Auctions
ASIAN WEEKS
AUCTION [43] ASIAN PAINTERS: MODERN VIETNAMESE ART
ASIAN ART
Auctions on Wednesday, May 22 and June 5, 2024 at Neuilly-sur-Seine

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A historic leader in the market for artists from Asia, Aguttes organises its next Asian weeks, from May 13 to June 5, 2024 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, with two sales.
- On May 22, 2024, its 43rd sale dedicated to modern art highlights artists from China and Indochina.
- Then on June 5, 2024, the sale devoted to Asian Art features a gilt bronze sculpture of a Tibetan lama.

THE FIRST AND SECOND GRADUATING CLASSES OF THE INDOCHINA SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

As we prepare to celebrate the centenary of the Indochina School of Fine Arts, this 43 rd opus dedicated to Asian painters honors illustrious students such as Thang Trần Phềnh (1895-1973), Vũ Cao Đàm, Class II (1926-1931) and major, or Lê Phổ, Class I (1925-1930).

Born in Hanoi in 1908 to a French-speaking, Francophile father, Vũ Cao Đàm grew up in a scholarly environment. He entered the Indochina School of Fine Arts, founded in 1925 by French painter Victor Tardieu, from which he graduated valedictorian. At the Paris International Exhibition in 1931, he discovered the Parisian art world. Greatly influenced by the charms and culture of the City of Light, he travelled throughout France, where he chose to settle.
Initially showing a keen interest in sculpture, which he practiced assiduously, it was finally with silk painting that Vũ Cao Đàm expressed his immense talent. In both fields, the artist concentrates above all on the human figure, which he magnifies in portraits or charming genre scenes. Combining Asian and European pictorial traditions with finesse, Vũ Cao Đàm's delicate faces and graceful silhouettes offer that refined elegance, which give his line an instantly recognizable character. His choices of mediums accompany his changing lifestyles: sculpture and silk are more closely linked to his years in Indochina and pre-war Paris, while oils bear more witness to those spent in the South of France.
Motherhood, a universal language, represents one of Vũ Cao Đàm’s favorite themes, a subject the artist always treats with sensitivity and delicacy.
Here, the artist pays tribute to the bond between mother and child, choosing to illustrate the special moment of breastfeeding. While this theme, present since ancient Egyptian times - through statuettes of Isis breast-feeding her son Horus - has accompanied the history of art throughout its evolution, it has remained extremely rare in Asia.
While the Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus adorn religious statuary and iconography, the breast-feeding woman is also a subject that recurs regularly in Western scenes of daily life. In modern painting, for example, Renoir, Picasso and Mary Cassatt exalt the mother-child bond, regardless of social class. However, the subject recurs much more rarely in Asia than in Europe. This painting, created in 1944 by Vũ Cao Đàm, is one of the rare examples.In this maternity, pastel tones bring softness and tranquility, and reinforce a naturalness and soothing underlined by the vegetal décor, in which the scene is set. This work, produced more than 10 years after the painter's arrival in France, expresses a talent in full maturity. It is rich in a perfect mastery of the precepts received by the young artist at the fine arts school in Hanoi, at the École du Louvre and through visits to museums. With this perfectly balanced composition and delicate treatment, Vũ Cao Đàm appears at the peak of his art.


VŨ CAO ĐÀM (1908-2000)
Maternité, 1944
Ink and colors on silk, signed lower right
60 x 46,4 cm
Original frame
Provenance: Private collection, Paris (acquired in the 1940s)
Private collection, Paris (descended from previous owner)

A remarkable testimony to the work of the pre-war years, Mère et enfant, circa 1942-1944 by Vũ Cao Đàm illustrates the tenderness of a mother holding her child in her arms. In this painting, exhibited in Algiers at the instigation of gallery owner André Romanet in 1944, Vũ Cao Đàm depicts the protagonist's attitude with refinement and elegance. She moves against this homogeneous background, which gracefully brings her to life. The result is a precious chromaticism, the product of a skilful arrangement of blue tones. The precision of the line, visible in particular in the fine, precise work on the hair, bears witness to the excellence of the training received by the artist in Hanoi.


