Mai Trung Thu (Vietnamese, 1906-1980)

Femme Au Bouquet (Lady with Bouquet)

Footnotes

Provenance:
Private Collection, France
Acquired from the above by the present owner

梅忠恕　花束女子　水墨、水粉於絹本　藝術家原裝框架　一九五四年作

簽名：MAI THU 五十四年
鈐印：梅

來源：
法國私人收藏
現藏家購自上述

Born in North Vietnam in 1906, Mai Trung Thu studied at the Indochina School of Fine Art in Hanoi where he graduated in 1930, becoming one of the most significant first generation Vietnamese artists alongside Le Pho and Vu Cao Dam. Of these three contemporaneous painters, Mai Thu produced the least number of works because he also spent a significant amount of time crafting frames himself, exemplified by the present lot. In 1937 he moved to France but remained faithful to his origins and continued to use only gouache and ink on silk to depict an elegant and traditional Vietnam where life was pleasant despite the tragedies of the war. With harmonious pastel tones, he often painted women and children as messengers of happiness and innocence.

Femme Au Bouquet is a perfect illustration of the painter's unique aesthetics, as it displays a vivacious sense of peacefulness through the representation of an everyday scene. The slender figure of the lady slightly bending over the flowers, her two hands moving upwards, as well as the tubular porcelain vase holding the elongated delphinium grandiflorum - all elements seem to lead the viewer in an ascending movement. Only the lady's eyes are cast downwards, evoking meditation and contemplation.

梅忠恕1906年生於越南北部，1930年畢業於河內的印度支那美術學院，同黎譜和武元談為越南第一代最重要的藝術家之一。這三傑中，梅忠恕投入許多心力製作畫框，故繪畫創作量最少，而此拍品的畫框正是出自藝術家之手。1937年，梅忠恕移居至法國，但仍忠於自身的傳統文化根基，僅以水粉和水墨於絹本為媒材，描繪優美的越南鄉土情懷。戰火雖帶來災難，但當時的生活不失美好。在梅忠恕慣用的柔和協調色系下，女子和孩童化身為幸福快樂、天真無邪的使者。

《花束女子》通過一日常景象，顯現靜懿婉約的情懷，而畫家獨到的審美觀亦表露無遺。纖細身段的女子婀娜微彎至花束，其向上移動的雙手，以及形態細長置於管狀瓷花瓶的翠雀花──這些元素似乎引領觀者的視線到上方。唯獨女子的雙眼朝下，呈静坐沉思之態。