The Review
Aguttes and the Printemps Asiatique Discover the program !
June 5 to 14, 2025 in Paris
June 11 to 13, 2025, at Aguttes

Tiếng Việt
French
中文

A historic leader in the Asian Art market, with a strong specialization in the work of artists who came to Paris from Asia at the beginning of the 20 th century, our auction house is once again partnering the Printemps Asiatique with a program focused on the transmission and safeguarding of an entire heritage. We also offering two public auctions : one dedicated to Asian Painters that took place the May 13, 2025, prior to the opening of Printemps Asiatique, and another to Asian Arts on June 12, 2025.

Aguttes, the art and passion of transmission

Aesthetics of the sacred in Eastern Asia, the evolution of bronze work in Asia over the centuries
Wednesday, June 11, 2025, 12pm - 2pm
25 places

A presentation by Clémentine Guyot, Director of the Asian Arts Department.

« In Asia, the evolution of bronze work, from the sacred to the profane figure, constitutes a fascinating journey that reveals not only technical changes but also profound cultural and social transformations. »
— Clémentine Guyot, Director of the Asian Arts Department with Expert Marine Bassal-Biron.

This presentation will focus on a group of seven Asian bronzes. Unseen on the art market, these sculptures date from the 16 th to 18 th centuries. It will be presented to you these extremely rare objects, generously loaned by two separate private collectors, to the public and art lovers alike.

SINO-TIBETAN, QING DYNASTY, 18th CENTURY Gilt bronze statue of Shakyamuni.

Alix Aymé, her research into lacquer work and her role at the Indochina School of Fine Arts : from a craft to an art in its own right

A talk and dedication by Werner Gagneron, author of Alix Aymé: An Indochinese Passion, and hosted by Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier, expert in modern Asian art.
Wednesday June 11, 6pm - 8pm
30 places

In this biography, Werner Gagneron retraces the adventurous, passionate, and at times dramatic life of a remarkable yet still largely unknown artist, relying solely on authentic documents.

A student of Maurice Denis and the Ateliers d’Art Sacré, Alix Aymé (1894–1989) spent nearly twenty years in what was then known as French Indochina. In the 1930s, she collaborated with the School of Fine Arts in Hanoi, where she played a key role in the revival of lacquer painting. Captivated by the medium she described as magical, she helped shape what would become the national art of Vietnam. A tireless traveler, she journeyed through China, Cambodia, Laos, Japan, Korea, and even Manchuria. After returning to France in 1945, she continued to create a unique body of work, crafting lacquer pieces of delicate poetry, imbued with the lessons she had learned in Asia.

Movie night : The Revival of Modern Art in Indochina

(reruns of the October 11, 2024 and January 7, 2025 symposiums)
With Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier, expert in Modern Asian Art, Director of the Fine Arts and Asian Arts Department at Aguttes
Thursday, June 12, 7pm - 9:30pm
80 places

« Passionate about this artistic period, my pleasure today is to contribute to shedding as much factual light as possible on the history of Vietnamese art. To this end, I have brought together in Hanoi descendants of artists, teachers and key players from the years 1925-1945, so that they can publicly evoke family memories and share, thanks to their vivid memories, details and anecdotes about the lives of their forebears and their artistic training... A single watchword today : talk about art and art history ! »
— Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier, Hanoi, January 7 2025.

In order to enrich our knowledge of Vietnamese art history in the period 1925-1945, with particular reference to the Indochina School of Fine Arts, We filmed the rich exchanges that took place during the colloquium held in Paris last October, then in Hanoi in January. The evening of June 12 will provide an opportunity to discover the highlights.


Extract from the colloquium on the theme Évariste Jonchère, a mandate also dedicated to the development of the decorative arts.
From left to right: the son of Trịnh Hữu Ngọc, who graduated in 1938; Ngô Kim Khôi, grandson of artist Nam Sơn;
Arnaud Fontani, descendant of artist Évariste Jonchère, director of the Indochina School of Fine Arts between 1938 and 1944.
A discussion moderated by Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier.
Amphitheatre, Hanoi University of Natural and Social Sciences, January 7, 2025.

  • Lecture : The 1925 International Exhibition of Decorative Arts and its outcomes : the art of lacquer...

Friday June 13, 11:30a.m. - 1 p.m.
80 places

Details :

1. The 1925 Paris International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts.

- The Chinese pavilion and art deco aesthetics in China.
Emmanuel Bréon, President of Art Déco de France, honorary chief curator, creator and director of the Musée des années 30 in Boulogne-Billancourt.

- Lacquer craftsmanship in the Indochina pavilion and the 1925 Exhibition.
Kim Frédérick, art historian.

