"Femmes Dans La Forêt” by Alix Angèle Marguerite Aymé sold for over 151,200 USD. Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Two lacquer paintings by noted French painter AlixAngèle Marguerite Aymé (1894-1989), who was a teacher of various leadingpainters in Vietnam, sold at high prices at an auction held at Sotheby’s HongKong on April 1.
Her lacquer paintings titled Femmes Dans La Forêt (Women in the Forest) (150cmx 200cm) sold for over 151,200 USD, while her Liseuse À Côté De L’annamite (AGirl Reads on a Hill in Vietnam) (46cm x 70cm) sold for 31,800 USD.
Experts consider Femmes Dans La Forêt a masterpiece of Vietnamese lacquer art.
Born in France as Alix Angèle Marguerite Hava, the artist married ProfessorPaul de Fautereau-Vassel in 1920. The couple then moved to Shanghai and laterto Hanoi.
In 1925-1926, she taught drawing at the French Lycée in Hanoi.
The couple returned to France to live between 1926 and 1928 and had a son. Shethen separated from Fautereau-Vassel and returned to Indochina with her youngson.
In 1931 she remarried Colonel, later General, Georges Aymé, future deputy toLieutenant-General Eugène Mordant, in command of the French Army in Indochina.
She also travelled and painted in Laos, as she was familiar with the family ofKing Sisavang Vong, and her large frescos were displayed in the Royal Palace inLuang Prabang.
She became a teacher at the École des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine (School ofIndochina Fine Arts), where she contributed to the birth of lacquer painting,according to fine arts experts.
At the school, she inspired many painters to make lacquer paintings, includingnoted painter Nguyen Gia Tri (1908-1993).
At the same auction sale on April 1 in HongKong, titled Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Art, the lacquer paintingGoldfish (60cm x 100cm, 1953) by Truong Van Thanh sold for 22,000 USD.
A lacquer box with an image of a countryside pond by Pham Hau (46cm x 23,5cm x8,5cm, 1939-1940) sold for 25,400 USD.
Another painting by Pham Hau titled L’entrée Du Village (121,5cm x 54cm) soldfor 76,400 USD.
At an auction sale on March 31, a decorative folding screen by Pham Hau withdrawings of nine carp (180cm x 198cm, 1939-1940) sold for 878,300 USD. — VNS/VNA
VNA
