Vietnamese countryside in paintings of 20th century painters

Sotheby’s holds an online auction”Indochine” at the end of April, dedicated to works of Vietnamese Fine Arts in the 20th century. In which, many paintings are by painters from Indochina Fine Arts College.

The lacquer painting on the wooden board “Northern Vietnam Landscape”, size 114 x 70 cm, depicts the image of three farmers sitting in a rice field, in the distance is a house hidden at the foot of the mountain. The bamboo and yellow banana bushes in the foreground combine delicately with the dark brown mountain in the background, creating a balanced composition.
According to Sotheby’s, the work was made around 1930-1940, the golden age of Vietnamese Fine Arts. The painting was not signed, most likely one of the works of students that are exhibited annually at the Indochina College of Fine Arts. Painting using chiaroscuro technique to combine dark – light areas, can be compared with works of Nguyen Van Ty, Hoang Tich Chu, Nguyen Tien Chung. “The peaceful, poetic setting makes me sad. The work is a testament to the perfect lacquer technique,” the auction house wrote. The painting was sold at 94,500 euros (2.3 billion dong).