Sotheby’s to auction rare painting by celebrated Vietnamese painter

An oil painting by renowned Vietnamese painter Nguyen Phan Chanh (1892-1984), Les Chanteuses de Campagne, will go up for sale on June 14 in Paris as part of Sotheby’s Arts d'Asie sale.

Chanh was one of the leading painters of Vietnamese contemporary fine arts. He inherited the academic painting techniques of the West and blended them with the artistic methods of Eastern silk painting, elevating this medium to new heights with iconic masterpieces such as Chơi O An Quan (Children Playing Games) and Len Dong (Mediumship).

Les Chanteuses de Campagne embodies this spirit of cultural exchange, as the painter executed it in oil on a large canvas measuring 90.5 by 102.5 cm in 1930, the year he graduated from the first class of the Indochina Fine Arts School in Hanoi.

The painting portrays two women of modest means in a candid moment rooted in earthy tones. This composition, reflecting Chanh's focus on authentic action through aesthetic novelty, offers viewers a poignant glimpse into everyday life in early 20th-century Vietnam.

It was signed Nguyen Phan Chanh and dated 1930 on its lower left side, and signed and inscribed with a poem in Chinese and with the seal of the artist on its upper left.

Prior to this auction, the artwork had only been known through archival records and exhibitions held in Hanoi in 1930 and Paris in 1931. Afterwards, the painting was discovered in a house in rural France.

It was purchased by the current owner's grandfather at the International Colonial Exhibition (Exposition Coloniale Internationale) in Paris in 1931. This was the first time that modern Vietnamese fine art had been introduced to the West.

Notably, Les Chanteuses de Campagne was exhibited at the Indochina Fine Arts School in Hanoi in 1930, immediately after its creation and before being sent to Paris. It is one of the very few works Chanh produced with oil on canvas.

In an archival photograph, the painting was displayed alongside another emblematic oil paintings by a painter from the same graduating class, Mai Trung Thu’s Portrait of Mademoiselle Phuong, which was also auctioned at Sotheby's in 2021, fetching a record price of $3.1 million and becoming the highest auction price for a Vietnamese artwork to date.

Chanh’s artwork is being offered by Sotheby's with an estimated price range of 600,000-900,000 euros ($650,000 - 970,000).

According to curator Ace Le, executive director of Sotheby's Vietnamese Market, the introduction of Les Chanteuses de Campagne can be considered one of the most important discoveries of the fine arts in the region and especially of Nguyen Phan Chanh.

“With the East-West convergence in both technique and ideology, this can be considered one of the rare masterpieces, contributing to the early shaping of Nguyen Phan Chanh as a pioneering figure who laid the foundation for modern Vietnamese fine arts," Le said.

“And after almost a century abroad, it is hoped that this important masterpiece will be repatriated to its homeland."

Nguyen Phan Chanh was born in 1892 in the central province of Ha Tinh. He received a classical Chinese education from a young age and wrote poems, which he often included at the corner of his paintings next to his pen name Hong Nam - a reminder of his birthplace in the south of the Hong Linh mountains.

Beginning his studies in Hue, Nguyen would go on to study in Hanoi in 1925 as part of the first cohort of students at the newly established École des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine, together with other celebrated Vietnamese painters such as Le Van De, Mai Trung Thu, Le Pho and Georges Khanh.