Nguyen Gia Tri (1908-1933), Fishing Boats In Ha Long Bay

Nguyen Gia Tri (1908-1933), Fishing Boats In Ha Long Bay

signed and dated '60 lower right. lacquer on panel. 37 by 45cm.; 14½ by 17¾in. Estimate 500,000—600,000 HKD

NOTE: This extraordinary lacquer corresponds to a change in the style of the greatest lacquer artist in Vietnamese history. In 1960 the artist was living in Saigon, where he went after the Geneva Agreements – that sealed the division of Vietnam – were signed in 1954. Gia Tri, the "Northerner", born in Hadong near Hanoi was a fervent nationalist militant, chose to move to the South. His "Bay of Along", presented here, is as much a homage as a memory. One can assume that this lacquer-work is based on drawings, sketches, made on site that the artist took with him.

This lacquer is of two-fold interest. First, following slow intellectual maturation that led Gia Tri to take up lacquering again after an interruption from 1945 to 1957, the artist forewent any temptation toward detail: abstraction takes hold; pure technique is given primary importance, and in this magnificent work Gia Tri thus offers the perspective of abstraction to lacquer. Second, the polychrome, the use of gold and silver in generous layers combined with the lighter touches of cinnabar, equate to a major innovation.

In private correspondence dated 12 July 1957, Gia Tri explained the technical and intellectual modifications that he was weaving into his work:

The period until the end of last year was a dark time for me [...] I worked in a trading house as a correspondent and, despite my attempts to go back to lacquer work, I hardly had the means to pay for the services of a lacquer artisan. The situation is very unfavourable, materials are impossible to find because we are cut off from the North, where lacquer and gold leaf and silver leaf or cinnabar are produced, or they are extremely costly. That is why our lacquers use as little as possible, which contributes to lowering their artistic value. Finally at the beginning of this year luck favoured me and my efforts were rewarded: I was able to find enough orders – among which the largest is from the Vietnamese government – to start afresh. I am currently deep in the midst of preparatory work with sketches and drawings.

It is comprehensible that few works by Gia Tri dating from this period exist and therefore understandable as well that the few known works are of great artistic interest. From sublimated memory to the struggle with shortages, the artist was on a quest that brought him to the production of masterpieces.

Commissioned from the artist directly by an official of the government of Saigon, this lacquer was then brought back to the United States and later sold, in 1982, to the family of the current proprietor.

Sotheby's. Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Paintings. 05 Apr 09. Hong Kong www.sothebys.com photo courtesy Sotheby's