Nguyen Van Binh

(1917-2004)

Bản Nậm Nà (Joy of Living)

Footnotes

Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist in 1991
Yi Gallery, Singapore
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2001
Private collection, Singapore

阮文平
嫩那村（生活的喜悦）

簽名：Van Binh 藝術家鈐印 （右上）
漆木 金箔

來源
於1991年得自藝術家本人
新加坡一品畫廊
現藏家於2001年購自上述畫廊
新加坡私人收藏

Born in 1917 in Hanoi, Nguyen Van Binh is considered one of the finest Vietnamese lacquer masters. Between 1938 and 1943, he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts de l'Indochine (EBAI), which was led by Victor Tardieu, Joseph Inguimberty, and Alix Aymé, who encouraged students to explore the full potential of Vietnamese lacquer art and techniques. Inspired by his teachers, Nguyen Van Binh chose to specialise in lacquer even though he was a great admirer of the French artist Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, who is noted for his plein-air painting practice and influence on the Impressionist movement.

Nguyen Van Binh served as an army journalist from 1946 to 1954, utilising his painting skills to record dramatic events during the First Indochina War. His wartime artwork collected by the British Museum, for instance, is a socialist realist drawing which shows Vietnamese soldiers fighting against unseen French troops in a forest setting. The artist's lacquer paintings, on the other hand, demonstrate his unique style and great skills using the methods of traditional lacquer art to portray the beauty of his country and its people.

The present lot delicately depicts an idyllic scene of North Vietnam's serene landscape with rolling mountains, verdant forests, golden bamboo, rice paddies and calm waters. The composition, however, indicates the socialist realist subject of war and resistance. On closer observation, the figures among the horses carrying sacks of food are in the Vietnamese resistance uniform. This painting at its best represents the artist's aesthetic approach—a subtle mediation between his nationalistic sentiments and creative impulses.