Masterpiece on display: A woman admiring Le Pho’s La famille dans le jardin (The Family in the Garden), which was auctioned for a record fee in Hong Kong. — Vietnam News/ANN
HONG KONG: The late Vietnamese painter Le Pho (1907-2001) broke a new record with the sale of La famille dans le jardin (The Family in the Garden) at a recent auction in Hong Kong.
The ink-and-gouache-on-silk painting was sold for HK$18.6mil (RM10.4mil) during the 50th Anniversary Modern Evening Auction by Sotheby’s Hong Kong.
Painted in 1938 – one year after the painter left Vietnam to live in France – the 91.3cm-by-61.5cm painting is the artist’s second largest figurative work to appear in the auction market.
It was signed “Le Pho” in English and Chinese, stamped with his seal on the lower right corner.
The painting came with a certificate of authenticity prepared by the artist’s son, Alain Le Kim.
“Epitomising Le Pho’s technical skill and vivid sense of imagination, La famille dans le jardin belongs to the pinnacle of Le Pho’s oeuvre as well as the overarching stylistic epoch of Vietnamese modernism,” Sotheby’s writes on its website.
“This striking work is one of the finest, most elaborate known compositions by the artist painted on the delicate and demanding surface of silk.
“Especially striking due to its unconventionally large size, as only a handful of works of this scale and medium have surfaced in the auction market, this rare masterwork boasts exceptional wall power.
“Channelling the essential principles of Impressionism – creating scenes that were photographic, candid and momentary – Le Pho therefore offers a fleeting snapshot of the family, caught only in a moment of impermanence.
“An exquisite and captivating masterpiece of exceptional rarity, the present lot was executed in circa 1938 and is a testament to the heights of Vietnamese modern artistic innovations,” the Sotheby’s introduction states.
According to Ace Le, researcher on Vietnamese art who is in charge of Sotheby’s Vietnamese market, with a price of more than US$2.3 million, the painting is the highest-priced work by Le Pho and the second highest-priced work of Vietnamese art so far.
The most expensive is the Portrait de Mademoiselle Phuong (Portrait of Madame Phuong) by Mai Trung Thu (1906-1980), sold at US$3.1mil at the Beyond Legends: Modern Art Evening Sale of Sotheby’s in 2021.
Paintings by other world renowned painters, such as Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Joan Miro, Wu Guanzhong, Zao Wou-Ki and Georgette Chen, were also presented at the auction.
Le Pho developed a successful career in France with thousands of pieces. His works are thirstily hunted by art collectors all over the world. — Vietnam News/ANN
