Press Review • FiscalOnline
By Artprice, 24 May 2023
The pioneers of modern Vietnamese art send auction prices soaring

For the past six years, following the arrival of the first million-euro hammer price in the history of the market for Vietnamese painters, the proceeds from the sale of their works have first doubled and then almost tripled worldwide, with a clear acceleration in auction records over the past two years. Auctions are buzzing across the globe, particularly for LE PHO and Trung Thu MAI, who arrived in France in the 1930s.

These two artists, Mai-Thu and Le Pho, belong to a generation of Vietnamese figures who bridged the world of Asian representation with Western modernity. They first received training in Western techniques (composition according to Western conventions, art history, oil painting, etc.) at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine (EBAI) in Hanoi, founded by Victor Tardieu and Nam Sơn. This first School of Fine Arts of Indochina marked a true turning point in the history of Vietnamese art.

A major figure of modern Vietnamese art, Mai-Thu (1906–1980) is a great master of silk painting, whose work is currently enjoying unprecedented enthusiasm on the art market [...]

Faced with Hong Kong, where the giants Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Bonhams operate, it is important to highlight the role of the French market (with two million-euro results to date), notably that of the auction house Aguttes, for which Vietnamese art is one of its major specialties.

In 2020, the “Asian Painters and Asian Arts” department (including Vietnamese artists) totaled the equivalent of 8.8 million dollars, including, at the time, the second world record for Le Phô with his Jeune fille aux pivoines sold for more than $1.3 million. In 2021, Aguttes achieved the second world record for the artist Phạm Hầu (now the third), at one million dollars. Last year, the department reached a total of 22 million dollars, two and a half times its 2020 result, thanks to the strong interest in these auctions from knowledgeable collectors from Taipei, Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hanoi.

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