Thu MAI-THU
1906 – 1980 Vietnamese painter Mai Trung Thu is a Vietnamese painter born in 1906 in the village of Ro-Nha in northern Vietnam. Son of a great Tong family whose father was a high-ranking Mandarin, he went to study at the French lycée in Hanoi. Following his time at this school, he was one of the first students to enter the Hanoi School of Fine Arts. A passage which will make him become an artist with multiple talents responsible for a new form of divulgation of the Vietnamese culture. Founded on strong values, Barnie's is based on ethics and trust. Two notions that are driving and essential to his activity as an art buyer. Thanks to its expertise, our agency is committed to estimate your Mai Thu works. A passion expressed over the years This painter, known since the end of the fifties, presents a wide variety of productions. It is mainly his paintings on pongee, a light and supple silk fabric, flattened and rubbed with gouache, that have made Mai Thu famous. This artist is an art lover who knows how to detect the human and emotional dimension of art. A quality that he will put to the service of his own pictorial compositions, notably through his representations of children, as with Two young boys practising reading in a Vietnamese interior created in 1950 or The construction game; a recurring theme that will give him worldwide fame. Although his paintings on pongee are well known, the painter also stands out for the intensity of the colours used. Colours that become stronger and deeper with time. But Mai Thu is also a draughtsman, a portraitist using both pastel and lead pencil. This Vietnamese painter draws his inspiration from his environment while maintaining rigorous practices partly inherited from his training at the School of Fine Arts. A multidisciplinary artist Filmmaker, photographer, musician, painter, Mai Thu is a multifaceted artist. Known throughout the world for his representations of children, he also multiplies themes. From portraits of women to Vietnamese family scenes and floral compositions, he explores themes that are dear to him. From 1955, at the request of his artistic director, he even painted in the style of the Fontainebleau School. From then on, he took up and appropriated classics in a stylistic manner such as Vinci's Mona Lisa or two women touching their breasts, and produced more Asian versions. Being passionate about art means recognising the human, cultural and emotional dimension of a work. It is with this in mind and as a specialist in the expertise of works of art that Barnie's aims to estimate Mai Thu's works. Formative journeys A drawing teacher in the 1930s, he decided a few years later to leave Vietnam for France. It is in Paris that he will find himself with two of his painter friends. This arrival in the French capital will then arouse the general interest, then curious and fond of exotic art. But this trip was also a contribution to his production. His paintings transmit a form of purity and softness, traditional forms uncommon in the West but revealing a certain form of classicism inspired by Victor Tardieu and by the artistic currents then present in France. As a professional and art expert, Barnie's, proposes to evaluate your paintings, portraits and drawings by Mai Thu. Our company will be able to estimate your works. Mai Thu expertise and estimation Among Mai Thu's most beautiful portraits of women, it is impossible not to mention that of "the Woman in the Orange Dress". Of prodigious beauty, this woman highlights a traditional Vietnamese dress, whose colour contrasts in a soft and pleasant way with the celadon green background. The painting "Young Girl with a Fan" is striking for its much more traditional painting technique.