Alix Aymé (1894-1989) Professor at the School... Lot 229

Alix Aymé (1894-1989) Professor at the School of Fine Arts of Indochina Naked with a bouquet of white lilies. Oil on framed canvas. Size : 70 x 90 cm. Made in the artist's studio in Hanoi, circa 1935. Provenance: bears the stamp of the auction sale of the Atelier d'Alix Aymé of December 12, 2003 in Toulouse on the back of the canvas. (Small restoration). Alix Aymé (1894-1889) Born Alix Hava, in Marseille, the young woman moved to Paris to become a student, then a collaborator, of Maurice Denis (1870-1943). Together, they designed the sets for the Théâtre des Champs Elysées. Married to the literature professor Paul de Fautereau in 1920, she spent a first stay in Indochina. During this period, she taught drawing at the high school of the Hanoi protectorate. In 1931, Alix marries for a second time Colonel Georges Aymé, in charge of the command of the armed forces in Indochina. It was in this context that she became close to the family of the Lao king Sisavang Vong, for whom she created large frescoes at the Royal Palace in Luang Prabang. From 1934 to 1939, she was appointed professor at the Indochina School of Fine Arts where she actively contributed to reviving the art of lacquerware alongside Joseph Inguimberty. She left Indochina for good in 1945. Alix Aymé's Indochinese work is considerable. It is expressed through a large number of works and incessant aesthetic combinations between the European modernist movements and the traditional pictorial techniques of Vietnam. In addition to oil painting, charcoal, watercolour and woodcutting, the artist excelled with techniques specific to the Far East, such as painting on silk, fixed under glass and of course the art of lacquer, which she particularly liked. The delicate and sensual world of Alix Aymé (1894-1989) How can one not think of Gauguin more than of his teacher Maurice Denis when faced with these nudes treated in a sculptural and hieratic manner? This large format illustrates once again Alix Aymé's deep attachment to European culture and his fascination for Vietnam and its women. A very strong opposition of lines gives rhythm to the composition of the painting. The lascivious position of the woman in the background, tirelessly taken up by Alix Aymé (see in particular Two Young Annamites Lots 147 Lynda Trouvé October 18, 2019) contrasts with the almost absent pensive figure of the academic nude in the foreground. Opposition also of the complexions of the two young annamites, between shadow and light. Alix Aymé captures a moment of gentle intimacy and sensuality, a suspended moment, in the heart of his studio, identifiable by the vaporous polka-dot curtains raised by the breeze. The bouquet of lilies, with its virginal symbolism, which separates the two young women at the same time as the space dissipates any trivial interpretation. It is a moment of great silent beauty that the artist invites us to share.