VŨ CAO ĐÀM (1908- 2000)
Mère et enfant, circa 1942-1944
Ink and color on silk, signed lower right, titled and numbered on the back
Exhibition:
1944, Algérie, Alger-Oran, Galerie d'Art Pasteur, Romanet, Exhibition Mai Trung Thứ, Lê Phổ, Vũ Cao Đàm, Peintures Indochinoises, n° 93
Provenance:
Private collection, Algeria (acquired in the early 1940s in Algiers)
Private collection, Germany (inherited from predecessor)

The bronze sculpture Jeune fille annamite by Vũ Cao Đàm, originating from the collection of the Minister of Colonies Paul Reynaud, is now entrusted to Aguttes by the descendants of Minister Paul Reynaud (who had a close relationship with the artist Vũ Cao Đàm) for the purpose of presenting their magnificent example of Jeune fille annamite.sculpture for sale.
This sculpture, crafted by Vũ Cao Đàm in a small number of copies, was first exhibited at the exhibition held in Hanoi in 1929. Some models were also displayed either at the Colonial Exhibition of 1931, or at the Agindo exhibitions organized in the 1930s, or at various salons (French artists in '32, Autumn in 1941...).
Today, one model is listed in the collections of the Museum of the 1930s in Boulogne, another at the Sa Bassa Blanca Museum (Yannick and Ben Jakober Foundation), or at the Fine Arts Museum of Hanoi, and also in some rare private collections... This is the second opportunity offered to Aguttes to present this rare subject, with a black patina version having been offered for sale a few years ago. The prestigious provenance of the "Paul Reynaud model" explains its exceptional quality of execution. Intended to join the collection of an important figure in the French government, this bronze features a magnificent and rare green patina, a testament to the sculpting talent of Vũ Cao Đàm.


VŨ CAO ĐÀM (1908- 2000)
Jeune fille annamite
Bronze with green patina, signed on the base on the left side.
37 x 15.8 x 19 cm - 14 5/8 x 6 1/4 x 7 1/2 in.
A certificate of inclusion in the artist's forthcoming catalogue raisonné, currently being prepared by Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier for the Association of Asian Artists in Paris, will be provided to the purchaser.
Provenance: Collection of Minister Paul Reynaud, France (acquired directly from the artist and passed through the family).

Lê Phổ was born on August 2, 1907 in Ha Tay province, into a family of high-ranking mandarins, whose father was the viceroy of Tonkin. Lê Phổ (1907-2001) studied for two years at the School of Applied Art for Industry run by sculptor Gustave Hierholtz, before joining the Indochina School of Fine Arts when it was founded in Hanoi in 1925.
In 1930, having just graduated, he took charge of the decorative arts and furniture design courses. In 1931, Victor Tardieu, aware of the young Vietnamese's talent, chose to make him his assistant for the Colonial Exhibition in Paris. This trip gave the young artist the opportunity to discover France and Europe. His travels through countries as varied as Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as his visits to museums - where he admired the primitives - led him to deepen his knowledge of Western art and to confront it directly.
In 1937, when Victor Tardieu put him in charge of the Indochina section of the Universal Exhibition held on Ile aux Cygnes, the artist decided to move to France. His encounter with Matisse, and especially Bonnard in the early 1940s, gradually prompted him to return to oil painting, as this work testifies. Lê Phổ breathes life into his classical floral compositions. A master of his subject, Lê Phổ uses the same thread for each of his works: although the variety of flowers varies, a dominant chromatic range, around which other hues harmonize, always halo his creations. In this painting, entitled Les roses, the dominant hues, pinks and greens, are enhanced by touches of yellow. Pink, green and blue combine to form a composition imbued with softness. Petals scattered across the table accentuate this delicacy. They also add a poetic, almost melancholy note, illustrating the passing of time. Combining grace and vitality, Lê Phổ succeeds here in capturing the gentle yet indomitable character of roses.


Lê Phổ (1907-2001)
Les roses
Oil on silk, signed lower right, titled on back 61 x 37.5 cm
Provenance:
Galerie Romanet
Private collection, southeastern France

MEMORIES OF INDOCHINA OR THE WORK OF THANG TRẦN PHỀNH

A family, who lived in Indochina from the early 1890s to the early 1960s, entrusted Aguttes with these two works by Thang Trần Phềnh (1895-1973), previously unseen on the art market. Thang Trần Phềnh was living in the Hanoi region when these two inks on silk were produced, and they probably acquired them during one of the exhibitions organized by the School of Fine Arts as early as 1929, or at one of the fairs in which the students were actively participating at the time. They are presented for sale today in their original frame, most probably made by Gadin.

Vietnamese artist, Thang Trần Phềnh (1895-1973), also known as Trần Văn Bình, sometimes nicknamed Đạt Siêu, received a traditional education from a father of Chinese origin and a Vietnamese mother, respecting the principles of Confucianism. Encouraged by his parents, he became self-taught and, in 1923, won first prize in the fine arts exhibition of the Vietnamese Enlightenment Association of Tiến Đức. In 1925, he narrowly failed the first entrance examination to the Indochina School of Fine Arts. Then second on the waiting list, he was allowed to attend certain courses as an auditor. The following year, at the age of 31, he joined the ranks of the second class. At the instigation of Victor Tardieu, the school's director, he exhibited with some of his fellow students in 1929 at the Salon de l'Art Colonial organized by the Salon des Artistes Français at the Grand Palais in Paris.
In 1931, he took part in the Exposition Coloniale in Paris with a work entitled La partie de cartes. The following year, his work appeared in three successive exhibitions organized by Agindo - the Indochina Economic Agency - in Paris. It was also in 1932 that he graduated from his School in Hanoi, at the same time as artists Vũ Cao Đàm and Tô Ngọc Vân - the first Vietnamese director appointed to head the Indochina School of Fine Arts - following in the footsteps of Victor Tardieu and Evariste Jonchère. Thang Trần Phềnh then turned to theater, founding the Đồng Ấu troupe and directing his efforts towards enhancing stage sets, costumes and props. In theater as in painting, Thang Trần Phềnh is involved in transmitting the memory of his country, its history and culture. His rare work, which focuses on traditional rural scenes in Vietnam, is a true testimony to the past.


