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Lot Essay
PARIS, 1960: MAI THU, THE CONCERTIST OF GOUACHE ON SILK
In art history it is very rarely possible to freeze in time a particular moment and a place. The collection presented here achieves that.
The historical moment is the year 1960, where Mai Thu was already residing in France for 23 years – and when Mai Thu painted these 5 magnificent gouache and ink works on silk and set them in self-made frames. He left Hue, Vietnam in 1937, following the acceptance of his request to attend the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in France. After moving to Paris, he was an active painter who participated in several exhibitions such as those held in the Salon des Indépendants, the Salon d’Automne, at the Galerie Romanet and at the Galerie Hessel. Mai Thu was not only a painter but also a talented filmmaker and a renowned musician, yet it was through his painting that he achieved the greatest success, encouraged by Jean-François Apestéguy, the man who organized the following exhibition.
For one month, the prestigious Galerie du Peristyle was the most meaningful venue to present Mai Thu’s work. In 1906 and 1907, it was built not as a gallery but as a concert hall dedicated to chamber music and recitals played by great pianists.
Mai Thu, utilising his prodigious talent, worked on his favourite themes: beautiful young women in a mixture of softness and melancholy, motherhood bathed in tenderness, and boys wandering. By setting them in a neutral background and by keeping the frames discreet he managed to enhance all of these themes.
These paintings show a mixture of melancholia and nostalgia, highlighting a sense of soft tenderness, set in soft tones, a recurring theme close to the artist’s heart.
- Jean-François Hubert
Senior Consultant, Vietnamese Art
In art history it is very rarely possible to freeze in time a particular moment and a place. The collection presented here achieves that.
The historical moment is the year 1960, where Mai Thu was already residing in France for 23 years – and when Mai Thu painted these 5 magnificent gouache and ink works on silk and set them in self-made frames. He left Hue, Vietnam in 1937, following the acceptance of his request to attend the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in France. After moving to Paris, he was an active painter who participated in several exhibitions such as those held in the Salon des Indépendants, the Salon d’Automne, at the Galerie Romanet and at the Galerie Hessel. Mai Thu was not only a painter but also a talented filmmaker and a renowned musician, yet it was through his painting that he achieved the greatest success, encouraged by Jean-François Apestéguy, the man who organized the following exhibition.
For one month, the prestigious Galerie du Peristyle was the most meaningful venue to present Mai Thu’s work. In 1906 and 1907, it was built not as a gallery but as a concert hall dedicated to chamber music and recitals played by great pianists.
Mai Thu, utilising his prodigious talent, worked on his favourite themes: beautiful young women in a mixture of softness and melancholy, motherhood bathed in tenderness, and boys wandering. By setting them in a neutral background and by keeping the frames discreet he managed to enhance all of these themes.
These paintings show a mixture of melancholia and nostalgia, highlighting a sense of soft tenderness, set in soft tones, a recurring theme close to the artist’s heart.
- Jean-François Hubert
Senior Consultant, Vietnamese Art