Tran Dinh Thuc Doan | Vietnam Art & Cultural Archive

October 29, 2022 Archive, Documentaries

In Hanoi in 1943, Nguyen Gia Tri met a highly regarded art critic, Claude Manoudeau, during the Salon Unique where the top artists of the time were selected to exhibit. The review of the exhibition by Claude Mahoudeau captured the strong impression that Nguyen Gia Tri made: “Here at the front of the room are the lacquers of Mr Nguyen-Gia-Tri.”

We have the good fortune to come across a passage written by the Goncourt brothers that could well have been for these lacquers: “He has redefined grace…, this grace is the little something that clothes a woman of charm, of coquetry, of a beauty beyond physical beauty. This grace is a subtlety that resembles the smile of a line, the soul of a form, the spirituality of an object. All the seductions of the female at ease, the langour, the idleness, the strut, the lengthening, the nonchalance, the cadence of the poses, the suppleness of the feminine body and the play of the slender fingers on the grip of the fans.”

There is nothing left to do but admire the creations of an artist whose contribution to this exhibition is considerable. The artist’s works dazzled everyone. Claude Mahoudeau and Nguyen Gia Trí’s friendship continued to blossom. The relationship deepens in companionship.

Indochine, Salon Unique 1943, Issue No. 171, 9 October 1943, featuring a drawing by Nguyen Tuong Lan (Vietnam, 1906-1946) on the cover page.

Portrait of Empress Nam Phuong (1913–1963), the last Empress of the Nguyễn Dynasty, was executed in Hue on 24 March 1934 by the French painter-traveller Léa Lafugie, on the occasion of the enthronement ceremony of the Empress according to the imperial decree conferring the title of Empress Nam Phuong.

The work was previously presented at Drouot Paris @drouot_paris | Boisgirard-Antonini, Arts de l’Asie et de l’Orient, on 14 June 2019 (lot 336).

LÉA LAFUGIE (1880–1972)
Portrait of Empress Nam Phuong (1913–1963), on the Day of her Enthronement, Hué, 24 March 1934
signed (lower right); inscribed and dated ‘Hué, 24 mars 1934’ (lower right)
ink, colours and white gouache on paper
46.5 × 31 cm. (18¼ × 12¼ in.)
on the seal of the artist

Drouot Paris | Boisgirard-Antonini, Paris, Arts de l’Asie et de l’Orient, 14 June 2019, lot 336.

Nguyen Cao Thuong
Dòng Chảy Không Ngắt Quãng Của Lịch Sử (The Unbroken Continuum of History)
signed and dated (lower right)
oil on canvas
123 × 290 cm. (48 3/8 × 114 1/8 in.)
Executed in 1989–1990

Nguyen Tuong Lan Publication Salon Salon Unique 1943