by Aymeric Rouillac
FEMININE MODERNITY
The son of a Viceroy from the court of Hue, Mai Trung Thu aka Mai-Thu (1906-1980) was among the first graduates of the Indochina School of Fine Arts founded by Victor Tardieu in 1925 in Hanoi. After having received an ambitious and innovative artistic education, Mai-Thu developed a style inspired by a thousand-year-old culture which he updated with new themes glorifying the Vietnamese woman.
While giving drawing classes in Hué, Mai-Thu exhibited works in Europe and the Far East. He moved to Paris on the occasion of the 1937 World Exhibition, never to leave France again. He even went as far as voluntarily enlisting in the French army during the Second World War. After being freed from German jails in 1941, Mai-Thu turned away from the oil painting technique he had learned in Indochina and went on to modernize the ancestral practice of silk painting in his newly adopted country, boldly merging tradition and innovation.
SILK PAINTING
Silk painting is an extremely difficult and unforgiving technique that follows a precise protocol. The artist applies a mix of glue, rice flour or starch and alum to a very thin and pure piece of silk in order to smooth down its surface. The outline can then be drawn with charcoal or pencils before the colors, watercolors, tempera or gouache are applied forcefully in order to impregnate the fibers of the fabric. If the painting is done with a paintbrush used for oil painting, the fabric is then washed with water to soften and help blend the colors. The painter then signs his name with his ideogram and dates his work.
FREED FROM NAZI JAILS
Our silk painting was created in 1942, an artistically busy year for Mai-Thu who had just been freed from jail and was embarking on a new artistic adventure. It depicts a young woman dressed in a traditional white jacket known as an "
ao dai" worn over black pants. Her hair is untied and she is reclining on a red lacquered and carved wooden bed. She languidly holds a fan with the book she was reading at her side. This painting is an artful blend of Eastern and Western cultures, drawing inspiration from the
European Venuses of the 17thto 19th centuries and applying it to the restrained and idealized beauty of a young Annamite. The clever play of curtains and colored drapes in the background emphasizes the setting while allowing for the afternoon glow and sounds to permeate the scene.
THE GIFT OF A BOSS
Probably exhibited in Algiers, Paris or elsewhere in France as early as 1942,
La sieste was bought by René Tarrin, a Parisian entrepreneur who was an associate of Gaston Meritte in 1950 and used to live at 48 rue de l'aviateur Roland Garros in Saigon. Tarrin offered the painting to a young collaborator in whose family it has remained ever since. On the back of the silk painting, precise handwritten instructions about the framing requirements complete this picture, which is presented in its original frame and can be considered as one of Mai-Thu's timeless masterpieces.
