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VISIONS OF VIETNAM: THE MELCHIOR DEJOUANY COLLECTION
BOI TRAN (B. 1957)
Elegant Ladies of Hue
Details
BOI TRAN (B. 1957)
Elegant Ladies of Hue
signed and dated ‘B.Tran 2015' (lower left on the first panel)
lacquer on panel (quadriptych)
i) 159.4 x 79.8 cm. (62 3⁄4 x 31 3⁄8 in.)
ii) 159.6 x 80 cm. (62 7⁄8 x 31 1⁄2 in.)
iii) 159.1 x 79.6 cm. (62 5⁄8 x 31 3⁄8 in.)
iiii) 159.5 x 79.8 cm. (62 3⁄4 x 31 3⁄8 in.)
overall: 159.4 x 319.2 cm. (62 3⁄4 x 125 5⁄8 in.)
Executed in 2015
Elegant Ladies of Hue
signed and dated ‘B.Tran 2015' (lower left on the first panel)
lacquer on panel (quadriptych)
i) 159.4 x 79.8 cm. (62 3⁄4 x 31 3⁄8 in.)
ii) 159.6 x 80 cm. (62 7⁄8 x 31 1⁄2 in.)
iii) 159.1 x 79.6 cm. (62 5⁄8 x 31 3⁄8 in.)
iiii) 159.5 x 79.8 cm. (62 3⁄4 x 31 3⁄8 in.)
overall: 159.4 x 319.2 cm. (62 3⁄4 x 125 5⁄8 in.)
Executed in 2015
Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner in 2020
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
BOI TRAN, "ELEGANT LADIES OF HUE", 2015,
OR THE INEVITABLE CHOICE OF DISTINCTION AGAINST FATE
In 1975, even though the region of Hue has regained peace, the scars remain wide open. Located at the pivotal point between the North and the South, it was the scene of incessant bombings and battles during the civil war.
A martyrdom, an apocalypse.
What to do when you have nothing left? Not even a photo from your childhood. When you have encountered, since then, insidious and cruel death, which has taken away loved ones?
Not to submit. Never. Never complain.
In Vietnam, everyone has experienced war. Not everyone has won it.
Later, after the hardships, gradually, to listen once again to the birdsong, to drink green tea, to gently endure the rain, and to care for one's own. To pay tribute to one's son gone too soon and to smile. Always smile. As a proud 18th generation descendant of the Generalissimo Phan Quang Minh (1350-1454) from Ha Tinh, and one of his six sons, Phan Huu Gia, who settled just south of what was not yet Hue, in 1438.
The painting for Boi Tran is like a mantra. Always the same people, the same gestures, the same garden. A creed without liturgy.
Our majestic lacquer depicts seven (not eight...) young women in ao dai (traditional Vietnamese dress).
Seductive in their carefully maintained distance, and not by their displayed voluptuousness, as in Nguyen Trung's works—the master of Boi Tran. More introverted, almost austere, blending into the vegetation.
In the distance, on the left, a nha san, the house of minorities that the artist saves from destruction. Further to the right, a nha ruong, a traditional kinh house, all wood like the former. And the garden gate.
In Hue.
A closed world, in the hills.
Distinction, the ultimate weapon against fate.
Like sharing a slice of eternity.
Jean-François Hubert
Senior Expert, Art of Vietnam
OR THE INEVITABLE CHOICE OF DISTINCTION AGAINST FATE
In 1975, even though the region of Hue has regained peace, the scars remain wide open. Located at the pivotal point between the North and the South, it was the scene of incessant bombings and battles during the civil war.
A martyrdom, an apocalypse.
What to do when you have nothing left? Not even a photo from your childhood. When you have encountered, since then, insidious and cruel death, which has taken away loved ones?
Not to submit. Never. Never complain.
In Vietnam, everyone has experienced war. Not everyone has won it.
Later, after the hardships, gradually, to listen once again to the birdsong, to drink green tea, to gently endure the rain, and to care for one's own. To pay tribute to one's son gone too soon and to smile. Always smile. As a proud 18th generation descendant of the Generalissimo Phan Quang Minh (1350-1454) from Ha Tinh, and one of his six sons, Phan Huu Gia, who settled just south of what was not yet Hue, in 1438.
The painting for Boi Tran is like a mantra. Always the same people, the same gestures, the same garden. A creed without liturgy.
Our majestic lacquer depicts seven (not eight...) young women in ao dai (traditional Vietnamese dress).
Seductive in their carefully maintained distance, and not by their displayed voluptuousness, as in Nguyen Trung's works—the master of Boi Tran. More introverted, almost austere, blending into the vegetation.
In the distance, on the left, a nha san, the house of minorities that the artist saves from destruction. Further to the right, a nha ruong, a traditional kinh house, all wood like the former. And the garden gate.
In Hue.
A closed world, in the hills.
Distinction, the ultimate weapon against fate.
Like sharing a slice of eternity.
Jean-François Hubert
Senior Expert, Art of Vietnam
Brought to you by
Ziwei Yi
AVP, Specialist, Head of 20th Century Day Sale 20th/21st Century Art, Asia Pacific