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Almine Rech

Lê Phô, Mai-Thu, Vu Cao Dam Pioneers of modern Vietnamese art in France

Oct 11, 2024 — Mar 9, 2025 | Musée Cernuschi, Paris, France

This autumn the Musée Cernuschi is staging the first major retrospective in France of three pioneers of modern Vietnamese art: Lê Phô (1907–2001), Mai-Thu (1906–1980) and
Vu Cao Dam (1908–2000). Comprising 150 works by the three artists, the exhibition traces their progress from their studies at the Hanoi School of Fine Arts through their long careers in France from 1937 onwards.

This event coincides with the centenary of the Hanoi School of Fine Arts, where for the first time Western art and Vietnamese traditions were brought together in Intense student-teacher exchanges that gave rise to a new, distinctively Indo-Chinese style.

Designed in close collaboration with the artists' families, who have opened up their archives, the exhibition sets the intrepid careers of three friends who loved their homeland as much as France, against the backdrop of the political changes and relations between the two countries throughout the 20th century. Vintage photographs, drawings from their formative years and preparatory sketches are displayed alongside works on silk, oils on canvas, lacquered association of techniques and materials drawn from Western and Asian traditions is emblematic of their work, which has found increasing recognition on the art market over the last thirty years.
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Selected artworks

  • Mai-Thu,                                      La source, 1966

    Mai-Thu La source, 1966

    Colors on silk

    Collection Almine Ruiz Picasso

    © Comité Mai-Thu, ADAGP, Paris, 2024

  • Mai-Thu,                                      Fleurs de pommier japonais, 1976

    Mai-Thu Fleurs de pommier japonais, 1976

    Colors on silk

    Collection Almine Ruiz Picasso

    © Comité Mai-Thu, ADAGP, Paris, 2024