Lot 36: TO NGOC VAN (Vietnam 1906-1954)

La maison pres de la riviere (The house near the river) signed and dated 'To Ngoc Van 1929' (lower right); signed and dated again on the reverse oil on canvas 35 x 24 in. (90 x 60 cm.) NOTES The painter To Ngoc Van was born on December 15th 1906, in the village of Xuan Cau, a commune of Nghia Tru, within the Van Giang district, Hai Hung province. He came from a modest family and was raised by his aunt. He spent his youth pursuing his passion for theatre. With a talent for drawing, he illustrated the main characters of the plays. He was admitted into the second class at the School of Fine Arts in Hanoi, in 1926, and graduated in 1931 along with Do Duc Truan and Thang Tran Penh of the painting section, and Vu Cao Dam who was from the sculpture section. He was well acquainted with the first generation Vietnamese artists which included many of the most renowned painters of the time: Le Pho, Mai Thu, Nguyen Phan Chanh, who were either graduates of the school or his fellow school mates at that time. Tardieu and Inguimberty were his teachers, of whom the latter had a great influence on his works. Extremely talented, To Ngoc Van was interested in painting on silk and using oil on canvas. Initially, he painted mainly elegant and sensual women. Dressed in their traditional costume, "ao dai", they posed languously in carefully-set interiors, consenting to a system that is witness to the restlessness that they seemed to experience. Did To Ngoc Van already have the premonition that this world was going to change, and that the social struggle of the classes was going to be a historical necessity? Most probably, as shown by the title he gave his works from 1931-1932: "The disillusioned", or "The disenchanted". This gifted student also used the oil on canvas technique, of which the present lot is a perfect illustration. This technique is precise: To Ngoc Van treats the volume with juxtaposed colour ranges. He applies his colours with a brush or a painting knife. They are placed side by side, while the intensity of the colours is graduating to lighter shades. A base tone is applied upon which the artist goes over again with either bands of shadow or enhancing lights. The general aspect of the landscape is done with large brushes while the subject is structured with the use of a knife. The extraordinary "up and down symmetry" that the painting expresses makes it a "manifesto" of the Vietnamese pictorial school. While the French Surrealists searched for a point where, notably, the "up and down" stopped being perceived as contradictory, To Ngoc Van resolved that the equilibrium must be invented or else it must not be. This prophetic implication is included in the painting. After receiving his honorary certificate at the Colonial Exposition of Paris in 1931, To Ngoc Van became a professor at the School of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, from 1933 to 1935. In 1936, he returned to Hanoi where he started teaching at the School of Fine Arts. After the August revolution of 1945, a new school called the "School of Advanced Studies of Fine Arts" was created on October 8th, 1945. However the war did not allow regular sessions of classes. Finally, the "Secondary School of Fine Arts", which was known as the "School of Fine Arts of the Resistance" was opened in Dai Tu, in the province of Tai Nguyen. To Ngoc Van was the first rector of this school and taught, among others, Tran Van Can, Nguyen Khang and Nguyen Tu Nghiem. The school, however, never reached its full compliment: only 21 students followed the program. This program was based on the principles of "Combating while constructing" and "Learning life", and combined teaching with social life and the resistance against the French occupation. The professors and the students were implicated in important military and civil campaigns and in propaganda movements, notably in the production and savings. Thus, the works of To Ngoc Van became very militant: the soldiers, the peasants were depicted as revolutionaries; the guns of the "Viet Minh" combatants now replaced the elegant parasols. Death roamed. After the end of the 1940s, To Ngoc Van did not forget his own artistic quest and tried to use the laquer technique, which he was exposed to at the School of Fine Arts. To Ngoc Van died on June 17th, 1954, after a French bombardment. Along with Nguyen Phan Chanh and Nguyen Gia Tri, he is one of the three major Vietnamese artists who remained in the country. by Jean-Francois Hubert.