The artist honors maternal love in Gourmandise, an image of a mother holding her child, he painted in 1975. At Sotheby’s Modern Day Auction on March 30, the painting was sold for HKD2.4 million (US$306,000) as against an earlier estimated HKD800,000-1.8 million ($102,000-230,000). The lower right corner of the painting bears the artist’s signature, seal and year of creation.
Thu (1906-1980) graduated from the first class (1925-1930) of the Indochina College of Fine Arts, and is regarded as one of the “four great masters in Europe” of Vietnamese painting, alongside Le Pho, Vu Cao Dam and Le Thi Luu.
Many of his works have fetched high prices on the art market. His 1930 painting Portrait of Mademoiselle Phuong in fact set a record for the highest price ever paid for a Vietnamese artwork at auction, selling for $3.1 million in 2021.
His 1943 work La toilette was auctioned at HKD1.92 million ($245,000 USD) at Sotheby’s on March 30. Created with ink and gouache on silk, the painting depicts a young woman grooming herself.
Also at the Modern Day Auction event, his Beauty in White sold for HKD960,000 ($122 495). Thu is renowned for portraying the pure Vietnamese beauty of young women, often depicting them in “ao dai” and with slender figures with hair either in a bun or flowing loose. He usually highlights the women’s femininity through dreamy eyes. This captured the attention of painter Tran Van Can, who remarked no one painted eyes as beautifully as Mai Trung Thu.
In the work Conversation, the artist depicts two young women seated and chatting. It fetched HKD896,000 ($114,000) at a Sotheby’s auction.
When he was a student, Thu started painting young women in oil, which was his academic specialization, before gradually transitioning to silk. In 1930, after graduating, he returned to teach at Quoc hoc Hue School. There, his talent flourished as evident in a series of silk paintings of women.
At Sotheby’s, on March 29, La jeune femme de Hué sold for HKD7.04 million ($898,000). He painted the work in 1937 while teaching at the Hue National High School.
According to the auction house, the subject of the painting is believed to have inspired much of Thu’s creativity. The young woman wears a white “ao dai”, conical hat and bronze-colored necklace, embodying the ideal beauty of Hue women of that time. Her right hand gently lifts the hat, expressing femininity.
In Le petit cours d'eau, la baignade, Thu depicted young women bathing in a stream. The painting was estimated to be worth HKD4.2-5 million but ultimately sold for HKD5.7 million ($727,000).
Created in 1978, the painting reflects the mature stage of his distinctive style. The women in the painting have slender figures and gentle gestures. The artist structured the composition in four layers of color, from earthy yellow tones and the blue hues of the water to the jade-green.