2. The Palais de la Porte Dorée and Jean Dunand's lacquer salon
Laëtitia Ferreira, Head of architectural conservation at the Palais de la Porte Dorée.
Executive curator of the Salon des laques restoration project.

3. The revival of lacquer art at the Indochina School of Fine Arts
Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier, expert in Modern Asian Art, director of the Fine Arts and Asian Arts division at Aguttes.


Lê Quốc Lộc (1918-1987)
Bananiers au bord du fleuve Rouge, 1943
Lacquer with gold highlights, signed and dated lower right, screen in six panels
99,5 x 196 cm

PROVENANCE
Private collection, Saigon (acquired before 1946 and then repatriated to France)
Private collection, France, (inherited from previous owner)

Estimate : €110 000 - €150 000, on sale May 13, 2025
Sold for : 223 000€

Discover the full program of the 2025 Asian Spring
The 2025 Catalogue
The supplement “Asian Spring Paris 2025” (Journal des Arts)

Two auctions dedicated to Asia in May and June 2025

Objects and Arts of Asia : a public auction during the Printemps Asiatique

On the occasion of the 8 th edition of the Printemps Asiatique, our auction house proposes an “Asian Arts” auction, on Thursday June 12, 2025 at 2:30pm in Neuilly-sur-Seine.

Asian Painters : a public auction just before the Printemps Asiatique event

At a rate of 4 sales a year for over 10 years, we are preparing in June the 48 th sale dedicated to modern Asian art, to be held on September 9, 2025. From June 11 to 13, the Printemps Asiatique allows our auction house to unveil previously unseen works by painters trained at the Indochina School of Fine Arts, auctioned shortly beforehand at the May 13 sale, or those presented during the September 9, 2025 sale.


Lê Phổ (1907-2001)
Le bain, circa 1938
Ink, gouache and colors on silk, signed upper left
61 x 45,5 cm

PROVENANCE
Private collection, Paris (acquired circa 1938 and since inherited)

Estimate : €400 000 – €600 000, on sale May 13, 2025.
Sold for : 2 023 000€

Lê Phổ discovered France for the first time in 1931, when Victor Tardieu chose him as an assistant for the Colonial Exhibition in Vincennes. The young graduate took advantage of this stay to travel in Europe, notably Italy, where he admired and studied the Italian Primitives and Renaissance, before returning in 1932 to teach in Indochina. In 1937, Lê Phổ returned to Paris, where he represented his ailing master Victor Tardieu.

Sold 2 023 000€, Le bain, painted by Lê Phổ around 1938, depicts a mother drying her child after a swim, while in the background, a young woman washes a sheet in the stream. On silk, the artist, trained at the School of Fine Arts in Hanoi, transposes the lessons of the Italian Renaissance with which he had been confronted a few years earlier.

Asia at Aguttes

In 2024, Asia at our auction house, with its ten dedicated auctions, totalled almost 15 million euros. The historic leader in the Asian Painters section, particularly champions modern Vietnamese and Chinese artists. The family-run French auction house is also actively involved in highlighting more traditional arts, as evidenced at the end of 2024 by the sale of a Guanyin for €988,000, ranked as the highest bid recorded for Asian sculptures in the world in 2024 (in the ranking published by Cans magazine, February 2025, p.137).

« The December 4, 2024 auction of this exceptional Guanyin from the Song dynasty (960-1279) for €988,000 illustrates the dynamism of international buyers eager for exceptional pieces and confident in our expertise. Entrusted by a private collector from Neuilly, its result confirms our auction house's position as a key player in this demanding market. »
— Clémentine Guyot, Director of the Asian Art Department


Lot 112 China Song dynasty (960-1279)
Rare and important carved wood statue of Guanyin Sold for €988,000
Sold for 988 000€ , on December 4, 2024, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France

Since 2014, we have been shedding remarkable light on the work of painters who, at the beginning of the 20th century, received dual Oriental and Western instruction. In February 2024, as the Indochina School of Fine Arts celebrates its centenary, expert Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier published L'art moderne en Indochine (In fine éditions d'art). This publication, the first to offer a synthesis of the role of this establishment in artistic creation, unveils this art, neglected for 70 years. In recent years, works by artists from this institution have regularly set auction records. Over the past two years, the institution has also organized and hosted several round-table discussions and conferences in Neuilly-sur-Seine (Paris) and Hanoi.

Upcoming sales in preparation

For more information or to include a lot in our upcoming sales, contact
Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier
+33 (1) 41 92 06 49 - reynier@aguttes.com

For more information or to include a lot in our upcoming sales, contact
Clémentine Guyot
+33 (0)1 47 45 00 90 - guyot@aguttes.com