Archive
Nguyen Trung (Vietnam, B. 1940) L’élégante Dame de Hué (The Elegant Lady of Hué) signed ‘ng. Trung’ and dated ’96’ (lower right) lacquer on panel 120 x 80 cm. (47 1/4 x 31 1/2 in.) Painted in 1996 Provenance Acquired directly from the artist Collection of Boi Tran Garden, Hue, Vietnam Christie’s Hong Kong, 25 November 2018 Nguyen Trung’s L’élégante Dame de Hué (The Elegant Lady …
Nguyen Phan Chanh’s beautiful calligraphy illustrated on his painting La Couture (Sewing) 裁就相思字， 叮咛寄远怀。 月明秋夜永， 夫婿未归来 I have sewn my love into the clothes made for you. I repeat thousands of words to express my concern for your long journey. This autumn night sky with a bright moon seems to never die, But my husband has not yet returned. Nguyen Phan Chanh’s La Couture (Sewing), …
Pham Hau (Vietnam, 1903-1995) Thay Pagoda signed with a stamp of the artist Lacquer on panel 46 × 62,7 cm (18⅛ × 24⅝ in.) Executed circa 1942 Estimate EUR 45,000 – EUR 65,000 Price Realised EUR 113,400 at Christie’s Paris, Art d’Asie, 14 June 2023 Property from the collection of Maurice Colin (1906-1994) PHAM HAU OU LE TRIOMPHE ÉLÉGANT DE LA FERVEUR ET DE L’HUMILITÉ …
Pham Hau (Vietnam, 1903-1995) Five Maidens Signed with a stamp of the artist Four lacquer on panels Overall dimensions 120 × 146,8 x 1,9 cm (47¼ × 57¾ × ¾ in.) Executed in 1937 Estimate EUR 120,000 – EUR 180,000 Price Realised EUR 529,200 at Christie’s Paris, Art d’Asie, 14 June 2023 Property from the collection of Maurice Colin (1906-1994) PHAM HAU OU LE TRIOMPHE …
Vu Cao Dam (Vietnam, 1908-2000) Chrysanthemums signed and dated ‘Vu Cao Dam 1941’ and signed in Chinese (lower right) gouache on silk 44 x 59.5 cm. (17 3/8 x 23 5/8 in.) Painted in 1941 Price Realised HKD 200,000 at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 November 2015 Almost two decades ago, I asked this question of one of the great figures of Vietnamese painting, “according to …
Henri Matisse (France, 1869-1954) Odalisque couchée aux magnolias signed ‘Henri – Matisse’ (lower right) oil on canvas 60.5 x 81.1 cm. (23 ¾ x 31 7/8 in.) Painted in Nice, 1923 Price Realised USD 80,750,000 at Christie’s New York, 8 May 2018 Wanda de Guébriant has confirmed the authenticity of this work. Henri Matisse was the modernist heir par excellence to the Orientalist tradition in French art …
Jean-Michel Basquiat (America, 1960-1988) Untitled (Pablo Picasso) acrylic and oil stick on metal 35 5/8 x 35 5/8in. (90.5 x 90.5cm.) Executed in 1984 Price Realised GBP 6,462,500 at Christie’s London, 28 June 2023 Included in the 2017-2018 retrospective Basquiat: Boom for Real at the Barbican Gallery, London, Untitled (Pablo Picasso) (1984) is a bold tribute from one twentieth-century titan to another. Painted and drawn in oil, acrylic and …
The story of one of the 20th century’s most widely recognised and loved works, Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), which realised $90.3 million in November 2018 to become one of the most expensive works of art by a living artist ever sold at auction. David Hockney (English, B 1937) Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) acrylic on canvas 84 x …
Willem de Kooning (Netherlands/America, 1904-1997) Interchange oil on canvas 200.7 x 175.3 cm. (79 x 69 in.) Painted in 1955 A founding father of the Abstract Expressionist movement, Willem de Kooning, along with painters like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Franz Klein, permanently changed the history of modern art, relocating its centre from Paris to New York after World War II. However abstract, his work …
An iconic Andy Warhol silkscreen of the movie star Marilyn Monroe sold for USD 195,000,000 at Christie’s New York, 9 May 2022, a record price for a work by a US artist and the highest price ever paid for a piece of 20th-century art. Shot Sage Blue Marilyn (1964) is being sold by the Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation in Zürich, Switzerland, and all the …
