Vietnam master painter’s work auctioned in France

Silk painting Thon Nu Bac Ky by Nam Son.

Titled Thon Nu Bac Ky (Peasants of Tonkin), the painting, ink and colour on silk, measures 65 by 52.5 centimetres (cm), with the painter’s signature on the upper right and lower left and its title on the lower left.

The painting is expected to be sold for 35,000-50,000 euros.

The painter, real name Nguyen Van Tho, was a co-initiator of the Indochine Fine Arts College in Hanoi with Victor Tardieu (1870-1937). Working as a painter for nearly six decades, he left behind 400 works on various materials, 20 of which are on silk.

According to Aguttes, the painting has spent the last 50 years with the family of a private collector in Hanoi.

It is said the painting was completed in 1935. It appeared once at an art fair called "Salon de la Sadeai" in Hanoi in 1936. At the same fair, Nam Son exhibited three other silk paintings.

The Thon Nu Bac Ky was also mentioned in archives held by Nam Son’s family. Besides this, his signature, seal and a sentence appear on the left corner of the work in Han Chinese, translated as "This painting was drawn by painter Nguyen Nam Son, residing by Hoan Kiem lake”.

According to researcher Ngo Kim Khoi, the whole painting is a transition from the colour green to turquoise, featuring three female peasants carrying bananas on a pole, wearing typical costumes of women in the northern plains.

“Though he did not specialise in silk painting, the audience can see delicate lines on the painting,” said Khoi. “The colours seem to go through the texture of the silk background.”

The same technique can be seen in his silk painting, titled Ve Cho(Return from Market), drawn in 1927, which was exhibited once in Paris.

The painting Ve Cho may be the first silk painting in modern Vietnamese fine arts because Nguyen Phan Chanh, who is considered the pioneer of modern Vietnamese silk painting, did not learn the technique of drawing on silk until 1928 in Yunnan, China.

At the same auction on March 26, works by other Vietnamese painters such as Le Pho (1907-2001), Vu Cao Dam (1908-2000), Le Thi Luu (1911-1988) and Mai Trung Thu (1906-1980) are displayed.

The most expensive estimate of the sale may belong to a work by French painter Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), which is expected for 500,000-600,000 euros. The runner-up will be Le Pho, with two works: Mau Tu (Maternity) ink and water colour on silk, 59.5 by 48 cm, and Thieu Nu Ben Hoa Hong (Young Woman by Roses), the same material, 41 by 32.2cm. Both paintings by Le Pho are expected to be sold at the same price of 150,000-200,000 euros.

The event will take place at 2.30 p.m Paris time on March 26.

Painter Nguyen Nam Son in 1919.