Book on lacquerartist Trần Phúc Duyên released

The book is published by Omega Plus Books.

HẦ NỘI — A book on late artist Trần Phúc Duyên has been released in Hà Nội to introduce the life and career of one of the last members from the Indochina School of Fine Arts (L'Ecole Superieure des Beaux-Arts d'Indochine).

The book entitled Duyên: Hiện Thực, Trừu Tượng, Thiền Họa (Fate: Realism, Abstractionism, Zen) is from a six-year compilation by collectors Phạm Quốc Đạt and Lê Quang Vĩnh.

Born in 1923, artist Duyên was a late comer of the New Art movement in Indochina. The year 1930 was the epitome of the New Poetry, associated with the pre-war literature movements.

In 1942, at the age of 19, he was enrolled in the school and in 1945 with his studies not yet completed, the L'Ecole Superieure was closed due to the war.

As one of the last generations from the school, Duyên was one of those who migrated to Europe, joining a group which included Lê Phổ, Vũ Cao Đàm, Mai Thứ, Lê Thị Lựu, Phạm Thúc Chương, Võ Lăng and Phạm Tăng.

He moved to France in 1954 and lived in Switzerland until he died, but he was the only one among his compatriots, to pursue sơn mài as his life-long passion.

He titled himself a sơn mài (lacquer) artist as early as the beginning of the 1950s, when he was still in Hà Nội, stamping it as a title mark on the reverse of his work.

Even when Duyên moved to Europe, the geographical distance and material shortages could not stop him from persevering with his love for sơn mài and his endeavour to seek and experiment with different ways of working with lacquer.

"This book is our tribute to Duyên," said the collectors. "He is an artist who created a phenomenal legacy in sơn mài art, notwithstanding years living far away from the source of sơn ta (Vietnamese sơn mài materials).

"He never stopped innovating his style and materials, thus his works spoke for themselves and won their position in the art world. They have contributed to the multi-levelled development of Vietnamese sơn mài."

Đạt and Vinh's meeting with artist Duyên's art was by chance.  They discovered one of the treasures from the artist which had been packed in box in the attic of the Jergenstorf Castle Museum in the suburb of Bern where he had lived since 1968.

The turn of the artist's works to the Vietnamese audience was also the collectors own return to the Vietnamese spiritual and aesthetic values.

"Being able to accompany him in this journey has been our blessing, since we came to realise that no matter where we are, where we go Việt Nam stays alive in our hearts and minds," the collectors said.

The collectors are amateurs in terms of the profession of writing and printing, so they sought help from expert advisers. The book comprises 100 paintings that are from collections in France, Switzerland, Italy and Việt Nam.

A sơn mài (lacquer) painting by artist Trần Phúc Duyên in the book. Photos courtesy of Omega Plus Books

Duyên's paintings, particularly those created in Europe are for the most part almost all monochrome with minor contrast and extremely delicate in colour shades.

This represents an enormous challenge for photographers, graphic designers and printing technicians. Most of the pictures in this book, selected by Duyên himself, were printed out from the negative films that the collectors were lucky enough to access from his archive or those taken and processed by the professional art photographer of the Rijksmusseum in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

"I myself never had a chance to meet artist Duyên in person," said popular fine arts critic Phan Cẩm Thượng. "I only saw some of his works in Việt Nam and did not know or hear much about him.

"I was introduced to the Đạt and Vinh's collection including Duyên's works. I was absolutely amazed and therefore accepted the invitation to write a commentary for the book."

The book also aims to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Indochina College of Fine Arts establishment, the predecessor of the Việt Nam University of Fine Arts.

The book's launch will be held on January 11 at Nam Thi House, 152 Nam Kỳ Khởi Nghĩa Street, District 1, HCM City. — VNS