“Chasing after beauty is not something you just achieve in paintings. But it must be accompanied by the moral conduct of a true artist that needs to be constantly polished and re-examined.” — Bùi Xuân Phái
Perhaps the best known of the Vietnamese modern painters, Bùi Xuân Phái gained international renown for his gouache paintings of old Hanoi as well as his portraits of Vietnamese opera actors and singers. A graduate of Indochina Fine Arts College in Hanoi, Phái became a painter against the wishes of his Confucianist family, as painting was not considered to be a sufficiently prestigious profession in the 1920s. Phai was widely respected and admired for both his artistic achievements and moral character, losing his teaching position at the Hanoi College of Fine Arts in 1957 after supporting Nhân Văn-Giai Phẩm, a ‘reactionary’ movement for political and cultural freedom. He was not allowed to show his work in public until a solo exhibition in 1984, four years before his passing.
Phái’s oeuvre contributed significantly to Vietnam’s artistic progress. His self-portraits served as a vehicle for introspective reflection, and his scenes of Hanoi were largely painted from memory, recalling what he saw on his strolls through the city’s streets and communicating the simple beauty of daily life in 20th century Vietnam through his unique perspective.
The artist with his work
Provenance
Sotheby’s, Singapore, 3 October 1998, lot 70 Acquired at the above sale by the present owner