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Lot Essay
LE PHO, c.1940, PORTRAIT OF A LADY OR THE NOSTALGIA OF THE FUTURE
Portrait de dame was most certainly executed in 1940, a tragic year in Europe marked by war, desolation and devastation, which brought the inexorable end of an era.
Le Pho remained immersed in this world since he chose to leave Hanoi - giving up his position as professor at the Indochina School of Fine Arts (École des Beaux-Arts de l'Indochine) and his Art Deco-furnished home rented near the “Small Lake” - to settle in Paris three years earlier, in 1937, after his first stay of 1931-32.
Appointed Artistic Director of the Indochinese section at the Exposition Universelle, he was able to observe there, with concern, the symbolic confrontation between the Nazi and the Soviet Pavilions, and to contemplate, with admiration and sadness, Picasso’s Guernica in the Spanish Pavilion.
It was in this heavy context that Le Pho executed this masterly portrait, perhaps the most subtle of all his œuvre.
He employs a background he had already used at the beginning of the 1930s: a solid horizontal beige band at the top, a lighter beige extending down the left, and a bluish tone spreading down the right, seeming to emanate from the armchair.
There is no peripheral decoration, of which the artist is usually rather fond in his works. Le Pho alternates and opposes whites and beiges, establishes a contrast between a luminous figure and a neutral background. One notes a restrained use of ink, essentially reserved for the hair and the wood of the armchair.
The hairstyle is strict, the expression is confident, framed by plucked eyebrows and a touch of red lipstick, and slightly shadowed eyes that do not meet the artist’s gaze.
There is no smile. Le Pho also pays particular attention to the hands in this portrait : the right hand rests on the armrest, while the left hand, adorned with a wedding ring, assumes an unusual gesture.
A three-strand necklace of fine pearls, commonly nicknamed the “Queen’s necklace”, and a dress in embroidered silk muslin confirm the lady’s high social status, as does the French seat of the Regency or early Louis XV period with its high back and recessed arm supports, designed to accommodate the volume of dresses with hoops. The chair is upholstered in a beautiful embroidered silk damask, its backrest covered in mink lined with red silk.
Everything here speaks of refinement and elevated standing.
Yet, the lady’s seated position is surprising : she perches on the armrest of the chair, as if reluctant to accept her position too readily.
A preparatory drawing for this work exists, smaller in size (64.5 × 42.5 cm, compared to 76 × 52 cm here), signed (without a stamp), and dated 1940. In addition to confirming the date, the drawing confirms the artist’s primary intention of evoking principally the strength of the facial expression, the description of the garment and the chair’s backrest. Some details such as the necklace are absent.
If the lady’s identity remains uncertain, family records suggest that she may be Jeanne Rosalie Villessot (1903-1983), the wife of Ralph Wormeley Curtis Jr. (1908–1973), the only son of the American painter Ralph Wormeley Curtis (1854-1922) and Lisa de Wolfe Colt Curtis (1871-1933). She is more fondly remembered as “Nina”, which was her family nickname, just as “Bino” was for Ralph Jr.
The painting was probably not executed at the family’s Villa Sylvia in Cap Ferrat, which was sold by the family in 1936, but rather at the Palazzo Barbaro in Venice, where Ralph Jr and his wife mainly resided. The history of Vietnamese painting is still being written, and further research may bring new clarity.
Ralph Jr.’s grandparents, Daniel and Ariana Curtis, purchased and restored the Palazzo Barbaro, a Renaissance palace on Venice’s Grand Canal, in 1885. This magical place quickly became a centre of artistic and literary life, notably for expatriate Americans. Henry James stayed there frequently; Robert Browning gave poetry readings there. Moreover, Claude Monet painted the Palazzo Contarini-Polignac on the opposite bank of the canal; Bernard Berenson, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Crown Princess Victoria (future Empress of Germany), and Queen Louise of Sweden frequented its magnificent rooms.
In this masterly work, Le Pho, yet untouched by Bonnard and Matisse’s later influence, positions himself as the heir to the Flemish Primitives whom he so admired. Continuing the great tradition of portraiture, he moves from religious subjects to the secular, seeking to reveal the psychology of his sitters.
This portrait and its fading history bear witness to a brilliant world, one that the artist experienced with both passion and tragedy. It is the story of “Nina” Curtis, but also of Le Pho himself, the son of the Viceroy of Tonkin, carrying with a nostalgia for the future.
All this is present in this breathtaking portrait.
