(1908-2000) School of Fine Arts of Indochina Class of 1931 A painting for Peace Painting on silk mounted on paper, signed on the lower right. About 1949-1950. In its original frame. Dimensions: 72x58,5 cm (Slight scratches). The work will appear in the catalog raisonné being prepared by Mrs Yannick Vu, the artist's successor. 200 000 / 300 000 Vu Cao Dam (1908-2000) A PAINTING FOR PEACE CIRCA 1949-1950. The composition, very well balanced in three groups, gives us an obvious first reading, that of a message of Peace, the Hope of Peace, symbolized by the dove at the highest point of the composition. In the foreground, the figure of Maternity takes on the features of a young elegant woman from Hanoi; the outstretched arm of her child towards the bird of Peace creates the dynamics of the painting. The bare tree in the center reflects an image of desolation. It is the tree of life that has lost its leaves but from which some fragile buds are already emerging. At the bottom of the painting stand two young women symbolizing Vietnam (young woman in white Ao Dai) and France. A fraternal bond emerges from their attitude. The muted palette, very characteristic of the one used by the artist since his move to Béziers in 1949, accentuates the dramatic tension of the painting. This period was painful for the artist in two ways: He left Paris and deep attachments. France and his native Vietnam were at war. A CHRISTIAN PAINTING The balance of the painting is powerful and obviously reveals the strong classical culture assimilated by the artist who remains one of the most brilliant students of Victor Tardieu. This harmony invites us and pushes us to a second reading, even more subtle, richer, that of a Christian painting. "Now then, these three remain, faith (pistis), hope (helpis) and love, but love is the greatest." St. Paul, First Epistle to the Corinthians (I Cor 13:13): The iconogaphy chosen by Vu Cao Dam illustrates the 3 theological virtues Hope symbolized by the dove Charity symbolized by Motherhood Faith symbolized by a tree standing like the Cross A HISTORICAL PICTURE On February 23, 1950, Raymonde Dien, a young woman from Tours and a militant of the French Communist Party, lay down on the railroad tracks in Saint-Pierre des Corps to prevent a convoy of weapons from leaving for Indochina. Her sentence of several months of imprisonment raised a popular, feminist movement, and mobilized members of all political, philosophical and religious backgrounds, great intellectuals of the literary and artistic world: Louis Aragon, Jean-Louis Barrault, Jean Cocteau, Paul Eluard, Jean-Paul Sartre, through the magazines Esprit, and through the magazines of the French Communist Party. Sartre, through the magazines Esprit, Les Temps modernes... Raymonde was released on December 24, 1950. On December 27, at the Veld'Hiv in Paris, the General Union of Vietnamese in France (UGVF), in gratitude for her commitment, presented Raymonde Dien with this painting of great symbolic force. It is a true manifesto that Vu Cao Dam signs here, the hope of Peace, the celebration of the reconciliation of France and Vietnam. The work has remained in the family since 1950. Raymonde Dien passed away on August 19.