In the thirties, the painter Le Pho created a particularly captivating series of tender scenes featuring mother and child, done in his favored mediums of gouache as well as ink on silk. After some time spent living in France and through his travels around Europe in 1931- 1932, his Maternity scenes were created, many of which were inspired by religious depictions of the Virgin Mary and the infant Christ. Back in France where he settled permanently in 1937, Le Pho progressively modified his basic representation while continually refining his artistic technique and being gradually absorbed the geography and the history of his new environment. In this extraordinary painting, you can see on one hand the strong hold of tradition as the mother still wears her Vietnamese ao dai and a typically Vietnamese shawl. On the other hand, she does not, as one would expect, wear the traditional Vietnamese headband. Further encapsulating the transition between tradition and modernity and between the generations, the child wears his traditional Vietnamese clothes but has freed himself from his mother and, also, the landscape tends towards a darker and more Western style. Le Pho with his steady heady, has not only signed, but has also dated his work. The inclusion of dating is a rare occurrence, and marks a significant time for a man who left his country, suffered war, but also maintains a hope that kindness and beauty will save the world

Jean-François Hubert
Senior Expert, Vietnamese Art