Vũ Cao Đàm (1908-2000) 
Maternité, circa 1950

Ink, color and gouache on silk, s…
Description

Vũ Cao Đàm (1908-2000)

Maternité, circa 1950 Ink, color and gouache on silk, signed lower right 61 x 46 cm - 24 x 18 1/8 in. Known for his representations of sweet and delicate young women, Vũ Cao Đàm manages to sublimate them through their different qualities. The motherhood depicted pays homage to the bond uniting the mother and her child. The pastel tonality emanating from the composition brings softness and tranquility. The absence of decoration reinforces the density of the characters. The half-closed eyes and the protective gesture of the mother are enough to represent this simple but profound moment of life. If the family is an essential value in the Asian culture, motherhood is a universal language that Vũ Cao Đàm manages to honor with talent. VŨ CAO ĐÀM Vũ Cao Đàm was born in Hanoi in 1908 to a French-speaking, Francophile father. He grew up in an erudite environment, and attended the Indochina Fine Arts School founded in 1925 by the French painter Victor Tardieu. He assisted Tardieu at the 1931 International Exhibition in Paris and discovered the world of Parisian art. He was highly influenced by the charms and culture of the City of Light. His subsequent travels through France led him to live there from 1937. At first keenly drawn to sculpture, which he practiced tirelessly, Vũ Cao Đàm finally began to express his immense talent in painting on silk. In both fields, he mainly focused on the human figure, which he glorified in portraits and charming genre scenes. In a subtle combination of Asian and European pictorial traditions, the artist’s delicate faces and graceful silhouettes have a refined elegance that makes his style instantly recognizable A multi-talented artist, Vũ Cao Đàm initially tried his hand at sculpture, before employing ink and colors on silk to finally adopt oil painting. His choice of mediums accompanied his life changes, with sculpture and silk linked to his years in Indochina and pre-war Paris and oil rather to his years in the South of France. His oil paintings are articulated around recurring characters in his work.

Vũ Cao Đàm (1908-2000)

Auction is over for this lot. See the results