Our upcoming auction of Southeast Asian Modern & Contemporary Art in Hong Kong on 3 December includes highlights from a range of important artists including the Vietnamese Art Trio of Paris and a group of artists who participated in Myanmar’s modernist movements in the 1960s and 1970s. The artworks on offer illustrate the dual sense of continuity and change that epitomise Southeast Asian Modern and Contemporary art. Ahead of this sale we spoke to our specialists about their top picks coming under the hammer.
Lot 38 Mai Trung Thu La Chanteuse
The power of Mai Trung Thu’s art derives from his eclectic practice, merging Western and Vietnamese styles with unique visual sensibilities. La Chanteuse, which skilfully blends sight and sound, conveys a sense of elegance, enhanced by the softness of the silk medium and the subtle shades of colour used throughout the work. A graceful and composed female singer dressed in a luminous white robe seems to control the composition of the painting and command the viewer’s attention. The singer and the two musicians seated behind her form a triangle composition, adding visual balance and harmony to the work. As a distinguished musician, Mai Trung Thu enjoyed incorporating music into his oeuvre. La Chanteuse truly displays the artist’s talents in both art and music.
Lot 39 Nguyen Van Binh Bản Nậm Nà (Joy of Living)
Hailed as one of the finest Vietnamese lacquer masters, Nguyen Van Binh studied at the École des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine between 1938 and 1943. The artist’s lacquer paintings often demonstrate his unique style and great skills using the methods of traditional lacquer art to portray the beauty of his country and its people. Bản Nậm Nà delicately depicts an idyllic scene of North Vietnam’s serene landscape with rolling mountains, verdant forests, golden bamboo, rice paddies and calm waters. The composition, however, subtly indicates subjects of war and resistance. On closer observation, the figures among the horses carrying sacks of food are in the Vietnamese resistance uniform. This painting at its best represents the artist’s aesthetic approach—a subtle mediation between his nationalistic sentiments and creative impulses.
Lot 36 Joseph InguimbertyVue des vallées
Born in Marseille in 1896, Joseph Inguimberty was one of the first teachers at the École des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine, established in colonial Hanoi in 1925. Inguimberty not only trained a pioneering generation of Vietnamese artists but also played a seminal role in shaping the evolution of Vietnamese lacquer painting as a fine art form. He returned to France in 1946 and moved to Menton, his wife’s hometown, while keeping a pied-à-terre in Marseille. The paintings that he created at the time drew inspirations from the alluring landscapes of southern France, as shown in Vue des vallées. Executed through the artist’s dynamic brushwork, this work exudes a sense of tranquillity and displays the brilliance of plein-air painting with a focus on the atmospheric interplay of luminous palettes and radiant outdoor light.
