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* MAI TRUNG THU (1906-1980)
Joie de vivre I, 1963
Ink and color on silk, signed and dated lower right. In original frame by the artist
13 3/4 x 37 3/8 in.
The work presented here was originally the central panel of a large triptych entitled La joie de vivre, which had to be divided into three separate parts due to its considerable original dimensions. The large original frame, visible in the archive photograph, was replaced by three individual frames.
A letter dated January 27, 1973, written by Jean- François Apesteguy, the painter’s gallerist, specifies that our central panel was not signed originally.
The signature and date currently visible on the work were therefore added later by the artist.
Since the title written on the back of the frame is in the artist’s own hand, we have chosen to preserve it.
However, the Mai-Thu Committee informs us that the current numbering is illogical and most likely the result of an inadvertent mix-up of the labels affixed to the back of each work.
A certificate of inclusion in the catalogue raisonné of the artist currently being prepared by Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier
for the Association “Artistes d'Asie à Paris” will be given to the buyer.
PROVENANCE
Private collection Vivien, Paris
Private collection Weinstein, Antwerp, Belgium, 1973
Private collection, Los Angeles (by descent from the above)
EXHIBITION
1963, “Les Enfants de Mai-Thu”, Galerie du Péristyle, Paris (November 20 - December 20)
Joie de vivre I, now up for sale, is the central part of a triptych created by Mai Trung Thứ in 1963. The other two parts are already known on the secondary market (ill. 1| 2), including the one on the left, rediscovered by Aguttes in 2020 (ill. 2).
Mai Trung Thứ produced compositions featuring children throughout his career, with a particular focus from 1960 onwards, when the artist signed a collaboration with UNICEF for its “Aid to Unfortunate Children” campaign and for greeting card designs1.
In 1963, the artist created a masterful work entitled Joie de Vivre (ill. 4). Presented at the exhibition Les Enfants de Mai-Thu at the Galerie du Péristyle in Paris (ill. 3), it depicts a lively scene of children with numerous characters.
In the form of a triptych, it consists of three paintings on silk, brought together in a large frame designed by the artist himself. A photograph preserved in the archives of the Mai Thu Committee allows us to appreciate the exceptional dimensions of this artistic feat. Although the triptych was quickly dismantled and its parts dispersed, the side panels appeared on the secondary market in Paris in 2014 and 2020, but the central panel remained missing. The latter has finally emerged from obscurity, having been kept in a private collection for over 50 years. Let us hope that the upcoming sale will finally allow the triptych to be reconstituted, in accordance with the painter's original wish.
1 La collaboration entre Mai Trung Thứ et l’UNICEF dure 5 ans : de 1960 à 1965.
Anne Fort, Mai-Thu: inventing tradition: a Vietnamese painter in France, [exposition, Almine Rech, Paris, 7 septembre - 8 octobre 2022], Almine Rech Editions, Paris, France, 2023, p. 132.
Joie de vivre I, 1963
Ink and color on silk, signed and dated lower right. In original frame by the artist
13 3/4 x 37 3/8 in.
The work presented here was originally the central panel of a large triptych entitled La joie de vivre, which had to be divided into three separate parts due to its considerable original dimensions. The large original frame, visible in the archive photograph, was replaced by three individual frames.
A letter dated January 27, 1973, written by Jean- François Apesteguy, the painter’s gallerist, specifies that our central panel was not signed originally.
The signature and date currently visible on the work were therefore added later by the artist.
Since the title written on the back of the frame is in the artist’s own hand, we have chosen to preserve it.
However, the Mai-Thu Committee informs us that the current numbering is illogical and most likely the result of an inadvertent mix-up of the labels affixed to the back of each work.
A certificate of inclusion in the catalogue raisonné of the artist currently being prepared by Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier
for the Association “Artistes d'Asie à Paris” will be given to the buyer.
PROVENANCE
Private collection Vivien, Paris
Private collection Weinstein, Antwerp, Belgium, 1973
Private collection, Los Angeles (by descent from the above)
EXHIBITION
1963, “Les Enfants de Mai-Thu”, Galerie du Péristyle, Paris (November 20 - December 20)
Joie de vivre I, now up for sale, is the central part of a triptych created by Mai Trung Thứ in 1963. The other two parts are already known on the secondary market (ill. 1| 2), including the one on the left, rediscovered by Aguttes in 2020 (ill. 2).
Mai Trung Thứ produced compositions featuring children throughout his career, with a particular focus from 1960 onwards, when the artist signed a collaboration with UNICEF for its “Aid to Unfortunate Children” campaign and for greeting card designs1.
In 1963, the artist created a masterful work entitled Joie de Vivre (ill. 4). Presented at the exhibition Les Enfants de Mai-Thu at the Galerie du Péristyle in Paris (ill. 3), it depicts a lively scene of children with numerous characters.
In the form of a triptych, it consists of three paintings on silk, brought together in a large frame designed by the artist himself. A photograph preserved in the archives of the Mai Thu Committee allows us to appreciate the exceptional dimensions of this artistic feat. Although the triptych was quickly dismantled and its parts dispersed, the side panels appeared on the secondary market in Paris in 2014 and 2020, but the central panel remained missing. The latter has finally emerged from obscurity, having been kept in a private collection for over 50 years. Let us hope that the upcoming sale will finally allow the triptych to be reconstituted, in accordance with the painter's original wish.
1 La collaboration entre Mai Trung Thứ et l’UNICEF dure 5 ans : de 1960 à 1965.
Anne Fort, Mai-Thu: inventing tradition: a Vietnamese painter in France, [exposition, Almine Rech, Paris, 7 septembre - 8 octobre 2022], Almine Rech Editions, Paris, France, 2023, p. 132.