Nguyen Huyen (1915-1994)

The highly prized works by the lacquer artist, a graduate and teacher at the Hanoi School of Fine Arts, are meeting with success at auction and breaking world records.

It was the star of the sale devoted to Indochina by Lynda Trouvé on Tuesday, September 22nd. La Fête du Village, a polychrome lacquer and gold on a black background from 1942, emblematic of the revival of art in Vietnam, fetched €832,000, a world record for its author (source: Artnet).

On Friday, a screen by Gia Tri Nguyen (1908-1993) fetched €1,004,400 under the hammer of Drouot Estimations. This was the first appearance on the market for Villagers Among Banana Trees, which had been acquired in Vietnam from the artist by the great-aunt of the seller.

The triumph of this Vietnamese polychrome lacquer was followed by other successes.

Launched in the UK in 2018, the mega-gallery is expanding the project with a new space dedicated to contemporary handcrafted design in Southampton, Long Island. “Of Making and Material” opens July 2, featuring artists including Adam Buick, Rosa Nguyen and Florian Gadsby, who also have on-site residency in August.

A lacquer work by Nguyen Van Ty was the star of this auction devoted to "myths and realities of Indochina, 1800-1960". It is the only complete five-panel version of this work.

On November 28, the hammer struck €501,240 at the Aguttes sale for a lacquer triptych with gold highlights by the Vietnamese painter, dated 1986, tripling the artist's previous auction record (Artnet). The same sale also spotlighted a Young Woman painted in ink by Mai-Thu for € 514,000.

At a sale totaling €3.78 million for 33 lots on October 6 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Aguttes broke a new record in its specialty: that of the very confidential Nguyen Siên with a lacquer finish at €207,000, while Le Pho's Jeune fille aux pivoines took second place in the artist's ranking with €1.165 million. 

No need for the younger generation to be shown in a major museum to prove themselves: they can simply get a quick endorsement from the secondary market.

Vietnam celebrated its painters, who sparked international bidding wars.