Loan Sicre de Fontbrune: Bringing Vietnamese art to the city of light

Loan Sicre de Fontbrune, whose Vietnamese name is Doan Ba Tri Phuong Loan, comes from a noble family in Hue . She is called "fairy" because since arriving in France (1979), her beauty at the age of twenty helped her to win the title of queen at the first Miss Asia contest held in France (1981).

Bringing Vietnamese art to the city of light - Photo 1.

Loan Sicre de Fontbrune next to the work of Hoang Tich Chu during a lecture on Indochina fine arts in Ho Chi Minh City. PHOTO: LP

But that beauty has been overshadowed for many years, even forgotten, because she has other beauty in many fields such as: language (she is fluent in 6 foreign languages), archaeology (7 consecutive years participating in excavation and research on Champa culture, ancient Go Sanh pottery, Chu Dau pottery in Vietnam), collecting (paintings of Indochina artists, signed porcelain, Hue enamelware, ancient Dai Viet pottery, contemporary Vietnamese paintings...), research (writing books, newspapers, research articles, seminars, contributing to amending the Vietnamese Heritage Law, introducing Vietnamese art domestically and internationally).

From homesickness

Talking about the story of coming to France, Ms. Loan recalled: "After the country was unified in 1975, I continued to study and took the baccalaureate exam in 1977. This was the last baccalaureate class for students studying in French schools. At that time, there were only 7 people left in Saigon. My family had French nationality but did not want to leave Vietnam because they were afraid that if they left, they would not have the opportunity to return. My parents did not work at that time, and thanks to my baccalaureate (literature department), I taught French to Vietnamese children with French nationality living in Saigon who were preparing to go to France. I received a French salary at that time of 500 francs a month, enough to support the whole family. In 1979, the whole family was forced to go to France. Before leaving, I went to the house of painter Tu Duyen and bought 3 silk paintings, and to the house of Mr. Doi Ngoan Quan (Chinese) and bought 5 ivory carvings. Those were the first collected works of art and also the works I brought with me to France."

In the splendid Paris, images of the homeland flooded Phuong Loan’s memories, mostly the days of wandering around her maternal hometown in Bien Hoa. There was an ancient ancestral house, where the gilded and red-lacquered Le Quang Duong (maternal family) plaque was still preserved, a pair of old parallel sentences; then the family tree book he made, the mother-of-pearl inlaid sword of her late maternal grandmother when she was an official under the Thanh Thai dynasty…

In the family land, the ancient tombs of ancestors are elaborately carved. Phuong Loan recalls: "When I first came to France, the concept of Vietnamese culture was very vague, not many people paid attention. The image of my homeland helped me to be more interested in trying to learn many foreign languages to have the opportunity to access many sources of documents on the cultural history of Vietnam and East Asia."

To the expert collector

After getting married, Loan changed her name to her husband's. Archaeologists in Paris and famous auction houses at that time knew about Loan Sicre de Fontbrune and her never-ending thirst for all auctioned artifacts related to Vietnamese culture.

Bringing Vietnamese art to the city of light - Photo 2.

Chu Dau, an ancient ceramic line researched by Loan Sicre de Fontbrune since the 1990s. PHOTO: LP

The opportunity to own many precious artifacts also helped Loan gain more experience in the field of conservation and museums. Working with her teacher and "treasure trove of knowledge" Albert Le Bonheur (1938 - 1996) at the Guimet National Museum of Asian Art, Loan Sicre de Fontbrune gradually became an expert in the field of Vietnamese antiques, invited by museums to edit and identify antiques of unknown origin. Many of them originated from Vietnam, such as the Bat Trang ceramic tea set donated by Phan Thanh Gian to the Sèvres Museum, the Hue blue-glazed porcelain items at the Guimet Museum (donated by Vuong Hong Sen) and the Limoges Fine Arts Museum, the gilded red-lacquer statue at the Guimet Museum that everyone previously thought came from somewhere in Tibet...

Returning to the story of collecting, antiques expert Vincent L'Herrou in Paris once shared with the writer: "When Loan Sicre de Fontbrune appeared at an auction and liked an item, it was difficult for others to compete and she was the one who contributed to raising the price of Indochina paintings and Vietnamese antiques."

Asked about this with the owner, Ms. Loan laughed and explained: "At first, when I bought Vietnamese art, no one competed with me. Then, my friend Christian Duc, a designer of lacquer and mother-of-pearl, came along. Usually, at Vietnamese art auctions, only Duc and I were left at the end. I always gave in because I knew that when he liked something, he would go all the way. I brought the items I bought home, in addition to looking at them every day, I also let friends, colleagues, researchers, and collectors come to approach and learn more from each other about antiques and paintings."

When historians tell stories

Working as an art historian, Loan Sicre de Fontbrune also made a splash for Vietnamese art through unprecedented exhibitions such as: "VN: Art and culture, from past to present" (Le Vietnam: Art et Culture, du passé au présent) which gathered 450 Vietnamese antiques selected from museums in Vietnam and exhibited in Belgium in 2002, more than 200 international journalists came to cover the event. In 2012, Loan made a splash again with the exhibition "From the Red River to the Mekong River - Visions of Vietnam" (Du Fleuve Rouge au Mékong - Visions du Vietnam) at the Cernuschi Museum, sketching a panoramic view of the development history of Indochina fine arts through typical works, attracting more than 15,000 visitors from many countries.

Bringing Vietnamese art to the city of light - Photo 3.

Oc Eo jewelry, royal costumes, ivory, wood, stone items... are all in Loan Sicre de Fontbrune's collection. PHOTO: LP

After nearly half a century of cultural activities in Europe, Loan Sicre de Fontbrune is turning her attention to Vietnam. Talks, seminars, and art exhibitions in both France and Vietnam are organized and presented by Loan, attracting a large number of art lovers.

Asked about her long-term plans, Ms. Loan added: "I will open an art gallery in Ho Chi Minh City for my eldest daughter to manage. One thing is for sure, this gallery will not have fakes. I will display works in my collection along with documents and books about art so that real researchers and collectors have the opportunity to access it. It will also be a place to organize discussions and exchanges about fine arts and Vietnamese art."

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/loan-sicre-de-fontbrune-dem-nghe-thuat-viet-vao-kinh-do-anh-sang-185250429172605962.htm