An enthralling, large and early-period silk work by Vu Cao Dam, Seated Lady (Lot 1014) stands as a paragon of the Vietnamese silk paintings genre. Silk paintings by the artist are amongst the most rare and exquisite of mediums, as the artist’s early career was focused primarily on sculpture, while his later career in oil painting. Given the diversity of Vu’s practice, encompassing sculpture, oil painting and lithography, the rarity of his early silk pieces is especially relevant. The present lot is an important work within the broader tradition of Vietnamese silk painting, a style which fully developed between 1925 and 1945 after a long period of gestation. Seated Lady contributes to and contextualizes this stylistic epoch, marked by a sense of delicacy, restraint and charm.

Offering a charming glimpse into an intimate scene, Seated Lady embodies Vu’s signature style, influenced by Western approaches of composition, Chinese visual qualities, and the ancient tradition of silk painting in Vietnam. The aesthetic focus of the painting centers upon the titular figure, centered in the foreground. Distant mountains trace the horizon as Vu Cao Dam embraces the romance of nature, drawing the recurring motif of women lounging outdoors from the French artistic tradition. When juxtaposed with Vu’s later works in which his subjects are set amidst more vibrant and saturated Impressionistic swathes of colour, Seated Lady is painted with a restrained palette and sense of delicacy, exuding an ephemeral, dream-like quality that offers respite and stirs a deep sense of nostalgia.

Standing as a tribute to the dignity of the Vietnamese culture and its people, Seated Lady features a young woman garbed in an elegant, blue ao dai sitting on the grass in an open landscape. Even as the lady’s figure dominates the picture plane, her posture remains especially reserved and unimposing, her knee drawn up towards her body and her gaze cast downward, away from the viewer. Her features are rendered with fine, precise strokes—from lifelike wisps of hair down to the delicate outline of her nose. While her countenance exudes an expression that is unperturbed and tranquil, her unassuming composure exerts its own subtle power.

The relatively large scale of this silk painting signifies Vu’s confidence over this unforgiving medium —a process requiring precise control over the pressures and direction of the paintbrush, and the strategic management of space, perspective and lighting. The artist utilizes a translucent, restrained palette of gentle white gouache, pastel blues, faint greens, and hints of taupe, indicative of the artist’s early period silk works. By first applying a wet wash over the silk’s surface, before using ink pigments to delineate forms and shapes, the artist skillfully creates a lucid translucency. Vu demonstrates a mastery of the ink brush and calligraphy, not only in the details of work but also in the labyrinth of softly applied thin strokes that form the lush greenery of the scene and the graceful, undulating forms and lines that accentuate the form of the maiden. A sensual masterwork, Seated Lady conveys the gentle elegance of the modern woman through the eyes of a pioneering maestro, ultimately offering the viewer a captivating yet dreamlike encounter with beauty.

武高談早年的大幅絹本作品《靜坐女子》是越南絹本畫的珍貴典範。他從藝之初以創作雕塑為主，後來則集中在油畫創作，因此他的絹本作品非常少。武氏一生創作頗豐，包羅雕塑、油畫、石版畫等，因此他的早期絹本傑作尤顯重要。廣義上的越南絹本畫經歷長時間醞釀，在1925至1945年間發展成形。《靜坐女子》畫面清麗雅致，克制內斂，卻蘊含迷人魅力，體現了那個時代的絹本畫藝術的風格特色。

《靜坐女子》以一個獨自靜處的女子為畫面焦點，集西式構圖、中式視覺元素、越南絹本畫傳統等各方面影響於一身，展現武高談的典型風格。武氏喜愛表現大自然的浪漫氛圍，反覆繪畫女子徜徉在戶外環境中，背景的遠山沿地平線伸延，這是法國繪畫傳統的常見主題。武氏的後期作品當中，人物通常置身於以印象派風格塗抹的背景，色彩明亮飽和；與之相比，本作用色較為含蓄淡雅，氣氛如夢飄渺，引起觀者悠悠的懷舊情緒。

《靜坐女子》是向越南文化和人民致意的作品，畫中的年輕女子身穿優雅的藍色奧黛，坐在空曠的草地上。即使女子形象佔據了整個畫面，她的姿態依然端莊謙和，膝蓋靠向自己，目光低垂，遠離觀者。從栩栩如生的髮絲到小巧精緻的鼻子，武氏都以細膩精準的筆觸描繪女子的五官。她神色自若，沉穩的姿態卻散發出一種溫和的力量。

此作尺幅相對較大，可見武氏對於運用難以駕馭的絹本畫十分自信。在絹本上作畫需要嚴格控制運筆力度和方向，也需要掌握配置空間、視角、光線等元素的技巧。藝術家採用婉約的白色水粉、粉藍、淡綠，以及隱然可見的灰褐，配色含蓄柔美，反映其早年絹本畫的特徵。他利用墨彩建構不同形狀之前，先在絹面渲染一層水粉，巧妙營造半透明效果。此作充滿精巧細節，少女身姿線條優美，起伏流暢有致，綠草鬱鬱蔥蔥，筆觸輕柔細密，盡展藝術家的筆墨技巧，造詣非凡。《靜坐女子》瀰漫一片旖旎溫柔，表現這位越南現代藝術先鋒眼中現代女性的優雅風度，為觀者帶來如夢似幻的美麗邂逅。