contemporaries Nguyen Tien Chung and Nguyen Khang and is best known for his lacquer works. Born near Bac Ninh, he studied at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine and graduated in 1941. Versatile across the mediums, he was part of the nationalist movements of his time. In 1945, he fought against the French presence in Vietnam and actively campaigned for the Vietminh. After a brief period spent imprisoned, he taught lacquer painting at the Vietnam College of Fine Arts and eventually became the director of the Hanoi Institute of Applied Arts. Behind the appearance of an easy life, the artist lived around two passions in his life: his wife Hoang Tuyet Trinh (Vietnamese, 1917-2012) and lacquer paintings.