Ravenel: Select Modern & Contemporary Art, Vietnamese Modern Art
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Select: Modern & Contemporary Art
Vietnamese Modern Art
Boi Tran’s work featured on the catalogue and present at the sale
Boi Tran is one of the few outstanding Vietnamese female artists. Her style is heavily influenced by her teacher, Trung Nguyen. She also worked as Nguyen’s model, serving as a source of creative inspiration for Nguyen. Tran’s Elegant in Hue trilogy is presented in a classical European triptych form. They depict a group of beautiful goddesses strolling, sitting and dancing in a glorious garden. The composition of the piece is extraordinary and spectacular.
Vietnamese modern art features a unique aesthetic sense due to the historical background of the country. Vietnamese culture differs from other Indian-influenced Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, and does not share many similarities with Malay countries, such as Indonesia and Malaysia. War with and colonization by the West definitely changed the history of all Southeast Asian and East Asian countries. The recent history of Vietnam is filled with blood, tears, and suffering.
Vietnam was called by its old name Jiaozhi and Annam before the name, “Vietnam”, was introduced in the 19th century. Ancient Vietnam had either been a territory or a vassal state of China. Due to close relations between the two countries since China’s Qin Dynasty, Vietnam and China shared a similar culture for thousands of years. In the mid-19th century, France invaded and colonized Vietnam. During World War II, it was also temporarily occupied by Japan.
However, Vietnamese communists successfully toppled the French colonial government in 1945. In the 1950s, conflicts between North Vietnam, backed by communist China, and South Vietnam, backed by the U.S., caused the outbreak of the Vietnam War. The war ended after the US military retreat from Vietnam in 1973, as the re-united states of Vietnam named their own country the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, formed in 1976. The economic revolution in 1986 eventually brought Vietnam to a new era.
Vietnamese modern art is very influenced by French culture due to centuries of French colonization. The colonial government founded the School of Fine Arts of Indochina (Ecole des beaux-arts de l’Indochine) in Hanoi in 1925. Western education was also implemented along with the introduction of classicalism and impressionism art. However, Vietnamese traditional art like silk painting and lacquer painting was retained and continued, which eventually evolved into a new style of modern art creation. Modern Vietnamese artists tend to emphasize the theme of individual freedom. However, the pristine custom causes a more implicit presentation. Located in a tropical area, Vietnam is an agriculture-based country. The fusion of tradition and western influences creates a harmonic and romantic art style for the Buddhist country.
This auction introduces four distinctive Vietnamese artists. Trung Nguyen, known as “the father of Vietnamese abstract art”, is known for his abstract and realistic style in female-themed works. Influenced by Italian classic art, the expressions of the women he drew are stylized, and the bodies are just as smooth as Italian statues. Elegant compositions along with bright and harmonic colours show a spiritual beauty in the picture. Two of his earlier works, Seated Woman and Reclining Nude, present subjects in thinking and meditating posture, exhibiting a classic as well as contemporary style. His style stands as a breakthrough among other artists from the same era, which perfectly describes his unique personality.
Boi Tran is one of the few outstanding Vietnamese female artists. Her style is heavily influenced by her teacher, Trung Nguyen. She also worked as Nguyen’s model, serving as a source of creative inspiration for Nguyen. Tran’s Elegant in Hue trilogy is presented in a classical European triptych form. They depict a group of beautiful goddesses strolling, sitting and dancing in a glorious garden. The composition of the piece is extraordinary and spectacular.
Boi Tran was born in 1957 in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam. She learnt basic painting skills from Trung Nguyen, one of the greatest contemporary painters and lacquer artists of Vietnam. Tran is best known for her lacquer pieces. She makes use of triptych and tetraptych. Her artistic expression shows a great similarity with his teacher Trung Nguyen. Both the teacher and the student are skilful in capturing the beauty of women and representing characteristic Vietnamese sensibility and aesthetics. Tran often depicts graceful women wearing traditional Vietnamese dress áo dai. Some of them are gazing into the distance and the others looking down at the flowers, but all are calm and elegant. One of Tran’s solo exhibitions was held in 2004 at Minh Chau Art Gallery, Hanoi. In recent years, she has mainly exhibited at her own gallery opened in 1998 at Boi Tran Garden on Thien An Hill about 10 kilometres southwest of Hue.