Le Pho (1907-2001)

Jeune fille au treillage de bétel
Ink and color on silk, signed upper left titled on the back
30 x 24 cm - 11 3/4 x 9 3/8 in.

Considered as one of the leading figures of modern Vietnamese art, Lê Phổ was born in 1907 in Hà Tây province into a respected mandarin family, his father being the last viceroy of Tonkin. Showing a predisposition for painting and drawing, he entered the first class of the Indochina School of Fine Arts in 1925. He was soon noticed by the director and founder of the school, Victor Tardieu, for whom he retained a strong attachment throughout his life. Lê Phổ assimilated to perfection the teachings of his teachers. The school promoted Vietnamese artistic traditions such as painting on silk or lacquer, while sensitizing this new generation of artists to Western history and artistic techniques. Indeed, one can read with ease the influences of the Italian Primitives or the Impressionists in Lê Phổ ‘s works. In 1931, he came to France to present his works on the occasion of the International Colonial Exhibition. He chose to stay in Paris for a year to attend classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, then undertook several trips to Europe. He returned to Vietnam in 1933 and taught at the Indochina School of Fine Arts in Hanoi. He decided to settle permanently in France in 1937 and quickly gained a certain notoriety.

Produced around 1940, Jeune fille au treillage de bétel is a remarkable example of the artist’s perfect mastery of ink and colour on silk. This technique was learned during his training at the Indochina School of Fine Arts and was developed under the guidance of the school’s director, Victor Tardieu. The process consists of applying black ink, coloured ink or gouache to silk in successive washes, and brings an unstoppable softness and delicacy to the works. The works of Lê Phổ, which are marked by an evolution of his style over the years, give pride of place to silk, particularly in his early years of practice. The work presented for sale is part of this period.

Although the representation of the female model is a constant in his work, the artist endeavours to introduce distinct elements making each composition a unique painting. In Jeune fille au treillage de bétel (Young Girl with Betel Trellis), Lê Phổ offers a rare vision in which his attachment to his native land is manifested through various symbols. A young woman stands on a trellis made of bamboo, an Asian plant par excellence. Around this trellis is wrapped Bethel, a liana that also originates from South-East Asia where it is often used as a chewing paste. The young woman’s face is in keeping with the Asian canons: oval-shaped, with almond-shaped eyes and a thin mouth to complete this delicate portrait. Her porcelain complexion contrasts delicately with the ebony of her hair. She wears a turban characteristic of Vietnamese women. If the references to Asia are undeniable, other influences can be guessed. Marked by the discovery of the old masters and more particularly by the Italians of the 16th century, Lê Phổ also relies on the mannerist lesson. From these painters, he retains the serpentine line that undulates here from the entangled hands to the body position. The movement of the scarf and its detail evokes the wet drapery of the Greeks. Through a clever mix of influences, Lê Phổ manages to pay homage to his culture while honouring the ancients, but above all he immortalizes his vision of female beauty

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Le Pho (1907-2001)

Estimate 100 000 - 120 000 EUR

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France - 92200 - neuilly-sur-seine

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For sale on Thursday 02 Jun - 15:00 (CEST)

neuilly-sur-seine, France

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Laotienne devant sa paillote, 1930Oil on canvas78 x 54 cm - 30 5/8 x 21 1/4 in.This painting will be on loan for the exhibition: Itinéraires de l’ailleurs. Artistes voyageuses. De la «Belle époque » à la seconde guerre mondiale. Palais Lumière, Evian. December 17, 2022 – May 29, 2023. This work will be keeping in France until June 2023.“The general impression that one has of Laos is certainly not that of a rich country, but of a simple and happy country. The few French people who live there sometimes let themselves be taken in by this quietness, this sweetness of life, and one quotes more than one who no longer thinks of returning to France but lives in Laotian costume, barefoot, and doesn’t know which president governs us.”1 It is in these words that Alix Aymé evokes Laos, a territory where she was sent by the French government to prepare the Colonial Exhibition of 1931. The charm of the country inspired her to paint some forty pieces destined for the walls of the Laos pavilion at the Colonial Exhibition, including this work.Sensitive to ethnography, Alix Aymé offers a realistic vision of the Laotian tribe through the portrait of this young woman. A tribe established in the valley of the middle Nam-Ou as well as in the lower valley of the navigable tributaries, it is described by the commander Georges Aymé as follows: « In spite of their defects, the chiefs and inhabitants are in fact very sympathetic; the Laotian country of cheerful and easy life is the most cheerful of the Territory, boys and girls are very lively there and do not generate melancholy ».² The oil chosen by Alix Aymé makes it possible to adopt a large format and a better apprehension of the subject. This Western medium also allows the artist to use a lively and colorful palette in the image of the Laotian people. Reminiscences of his training with Maurice Denis, a Nabi painter, can be felt through the blossoming of tones that have a primary importance in the composition. Yellow, red, green and purple dance joyfully on the canvas and form the characteristic stripes of the Laotian costume. Alix Aymé’s interest in primitivism is expressed by the meticulousness with which this young girl is represented, reminiscent of Paul Gauguin’s Tahitian girls. Although she is willingly posing, the shyness of the young girl can be seen in her swaying right hand and her slightly unnatural left hand firmly placed on her thigh. The artist succeeds in capturing the youthful and enchanting beauty of this Laotian girl and thus offers a magnificent testimony of the indigenous people