Portrait of Japanese Painter Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita (Japan-France, 1886-1968) photographed by Pierre Vauthey. Portrait de Jeune Fille à Hanoi (Portrait of a Young Girl in Hanoi) is one of Foujita’s masterpieces illustrating the beauty of a Vietnamese lady. After having studied Western-style painting in Japan, Foujita travelled to Paris, where he encountered the international modern art scene of the Montparnasse neighbourhood and developed an eclectic style …
Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita (Japan-France, 1886-1968) Portrait de Jeune Fille à Hanoi (Portrait of a Young Girl in Hanoi) signed in Japanese; signed, inscribed and dated ‘Foujita Hanoi 1941’ (lower left) ink, watercolour and charcoal on paper 27 x 24 cm. (10 5/8 x 9 1/2 in.) Painted in 1941 Price Realised HKD 350,000 at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 May 2018
Leonardo da Vinci (Italy, 1452-1519) Joconde (Mona Lisa) oil on poplar panel 77 x 53 cm. (30 x 21 in.) painted circa 1503-1519 Collection of Louvre Museum, Paris, France Mai Trung Thu’s La Joconde (Mona Lisa) In Vietnamese art history, Mai Trung Thu discovering and visiting often the original Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci at the Louvre, from his stay in Paris in 1937 …
V-J Day in Times Square, a photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt, was published in Life magazine in 1945 with the caption, “In New York’s Times Square, a white-clad girl clutches her purse and skirt as an uninhibited sailor plants his lips squarely on hers” Portrait of Photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt (German, 1898-1995) This photograph, taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt for Life magazine, went around the world. Taken in …
In this 15th-century ensemble commissioned by the Le Viste family of Lyon, each tapestry represents one of the five senses: smell, sight, hearing, touch and taste. La Dame à la licorne (The Lady and the Unicorn) tapestry 377 x 473 cm. Painted between 1484 and 1500 Each sense is portrayed through the recurrence of a lady, magnificently dressed and adorned with jewels, and a unicorn, …
It’s possible to travel only through art and dreams. And what a journey it is! Follow me on this painting by Henri Rousseau… Henri Rousseau (France, 1844-1910) Le Rêve / Le Songe or Rêve exotique (The Dream) oil on canvas 204.5 cm × 298.5 cm (80.5 in × 117.5 in) painted in 1910 You probably know this painter better as the douanier Rousseau. He owes this nickname to his first job: …
Vincent Van Gogh painted the starry night motif several times: over the Rhône, above a café terrace… Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890) The Starry Night oil on canvas 73.7 cm × 92.1 cm (29.01 in × 36.26 in) Painted in 1889 Vincent Van Gogh painted the starry night motif several times: over the Rhône, above a café terrace… In a letter to his sister in September 1888, he wrote: “Often, it …
Mai Trung Thu (Vietnam/France, 1906-1980) Jeune Femme Endormie (Young Lady Sleeping) signed ‘MAI THU’ and dated in Chinese ’67’ (upper right) ink and gouache on silk laid on board in the artist’s original frame 15 x 18 cm. (5 7/8 x 7 1/8 in.) Painted in 1967 one seal of the artist Price Realised HKD 300,000 at Christie’s Hong Kong, 25 November 2018 The Delicate …
Nguyen Trung (Vietnam, B. 1940) Maternity and the Sea signed and dated ‘NgTrung90’ (lower right) oil on canvas 190 x 130 cm. (74 3/4 x 51 in.) painted in 1990 Provenance Acquired directly from the artist Collection of Boi Tran Garden, Hue, Vietnam Private Collection, Hong Kong Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 06 October 2009
General Vo Nguyen Giap (Vietnam, 1911-2013) and the Vietnamese Fine Arts Delegation on a business trip in the Soviet Union around 1958-1959; standing from left to right: Mai Van Hien, X, X, To Huu, Phan Ke An, Diep Minh Chau and seated from left to right: Tran Van Can, Vo Nguyen Giap, Luong Xuan Nhi.
