Nguyen Tien Chung (Vietnamese, 1914-1976)

Peasants Pulling Carts

Footnotes

Provenance:
Southeast Asian Pictures, Christie's Singapore, 30 March 1997
Acquired from the above sale by the present owner, lot 173

阮進忠　農民拉車　漆木板　木框　一九五四年作

簽名：NT Chung 54

來源：
《東南亞繪畫》，新加坡佳士得，1997年3月30日，編號173
現藏家得自上述拍賣會

The intricate and complex art form of sơn mài, or traditional Vietnamese lacquer painting is closely associated with the École des Beaux-Arts de l'Indochine (Indochina College of Fine Arts) in Hanoi from 1925 to 1945. Established by the French colonial government, the College was co-directed by Frenchman Victor Tardieu (1870-1937) and Vietnamese artist, Nam Son (or Nguyen Van Tho, 1890-1973). Tardieu was joined by fellow French painter Joseph Inguimberty (1896-1971) who became an art lecturer in the College in 1925. Together, they encouraged the study and appreciation of indigenous art forms and architecture whilst teaching the fundamentals of European art to generations of Vietnamese art students. Inguimberty, in particular, became a passionate proponent of lacquer painting after Nam Son introduced him to the Temple of Literature where he was mesmerised by the brilliance of the lacquer paint on centuries-old beams and wooden altars. He subsequently formed a lacquer painting department within the College which not only became training ground for lacquer masters, but also elevated lacquer painting from a decorative craft to a fine art, which held special significance in the context of the burgeoning nationalism of colonial-period Vietnam.

Amongst prominent Vietnamese lacquer painters who honed their expertise in this medium at the College was Nguyen Tien Chung who studied in the ninth intake from 1936 to 1941 and later lectured at the Fine Arts Museum of Vietnam from 1955 to 1964.

Born in Hanoi specialising in wood-cutting as well as silk and lacquer painting, Chung focused mainly on the rural lives of Vietnamese people of which the current lot is a fine example executed when the artist was 40 years old. With subjects devoid of facial expression, the viewer's attention is drawn to the sense of movement whereby barefooted peasants tirelessly pull carts of hay across the street in the backdrop of verdant provincial Vietnam. All but the central female figure wear the nón lá (conical hat). Rendered in traditional tones of red, puce, black, gold and eggshell, these measured colours and textures are carefully applied onto the black board in layers that required painstaking drying and burnishing to heighten the beauty and translucency of this medium. This work is awash with sheer intensity of colours and contrasts, bringing a sense of theatricality to a seemingly mundane scene of labour.