Lot 231

Estim. 40 000 - 60 000 EUR

Jeune fille à la tasse de thé, circa 1955Oil, ink and color on silk, signed lower left 28 x 17 cm - 11 x 6 5/8 in. On the back of Jeune fille à la tasse de thé, the label of the Romanet gallery testifies of the support and interest that Lê Phổ received from the French artistic sphere starting in 1942. This gallery, at the time located at 18 Avenue Matignon in Paris, chose to advise him for some twenty years and to exhibit his work in Paris and internationally. It was also during this period that his painting began to evolve. Retaining the use of ink and silk, Lê Phổ introduced oil which gradually took the place of gouache. The light colors, laid down in solids, sometimes rub shoulders with spaces of silk left empty. Maintaining his taste for graceful feminine subjects, Lê Phổ loads his painting more with, here, a very present floral composition and an almost abstract background. This painting heralds the artist’s future transition to the use of bright oil colors and the abandonment of silk in favor of canvas.

Lot 247

Estim. 12 000 - 15 000 EUR

Jeunes enfants chuchotant, 1972Ink and color on silk, signed and dated upper left. In its original frame made by the artist.6.3 x 20.5 cm - 2 1/2 x 8 in. Made in 1972, Jeunes enfants chuchotant (Young Whispering Children) is one of those works where Mai Trung Thứ’s individuality shines through the most. The success he enjoyed from the end of the 1950s onwards, thanks to the Apesteguy gallery which represented him, enabled him to make a decent living from the sale of his works, which were set at a certain price. Attached to the democratization of his art, he did not neglect the smaller formats which remained more accessible to a larger number of collectors. These small formats such as the one on sale present the same attention to detail and refinement as the larger formats. Proud of his singularity, the artist takes up a theme that is dear to him: children. Often depicted playing, full of innocence, these children were consecrated in 1963 during an exhibition organised by Jean-François Apesteguy « Les enfants de Mai-Thu » at the Galerie du Péristyle. Almost ten years after this exhibition, the artist is still inspired by this theme. In Jeunes enfants chuchotant, a little boy holding the central position of the composition whispers to his right-hand friend while pushing aside the child on his left who is prying. A little girl to the left of the subject seems saddened not to be included in the whispering.Mai Trung Thứ captures here a moment of life, a childlike spontaneity. The faces are not very individualised, the characters being differentiated by the colour of their tunics. The little girl also stands out by the shape of her dress and hairstyle. The subtly selected palette gives meaning to the reading of the composition and highlights the contrasts. The brighter colours are characteristic of the post 1970s. The discreetly blurred background is sober and neutral, but the gradation of colours suggests the sky behind a touch of blue, while the green recalls the grass. A painter of detail, Mai Trung Thứ meticu - lously depicts certain elements such as the hands, the eyes or the mouth. His sense of attention also goes into the making of the frame, which he does himself, making Jeunes enfants chuchotant a work to be considered in its entirety

Lot 256

Estim. 6 000 - 8 000 EUR

Jeune musicienne aux hirondelles, 1949Ink and color on silk, dedicated lower left, signed and dated lower right68.5 x 43.5 cm à vue - 27 x 17 1/8 in. by sight

Le Pho (1907-2001)

Le Pho (1907-2001)

Jeune musicienne aux hirondelles, 1949Ink and color on silk, dedicated lower left, signed and dated lower right68.5 x 43.5 cm à vue - 27 x 17 1/8 in. by sight

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