NGUYEN VAN THO DIT NGUYEN NAM-SON - Lot 1

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Estimation :
200000 - 300000 EUR
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Result : 260 000EUR
NGUYEN VAN THO DIT NGUYEN NAM-SON - Lot 1
NGUYEN VAN THO DIT NGUYEN NAM-SON For this lot, we invite bidders to contact the auction house to register before the sale: contact@arp-auction.com For this lot, we invite bidders to contact the auction house to register before the sale: contact@arp-auction.com NGUYEN VAN THO DIT NGUYEN NAM-SON (1890-1973) "Portrait of my mother Oil and gilded lacquer on canvas representing the portrait of the artist's mother, Nguyen Thi Lan. Signed lower right, located in Hanoi and dated 1930 Top right in Chinese character "the portrait of my mother". Bottom left in Chinese character "The son Nguyen van Tho prostrates himself while drawing". Oil on silk and gold lacquer mounted on canvas, signed lower right, located and dated. H 170 x W 103,5 cm On the back of the painting, a label from the 1932 Salon des Artistes Français exhibition on which appears Nam Son's address in Hanoi (4 rue de la Citadelle, Hanoi, Tonkin) and Victor Tardieu's (3 rue Chaptal in Paris). We thank the grandson of the artist Mr Ngô Kim khôi for confirming the authenticity of the work Exhibitions: 1931 : Colonial Exhibition of Paris 1932 : Salon des Artistes français au Grand Palais (Silver Medal) Provenance : Former collection of Mr Henri Sambuc Collection of Mr Jean Yves Bureau By descent to the present owners. Estimate : 200 000/300 000 euros Nguyen Van Tho, better known under his artist name Nam Son, was born in Hanoi in 1890 into a family of scholars. He was introduced to calligraphy and painting on silk and later studied at the Hanoi Protectorate High School. Attracted by drawing, he illustrated many newspapers and magazines and his predispositions allowed him to meet Victor Tardieu who became his mentor. Alongside his master, Nguyen Nam Son practiced oil painting with ease and participated in the decoration of the great amphitheater of the University of Hanoi. From this fruitful collaboration was born an indefectible friendship between the two men and they shared together the common ambition to create a school of Fine Arts in Indochina. Governor General Merlin, encouraged by the success of the National School of Algiers and the School of Fine Arts in Tunis, supported the project and thus the Indochina School of Fine Arts (EBAI) opened its doors in Hanoi in 1925. The Indochina School of Fine Arts founded by Victor Tardieu and Nguyen Nam Son marked a real turning point in the history of Vietnamese art by training several generations of Vietnamese students in the Western tradition of painting, such as Lé pho, Le van Dé, Mai trung Thu, Vu Cao Dam Nguyen Phan Chanh, Pham Hau Nguyen Gia Tri, who would later become famous in the West. In 1925, Nguyen Nam Son left for Paris with Victor Tardieu to recruit teachers to teach at EBAI and he took advantage of this stay to follow an artistic education at the Paris School of Fine Arts (JP Laurens' studio) for 8 months, before returning to Hanoi to assist Victor Tardieu. In 1931, on the occasion of the Colonial Exhibition in Paris, Victor Tardieu, delegate of the exhibition, organized the first foreign exhibition of EBAI students in the "Temple of Anghor" pavilion in which he had six rooms. Among the works exhibited, visitors were able to admire two emblematic paintings of modern Vietnamese painting "the portrait of my mother" by Nguyen Nam Son and "the happy age" by Lé Pho. The following year, the painting was exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français held at the Grand Palais and Nguyen Nam Son was awarded the silver medal because despite the abundance of paintings and sculptures in this exhibition, "the portrait of my mother" will leave a memorable memory to the many visitors of this exhibition. Yvonne Pierre Laurens, painter and sculptor, member of the Salon des artistes Français, was moved by the painting and wrote to the painter: "It strikes by the majesty of its aspect, the nobility of the remarkably balanced volumes, the color. It is a work of art". In the magazine "L'art et les Artistes" of March 1932, one can read "Let us group here the sendings of the students of the school of Hanoi although the most remarkable is a portrait "the portrait of my mother" deep like a madonna, full of soul and of a severe profession, by Nguyen Nam Son". During this exhibition at the Grand Palais, our painting was bought by Henri Sambuc who exhibited it in the Parisian premises of the Société des Français d'Indochine of which he was the president. Before leaving for Indochina, he was a lawyer at the Court of Appeal of Paris, he presided over the chamber of lawyers-defenders at the Court of Appeal of Saigon (1912) and became vice-president of the Association amicale des Français d'Indochine. At his death in 1944, our painting as well as Asian art objects from his personal collection were bought by Mr. Jean Yves Bureau, a Parisian industrialist and collector.
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