Jean-François Hubert
Senior Expert, Art of Vietnam
Portrait de dame was most certainly executed in 1940, a tragic year in Europe marked by war, desolation and devastation, which brought the inexorable end of an era.
Le Pho remained immersed in this world since he chose to leave Hanoi - giving up his position as professor at the Indochina School of Fine Arts (École des Beaux-Arts de l'Indochine) and his Art Deco-furnished home rented near the “Small Lake” - to settle in Paris three years earlier, in 1937, after his first stay of 1931-32.
Appointed Artistic Director of the Indochinese section at the Exposition Universelle, he was able to observe there, with concern, the symbolic confrontation between the Nazi and the Soviet Pavilions, and to contemplate, with admiration and sadness, Picasso’s Guernica in the Spanish Pavilion.
It was in this heavy context that Le Pho executed this masterly portrait, perhaps the most subtle of all his œuvre.
He employs a background he had already used at the beginning of the 1930s: a solid horizontal beige band at the top, a lighter beige extending down the left, and a bluish tone spreading down the right, seeming to emanate from the armchair.
There is no peripheral decoration, of which the artist is usually rather fond in his works. Le Pho alternates and opposes whites and beiges, establishes a contrast between a luminous figure and a neutral background. One notes a restrained use of ink, essentially reserved for the hair and the wood of the armchair.
The hairstyle is strict, the expression is confident, framed by plucked eyebrows and a touch of red lipstick, and slightly shadowed eyes that do not meet the artist’s gaze.
There is no smile. Le Pho also pays particular attention to the hands in this portrait : the right hand rests on the armrest, while the left hand, adorned with a wedding ring, assumes an unusual gesture.
A three-strand necklace of fine pearls, commonly nicknamed the “Queen’s necklace”, and a dress in embroidered silk muslin confirm the lady’s high social status, as does the French seat of the Regency or early Louis XV period with its high back and recessed arm supports, designed to accommodate the volume of dresses with hoops. The chair is upholstered in a beautiful embroidered silk damask, its backrest covered in mink lined with red silk.
Everything here speaks of refinement and elevated standing.
Yet, the lady’s seated position is surprising : she perches on the armrest of the chair, as if reluctant to accept her position too readily.
A preparatory drawing for this work exists, smaller in size (64.5 × 42.5 cm, compared to 76 × 52 cm here), signed (without a stamp), and dated 1940. In addition to confirming the date, the drawing confirms the artist’s primary intention of evoking principally the strength of the facial expression, the description of the garment and the chair’s backrest. Some details such as the necklace are absent.
If the lady’s identity remains uncertain, family records suggest that she may be Jeanne Rosalie Villessot (1903-1983), the wife of Ralph Wormeley Curtis Jr. (1908–1973), the only son of the American painter Ralph Wormeley Curtis (1854-1922) and Lisa de Wolfe Colt Curtis (1871-1933). She is more fondly remembered as “Nina”, which was her family nickname, just as “Bino” was for Ralph Jr.
The painting was probably not executed at the family’s Villa Sylvia in Cap Ferrat, which was sold by the family in 1936, but rather at the Palazzo Barbaro in Venice, where Ralph Jr and his wife mainly resided. The history of Vietnamese painting is still being written, and further research may bring new clarity.
Ralph Jr.’s grandparents, Daniel and Ariana Curtis, purchased and restored the Palazzo Barbaro, a Renaissance palace on Venice’s Grand Canal, in 1885. This magical place quickly became a centre of artistic and literary life, notably for expatriate Americans. Henry James stayed there frequently; Robert Browning gave poetry readings there. Moreover, Claude Monet painted the Palazzo Contarini-Polignac on the opposite bank of the canal; Bernard Berenson, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Crown Princess Victoria (future Empress of Germany), and Queen Louise of Sweden frequented its magnificent rooms.
In this masterly work, Le Pho, yet untouched by Bonnard and Matisse’s later influence, positions himself as the heir to the Flemish Primitives whom he so admired. Continuing the great tradition of portraiture, he moves from religious subjects to the secular, seeking to reveal the psychology of his sitters.
This portrait and its fading history bear witness to a brilliant world, one that the artist experienced with both passion and tragedy. It is the story of “Nina” Curtis, but also of Le Pho himself, the son of the Viceroy of Tonkin, carrying with a nostalgia for the future.
All this is present in this breathtaking portrait.
Jean-François Hubert
Senior Expert, Art of Vietnam