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VISIONS OF VIETNAM: THE MELCHIOR DEJOUANY COLLECTION
LUONG XUAN NHI (1914-2006)
Portrait de dame (Portrait of a Lady)
Details
LUONG XUAN NHI (1914-2006)
Portrait de dame (Portrait of a Lady)
signed and dated 'Luong Xuan Nhi 1939' (lower left)
oil on canvas
73.5 x 50 cm. (28 7⁄8 x 19 5⁄8 in.)
Painted in 1939
Portrait de dame (Portrait of a Lady)
signed and dated 'Luong Xuan Nhi 1939' (lower left)
oil on canvas
73.5 x 50 cm. (28 7⁄8 x 19 5⁄8 in.)
Painted in 1939
Provenance
Private collection, France
Christie's Hong Kong, 2 December 2021, lot 310
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
Christie's Hong Kong, 2 December 2021, lot 310
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
Exhibited
Paris, Christie's, The Phoenix Glue and the Broken Silk Thread - Important Vietnamese Artworks from the Melchior Dejouany Collection, 8 June - 13 June 2024
Further details
LUONG XUAN NHI, "PORTRAIT OF A LADY", 1939,
OR THE ELEGANCE OF COMBAT
The 1930s and 1940s in Vietnam saw a resolute questioning of Confucianism and increased demands for the country's independence. Independence was advocated, asserted, or demanded by all segments of Vietnamese society.
Clothing was a visible and not insignificant player in this dual emancipation. While the ‘modern’ Vietnamese man most often converted to Western-style dress, the ‘modern’ Vietnamese woman, like the one in our painting, subscribed to the new dress code that Nguyen Cat Tuong - himself an alumnus of Indochina School of Fine Arts, graduating in 1933 - promoted (supported in particular by Le Pho) by reinventing the original ao dai. This garment had historically projected a traditional, outdated image of femininity: the ‘honest’ woman - beyond her ancestral courage - had to be wise, innocent, submissive (to her father, husband, uncle, brother...) and far removed from any overt manifestation of physical attractiveness, embodying unwavering fidelity to the old Vietnamese saying ‘Cai net danh chet cai dep’ (‘virtue before beauty’).
Here we see a stool, like the base of the sculptural seated woman. A beige cameo background brings out a genuine sense of strength: a proud woman. Nguyen Cat Tuong reinvented ao dai features a bodice that skims the contours of the body, then splits into two panels that spread at the hip and falls over the pants. This new garment crystallised many of the ideals of the Tu Luc van doan (Autonomous Literary Group).
Promoted, worn, assumed, the modern ao dai offered women the chance to show off their beauty, exercise their sensuality and reshape the world in their own image.
In this woman’s relaxed posture, the iconic garment embellished with a casual scarf, the insouciant face and tomboy hairstyle, many of the questions raised in Vietnam in 1939 are inscribed. Hard years followed, forcing them to make drastic choices.
Jean-François Hubert
Senior Expert, Art of Vietnam
OR THE ELEGANCE OF COMBAT
The 1930s and 1940s in Vietnam saw a resolute questioning of Confucianism and increased demands for the country's independence. Independence was advocated, asserted, or demanded by all segments of Vietnamese society.
Clothing was a visible and not insignificant player in this dual emancipation. While the ‘modern’ Vietnamese man most often converted to Western-style dress, the ‘modern’ Vietnamese woman, like the one in our painting, subscribed to the new dress code that Nguyen Cat Tuong - himself an alumnus of Indochina School of Fine Arts, graduating in 1933 - promoted (supported in particular by Le Pho) by reinventing the original ao dai. This garment had historically projected a traditional, outdated image of femininity: the ‘honest’ woman - beyond her ancestral courage - had to be wise, innocent, submissive (to her father, husband, uncle, brother...) and far removed from any overt manifestation of physical attractiveness, embodying unwavering fidelity to the old Vietnamese saying ‘Cai net danh chet cai dep’ (‘virtue before beauty’).
Here we see a stool, like the base of the sculptural seated woman. A beige cameo background brings out a genuine sense of strength: a proud woman. Nguyen Cat Tuong reinvented ao dai features a bodice that skims the contours of the body, then splits into two panels that spread at the hip and falls over the pants. This new garment crystallised many of the ideals of the Tu Luc van doan (Autonomous Literary Group).
Promoted, worn, assumed, the modern ao dai offered women the chance to show off their beauty, exercise their sensuality and reshape the world in their own image.
In this woman’s relaxed posture, the iconic garment embellished with a casual scarf, the insouciant face and tomboy hairstyle, many of the questions raised in Vietnam in 1939 are inscribed. Hard years followed, forcing them to make drastic choices.
Jean-François Hubert
Senior Expert, Art of Vietnam
Brought to you by
Ziwei Yi
Specialist, Head of 20th Century Day Sale