Thang Trần Phềnh (1895-1973)
Le chef du village lisant devant les villageois
Ink and color on silk, signed Tran Binh and annotated upper right with a quotation evoking principles of good manners.
75 x 51,5 cm
Provenance:
Collection of a family who lived in Indochina from the early 1890s to the early 1960s, and who were present in the Hanoi area at the time this work was produced.

Thang Trần Phềnh (1895-1973)
Le chef du village à cheval demandant son chemin
Ink and color on silk, signed Tran Binh and described lower right
Provenance:
Collection of a family who lived in Indochina from the early 1890s to the early 1960s and who were present in the Hanoi area at the time this work was produced.

Sources :
Fonds Victor Tardieu, INHA, espace Jacques-Doucet, archives 125/5-9
Triển lãm Thang Trần Phềnh: Bắt gặp quá khứ trong hiện tại, Bằng Lăng, Thể thao & Văn hóa, August 29, 2022
Cố họa sĩ Thang Trần Phềnh: Tài hoa và độc đáo, Nguyệt Hà, Công An Nhân Dân, September 1, 2022

ASIAN ARTS, AUCTION ON WEDNESDAY JUNE 5, 2024 AT 2:30 PM

A gilded bronze sculpture of a Tibetan lama will be auctioned on June 5, 2024 at Aguttes in Neuilly-sur-Seine. This 18th-century statue is an idealized portrait of a master of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

This work, rare and spectacular in both size and quality, testifies to the mastery achieved by Himalayan craftsmen. They are masters not only of the art of casting, but also of chasing and repoussé, as illustrated by the delicacy of the floral scrolls edging the monastic robe, the beauty of the hands forming the teaching mudra, and the suppleness of the folds of the garment. The rich mercury gilding typical of the region also enhances the overall effect, reinforcing the quality of this production.
Since this figure lacks attributes linking it to a Buddhist lineage or a dedicatory inscription, it is impossible to identify it with any degree of certainty.
This work takes place against a backdrop of renewed influence for Tibetan Buddhism within the Chinese empire. Tibetan Buddhism had undergone unprecedented expansion in the 13th century through the Mongol conquests, particularly among the nomads of Far East Asia, but had also become the state religion in China under the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368). In 1644, the Manchus, a nomadic population from northern China, took power in China and founded the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Their emperors, fervent Buddhists and deeply attached to their nomadic traditions, set about spreading and propagating Tibetan Buddhism throughout their empire, whose territory reached an unprecedented size in the 18th century. This led to important artistic, political and diplomatic exchanges between Tibetan monasteries and the Chinese authorities, as demonstrated by the work presented here, whose quality would probably have been destined for a wealthy temple or monastery.


Lama statue in repoussé gilded copper alloy
Tibet 18th century
H. 49.5 cm

CONTACTS

Upcoming 'Asian Painters: China, Vietnam' auction
Wednesday May 22, 2024, 2:30 pm

For further information or to include a lot in our next auctions, please contact:
Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier - Expert
+33 1 41 92 06 49 - reynier@aguttes.com

Upcoming 'Asian Art' auction
Wednesday June 5, 2024, 2:30 pm

For further information or to include a lot in our next auctions, please contact:
Clémentine Guyot - Head of the Asian Arts department
+33 1 84 20 09 18 - guyot@aguttes.com

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INVITATION TO A CULTURAL EVENT WITH EXPERT CHARLOTTE AGUTTES-REYNIER
As a preview to our auction " Asian Painters: China, Vietnam ", we are pleased to invite you to an exclusive guided tour by Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier, expert in the Asian Painters department. Such an encounter represents a unique opportunity to discover works that testify to the talents, too long unrecognized, of artists from Cochinchina, Cambodia, Annam or Tonkin, trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Hanoi at the beginning of the 20th century... 100 years later, come and admire the creations of this Vietnamese artistic elite.

Visit dates:
Wednesday May 15
Thursday May 16

📍Location: Aguttes Neuilly

Book your visit now:
+33 1 41 92 06 49 - reynier@aguttes.com