An honorary certificate for Nguyen Do Cung’s valuable creations: the Resistance paintings subjected to heighten the Resistance spirits. Certificate signed by President Ho Chi Minh and dated 15 June 1948. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM INDEPENDENCE – LIBERTY – HAPPINESS PRIME MINISTER PRESIDENT OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM AWARD CERTIFICATE MR. Nguyen Do Cung President of South Central Resistance Culture Association in recognition of valuable …
Boi Tran (Vietnam, B. 1957) Praying oil on canvas 40 x 30 cm. (15 3/4 x 11 13/16 in.) painted circa 2000 The work is accompanied by a photograph of Boi Tran posing in front of her work at Minh Chau Art Gallery in Hanoi, circa 2000. Provenance Collection of the artist Collection of Boi Tran Garden, Hue, Vietnam Private Collection, Asia Boi Tran posing …
Rosa Bonheur (France, 1822-1899) Labourage nivernais (Ploughing in Nevers) oil on canvas 133 × 260 cm. (52 × 100 in.) painted in 1849 Collection of Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France Rosa Bonheur was an exceptional painter who broke all the codes of her time. She specialized in animal painting, a genre hitherto reserved for men. It wasn’t easy to observe animals in a long dress. Indeed, …
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (France, 1864-1901) Jeanne avril dansant (Jane Avril Dancing) Oil on cardboard 85 x 45 cm. (33.46 x 17.71 in.) painted circa 1892 Collection of Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France While Toulouse-Lautrec is accustomed to painting Montmartre cabaret dancers such as La Goulue, Jane here surprises us with the particular movement of her legs, a body that seems to dislocate itself. Jane Avril, nicknamed …
Firm of Peter Carl Fabergé (Russian, ca. 1870-1920) Gatchina Palace Egg gold, enamel, silver-gilt, portrait diamonds, rock crystal and seed pearls executed in 1901 Provenance Acquired by Henry Walters, 1930 Collection of Walters Art Museum Fabergé And The Russian Crafts Tradition: An Empire’s Legacy Gatchina Palace Egg House of Fabergé (Russian, est. 1842) (Manufacturer) Mikhail Perkhin (Russian, 1860-1903) (Workmaster) Peter Carl Fabergé (1846-1920) (Jeweler) As …
Jean Simeon Chardin (France, 1699-1779) La raie (The Ray) oil on canvas 114 cm × 146 cm (45 in × 57 in) painted in 1728 Collection of Louvre Museum, Paris, France At the Louvre, there’s an enigmatic smile that’s almost as successful as the Mona Lisa: Chardin’s Stingray. In 1728, Chardin achieved the feat of seducing the Académie Royale, which inducted him the very same …
Caravaggio (Italy, 1571-1610) David with the Head of Goliath oil on canvas 200 x 100 cm (78.7 x 39.3 in.) painted circa 1609-1610 Collection of Galleria Borghese, Rome Caravaggio (Italy, 1571-1610) David with the Head of Goliath oil on poplar wood 91.2 x 116.2 cm. (35.9 x 45.7 in.) painted circa 1600-1601 The 17th-century Baroque painter Caravaggio seemed fascinated by the biblical episode of David …
Dorothea Lange’s iconic 1936 photograph of Florence Owens Thompson, Migrant Mother Dorothea Lange (America, 1895-1965) Migrant Mother 28.3 cm × 21.8 cm (11.1 in × 8.6 in) 1936 Collection of Museum of Modern Art, New York In 1936, the photographer worked for the Farm Security Administration. At the request of the Roosevelt government, she took documentary photographs to document farmers’ poverty during the Great Depression. The woman holding her baby in her …
David Hockney (Britain, B. 1937) A Bigger Splash Acrylic on canvas 242.5 cm × 243.9 cm (95.5 in × 96.0 in) painted in 1967 Collection of Tate Britain, London Invite you to delve into Hockney’s “pool paintings” series, in which, from 1964 onwards, the painter almost obsessively depicts swimming pools. But why such an obsession? When he discovered California, and more specifically Los Angeles, where he settled in the 60s, Hockney, …
