95 - LÊ PHO (1907–2001)

LÊ PHO (1907–2001) Motherhood. Ink and color on silk. Circa 1938–1942. Signed in the upper left corner with his double signature in Chinese characters and French, with a red seal. 56.5 x 43.5 cm (image size). Framed by Vasse (Lille), No. 99 Provenance: private collection, then passed down through the family. The son of the Viceroy of Tonkin, Lê Pho was born in 1907 in Hadong, in northern Vietnam. From a young age, he showed a keen interest in the arts and enrolled in the Indochina School of Fine Arts in 1925. During his years of training in Hanoi, he met his two principal mentors, the French artists Victor Tardieu and Joseph Inguimberty, who played a major role in the development of his style. He settled permanently in Paris in 1937. This work depicts the Virgin and Child seated on a Chinese-style armchair, with a vertical hanging in the background featuring bluish floral motifs, dating from the period 1938–1942. It was painted either in Paris until 1939 or in Nice, where the artist resided beginning in 1940. He drew inspiration from the Italian Primitives, whom he discovered during a trip to Europe in 1931. He transposed the lessons of the Italian Renaissance onto silk and adopted the principle of pyramidal composition, a technique particularly favored by Raphael in his Madonnas and Childs. We thank Mr. Alain Le Kim, son and heir of Lê Pho, for confirming the authenticity of this work. This work will be included in the catalogue raisonné currently being prepared by Mr. Alain Le Kim.