The lot introduced here, not only illustrates the extraordinary talent of one of the greatest artist in Vietnamese lacquer, but also shows two rare characteristics, one technical and the other, aesthetic. It is what confers to the work its uniqueness.

On a technical level, we learn more about the commonly used practice followed by the masters in lacquer. First, the execution of a drawing on paper, a kind of sketch to outline the main characters, the composition and the proportions. Afterwards, the use of tracing paper to capture the main drawing and replicate it on the panel to be lacquered. The next step will consist in a slow process of applying layers after layers of lacquer, allowing at every step a drying period. The work is precise and meticulous working from the black and white sketch to construct a symphony of colours from pigments in the medium, mixed or on its own. Every artist keeps, very preciously, the tracing papers to be able to reproduce the subject individually like Nguyen Sang or Nguyen Tu Nghiem among others, or to set in a more consequent work like Nguyen Gia Tri for example.

On an aesthetic level, it is first important to remark that, and it is exceptional, the artist doesn't use his unconditional love of his life, his wife, Hoang Tuyet Trinh (1918-2012) as a model. Here we have a different lady: the lines on her face remain unknown, the body appears more voluminous, a choice his family explained while traveling in Poland where the artist received a prize in 1958. The painter was fascinated by the corpulence of some of the women in Central Europe, a corpulence so contrasting compared to his usual models. Hoang Tich Chu kept a photo of him surrounded by these rounded ladies he liked to show to his visitors, revelling in the exotic differences to his native Vietnam.

Jean-François Hubert
Senior Expert, Vietnamese Art