5 meter long Ha Long masterpiece painting at Indochina fine arts exhibition

The work of French artist Jean-Louis Paguenaud (1876-1952) attracted attention at the exhibition Dreams of the Far East, which opened on the afternoon of August 14. The painting, 513 cm long and 212 cm wide, is the largest work by an Indochina-era artist ever displayed.

"Ha Long Bay" (oil on canvas, 1934) by Jean-Louis Paguenaud is the highlight of the exhibition "Dreams of the Far East"

Using oil on canvas, Paguenaud captured a corner of Ha Long Bay with its green mountains, blue water and rich vegetation. He was sent to Vietnam by the French government in the early 20th century as a "naval" painter - a noble title given to outstanding painting talents. After returning to France in 1934, he recalled and recreated the famous landscape in his studio.

Looking at the painting at the exhibition, researcher Ngo Kim Khoi - specializing in Indochina fine arts - assessed the work as an interesting masterpiece with a vibrant color scheme, expressing the feelings of a European artist visiting a tropical country for the first time. The painting represents the exoticism style - referring to the source of artistic inspiration drawn from strange, new lands.

Mr. Ace Le - event curator - said that displaying this painting was a big challenge for Sotheby's, the exhibition organizer. The painting belongs to a private collection of a person in Hanoi , which had been sagging and damaged by the weather. When borrowing the painting, experts only had 12 days to transport and restore it to its best condition before introducing it to the public.

The process of taking down and wrapping the painting took four days because the work weighed 160 kg. The team mobilized a group of 15 art-handling (painting logistics experts) to move the items and set up scaffolding. When it came to transporting the painting to Ho Chi Minh City, because the collector's home was located in an alley, the team had to calculate to bring the painting to the main road with the least vibration, then wrap it in bubble wrap, and transport it by container truck for three days to the South.

The final step - restoration and stretching the canvas - is the most difficult, due to the lack of experts in the country. Hien Nguyen - who has studied and practiced restoration in France for 17 years - researched and carried out the work with a team of 20 people. According to Ace Le, Jean-Louis Paguenaud has excellent drawing skills, the surface of the painting is still 90% good, the team only took two and a half days to restore the small scratches. They also calculated to install a wall strong enough to hang the painting for four days at the exhibition location.

"Ba Vi Mountains seen from Son Tay fields", painted by Joseph Inguimerty (1896-1971) in 1932-1933

In addition to the work, 55 other paintings about Indochina by European artists were introduced to the Vietnamese public for the first time, at an event organized by Sotheby's - one of the leading art auction houses. The exhibition is divided into three parts, corresponding to three rooms. In room one, the audience admires paintings by lecturers of the Indochina Fine Arts School (1924-1945), the cradle of modern Vietnamese art, which trained many famous artists such as Le Pho, Mai Trung Thu, and Nguyen Gia Tri.

The second room displays works by "naval painters" who came to Vietnam in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, laying the foundation for Indochina fine arts later on. The third room is paintings by "traveling painters" - those who came to Vietnam on scholarships and family migration, showing the artistic journey of Western painting.

The organizers borrowed 56 works from 25 Vietnamese collectors living in and outside the country. Compared to the Old Souls of the Strange Wharf - Sotheby's opened in Ho Chi Minh City in 2022 about four famous Vietnamese painters, the paintings in this exhibition are easier to verify in terms of origin, because most of the French painters still have relatives living there. The series of paintings is introduced for non-commercial purposes, mainly focusing on cultural and historical values so that Vietnamese audiences have the opportunity to learn and access them.

"Upstream of Tau Hu Canal" by Adolt Obst (1869-1945)

Guest singer Thanh Bui was moved when viewing the works of French artists, from the painting of Tau Hu Canal (Saigon) to the rice fields of Son Tay (Hanoi). "I feel their love for Vietnam even though it has been a century. I hope there will be more exhibitions like this, so that not only the general public but also students can know and appreciate the quintessential values of the past," he said.

Sotheby's is one of the world's largest auction houses for paintings and antiques, with a presence in 40 countries and territories. In 2021, Sotheby's revenue was 5 billion USD in the painting sector alone. Ace Le is an independent art researcher and curator. He is currently an advisor to the Vietnam Art Archive (ViAA), a member of the Australia Council for the Arts' International Arts Leadership Program 2022. He graduated with a master's degree in Museum Studies and Curatorial Practice from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

According to VnExpress

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