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Lot Essay
The depiction of motherhood is perhaps one of Le Pho's most accomplished themes amplified by the use of his distinctive silk-painting technique that he developed into an inimitable art form.
For his first visit to France in 1931, Le Pho went to Paris and Vincennes as an assistant to Victor Tardieu who was participating in the Exposition Coloniale as a jury member in his capacity as the head of the Hanoi École des Beaux- Arts. After Paris, Le Pho visited other cities throughout France like Moulins, and also travelled to Italy, Germany, and Belgium, where he visited cathedrals, monasteries and admired masterpieces of religious and Renaissance art. The trip affected Le Pho profoundly, enabling him to comprehend the ability of art to elevate the spirit in a deeply personal manner. So inspired by the subjects and motifs in European religious art such as the depiction of Madonna and child, Le Pho embraced and explored these very subjects in his future works.
The artist returned to Vietnam soon after his European trip in 1932, but five years later decided to leave his comfortable post as an instructor at the École des Beaux- Arts of Hanoi where he had been teaching, in order to make a permanent living as an artist in Paris. One of his greatest achievements before his relocation was the perfection of the technique of silk painting. The process consisted of a piece of Japanese pongee silk being first placed on a light cardboard card. Following this, Remy glue was spread onto the silk in a criss-cross pattern and the glue bubbles carefully eliminated by gently pushing them towards the edges of the silk. The material was then dried overnight in preparation of the final application of ink and gouache.
Using his refined technique, Le Pho executed the present masterpiece, Mother and Child (Lot 412) around 1938-40, following his move to Paris. The woman here retained all the classical traits of the traditional Vietnamese woman, but modernised here under Le Pho's ideal vision. Her ao dai is worn with a modern French scarf, her traditional Tonkinese headdress is absent, and through her demonstrative posture in relation to her child, modernity takes over Confucianism. Furthermore, no elements in the background suggest or hint towards Vietnam.
Le Pho's mastery of the silk painting technique expresses delicate translucence and brilliance in both texture and palette. But perhaps most importantly, the soul with which he imbues his paintings articulates the richness and complexity of his work, which is layered with themes of motherhood, and the blending of Western spirit and Vietnamese identity. Together, these elements firmly establish our painting as a masterpiece from the artist.
Jean-François Hubert
Senior Consultant, Vietnamese Art
For his first visit to France in 1931, Le Pho went to Paris and Vincennes as an assistant to Victor Tardieu who was participating in the Exposition Coloniale as a jury member in his capacity as the head of the Hanoi École des Beaux- Arts. After Paris, Le Pho visited other cities throughout France like Moulins, and also travelled to Italy, Germany, and Belgium, where he visited cathedrals, monasteries and admired masterpieces of religious and Renaissance art. The trip affected Le Pho profoundly, enabling him to comprehend the ability of art to elevate the spirit in a deeply personal manner. So inspired by the subjects and motifs in European religious art such as the depiction of Madonna and child, Le Pho embraced and explored these very subjects in his future works.
The artist returned to Vietnam soon after his European trip in 1932, but five years later decided to leave his comfortable post as an instructor at the École des Beaux- Arts of Hanoi where he had been teaching, in order to make a permanent living as an artist in Paris. One of his greatest achievements before his relocation was the perfection of the technique of silk painting. The process consisted of a piece of Japanese pongee silk being first placed on a light cardboard card. Following this, Remy glue was spread onto the silk in a criss-cross pattern and the glue bubbles carefully eliminated by gently pushing them towards the edges of the silk. The material was then dried overnight in preparation of the final application of ink and gouache.
Using his refined technique, Le Pho executed the present masterpiece, Mother and Child (Lot 412) around 1938-40, following his move to Paris. The woman here retained all the classical traits of the traditional Vietnamese woman, but modernised here under Le Pho's ideal vision. Her ao dai is worn with a modern French scarf, her traditional Tonkinese headdress is absent, and through her demonstrative posture in relation to her child, modernity takes over Confucianism. Furthermore, no elements in the background suggest or hint towards Vietnam.
Le Pho's mastery of the silk painting technique expresses delicate translucence and brilliance in both texture and palette. But perhaps most importantly, the soul with which he imbues his paintings articulates the richness and complexity of his work, which is layered with themes of motherhood, and the blending of Western spirit and Vietnamese identity. Together, these elements firmly establish our painting as a masterpiece from the artist.
Jean-François Hubert
Senior Consultant, Vietnamese Art