Viet Nam News
HA NOI — A silk painting by a popular female painter Le Thi Luu (1911-1988) was sold for US$207,821 at an auction sale by Sotherby’s in Hong Kong on Sunday.
The silk painting, titled Tre Em Nghich Hoa (Children Playing with Flowers), drawn in 1966, was among the highest priced items at the sale, which showcased some 186 works from across the world, including 45 works by Vietnamese artists.
The 64.5cm x 54.5cm silk painting drawn with various colour materials is considered an advancement in the development process of silk painting in Viet Nam, with the surface effect found to be different from those found in silk paintings earlier. The artist has managed to nearly achieve the surface effect of colour powder, acrylic and even oil-on-canvas paintings.
The work was sold at an initial price of $19,184 and expected to be sold at $31,973 at the most.
Luu was born in 1911 in the northern province of Bac Ninh and got an education in Ha Noi. She was a student of the Indochina Fine Art College’s third course. She then taught drawing in Hue from 1935 to 1937 and in Ha Noi from 1938 to 1939. In 1939, she moved to settle down in France, where she worked as a Professor at Lycee Corot in 1962 and at Lycee Rodin and Lycee d’Orsay in 1963.
At the same auction sale in Hong Kong, Le Pho’s (1907-2001) Dan Ba va Dua Tre (A Woman and Her Child), silk, 45.5cm x 29cm, was sold at $140,679.
Bui Xuan Phai’s (1920-1988) Ha Noi Pho (Street Scene), oil on canvas, 61cm x 75.5cm, painted in 1969, was sold at $47,959.
Nguyen Van Ty’s (1917-1992) lacquer painting Thieu Nu Trong Vuon (Young Women in the Garden), 150cm x 293cm, painted in 1942, was sold at $175,849.
Painting Mo Mong (Dream), silk, 46cm x 60.5cm, painted in 1940 by Vu Cao Dam (1908-2000) was sold at $127,890; Me va Con Gai (Mother and Daughter), silk, 40cm x 23cm, by Mai Trung Thu (1906-1980) was sold at $47,959, while the painting Me va Con O Trong Vuon (Mother and Children in the Garden), oil on canvas, 96.5cm x 129.5cm, by Le Pho was sold at $151,869. — VNS