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Lot Essay
We know a lot about the painter Mai Thu based on the existing biographical information: his birth in a mandarin's family in North Vietnam; his academic brilliance in the Indochina School of Fine Arts (Hanoi) from 1925 to 1930, from which he graduated in the first class; and his new life in France after he moved in 1937, leaving behind his job as an art teacher in the Lycée of Hué.
Mai Thu's origin, education, and quest for the West, are many aspects which he shared with his lifetime associates, the other renowned Vietnamese painters Le Pho and Vu Cao Dam. We can also recount similarities with other painters such as Nguyen Phan Chanh or Luu Van Sin who, unlike Le Pho and Vu Cao Dam, also dedicated their lives to silk painting, meaning gouache and ink on a piece of silk tightly adhered to a thick cardboard-like sheet. Mai Thu maintained a different visual style to the consummate silk painter Phan Chanh; but remained faithful to the actual technique. Mai Thu soon became celebrated for his prowess on silk. If we tried to differentiate him from his friends, we could say first that he probably remained the most Vietnamese of all even though he genuinely loved France and, secondly, he explored other art forms such as music for which he had talent, as well as cinema which he deeply enjoyed.
Most of the time, he handmade his own picture frames, and he composed his artworks to offer the vision of a nostalgic but also a proud Vietnam where women and children remained the true messengers of happiness and innocence.
These works selected here are a perfect illustration of the painter's talent. The two early Lady at the Window (Lot 344) and Mother and Child (Lot 345) display a majestic simplicity and a vivacious sense of happiness, through their representation of the beauty found in every day. While Reading (Lot 347) is typical of Mai Thu's works from the 1960s, with its elegant portrayal of innocent Vietnamese children of and original handmade frame.
Jean-Francois Hubert
Mai Thu's origin, education, and quest for the West, are many aspects which he shared with his lifetime associates, the other renowned Vietnamese painters Le Pho and Vu Cao Dam. We can also recount similarities with other painters such as Nguyen Phan Chanh or Luu Van Sin who, unlike Le Pho and Vu Cao Dam, also dedicated their lives to silk painting, meaning gouache and ink on a piece of silk tightly adhered to a thick cardboard-like sheet. Mai Thu maintained a different visual style to the consummate silk painter Phan Chanh; but remained faithful to the actual technique. Mai Thu soon became celebrated for his prowess on silk. If we tried to differentiate him from his friends, we could say first that he probably remained the most Vietnamese of all even though he genuinely loved France and, secondly, he explored other art forms such as music for which he had talent, as well as cinema which he deeply enjoyed.
Most of the time, he handmade his own picture frames, and he composed his artworks to offer the vision of a nostalgic but also a proud Vietnam where women and children remained the true messengers of happiness and innocence.
These works selected here are a perfect illustration of the painter's talent. The two early Lady at the Window (Lot 344) and Mother and Child (Lot 345) display a majestic simplicity and a vivacious sense of happiness, through their representation of the beauty found in every day. While Reading (Lot 347) is typical of Mai Thu's works from the 1960s, with its elegant portrayal of innocent Vietnamese children of and original handmade frame.
Jean-Francois Hubert