Vu Cao Dam 武高談 | Deux Femmes 兩女士

Christie's, Hong Kong, 6 July 2003, lot 45

Acquired directly the above sale by the present important private Asian collector

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香港, 佳士得, 2003年7月6日， 拍品編號45

現亞洲重要私人藏家直接購自上述拍賣 

Silk paintings by Vu Cao Dam 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. Born the son of a Catholic family, Vu Cao Dam was raised with Confucian values and a strong affinity to Chinese culture. Vu Cao Dam’s father was well educated, trained in Chinese calligraphy and shared his great love and knowledge of Chinese literature with his son.

An enchanting, large silk work by the maestro, Deux Femmes depicts two Vietnamese maidens seated contently in a tight interior, sharing an intimate moment by grooming their hair. The lady adorned in a pinkish red ao dai, with neatly a combed bun, gently brushes the long black hair of her seated companion and forms an elegant image of endearment.

Deux Femmes bears a striking graphic quality as Vu paints the ladies’ dress in monochromatic tones of red and green, complementary colours that accentuate the artist’s rich colour palette. The artist immerses the figures in a background of blueish green washes, as if to blur the lines between the interior and the natural world that beckons from outside the window. By simply segmenting the walls that surround the women, Vu brings the large figures to bear a commanding presence upon the painting’s surface. Vu demonstrates a mastery of the ink brush and calligraphy, not only in the details of work but also in the graceful, undulating forms and lines that accentuate the curvatures of the two women.

Jeannine Auboyer, in an illustrated feature on Vu Cao Dam in France-Illustration, wrote that "his technique stays attached to the substrate of his ancestors: silk, in which Vu Cao Dam appreciates the fineness of the grain and the softness and absorption of the colour.”

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武高談的絹本畫工藝精純，作品極為優秀，可惜為數不多。武氏藝術生涯早期以雕塑為主，後期則集中油畫創作，絹本作品甚為鮮見。武高談生於天主教家庭，但自幼學習儒家思想，熟悉中國文化。他的父親學識淵博，擅中國書法，熟悉並熱愛中國文學，武高談亦受其熏陶。

絹本作品《兩女士》刻劃兩位越南女子安坐一隅梳理髮絲，姿態嫵媚動人。其中一位女子身披深粉紅色越南傳統奧黛，她髮髻整齊，溫柔地梳理女伴的長髮，情景優雅，氣氛親密。

畫中兩人穿著單色奧黛，一紅一綠，相映成趣，這種明艷色調常見於武高談的作品。背景以藍綠色渲染，似要將室內與窗外自然環境的分界線變得模糊。藝術家將畫中女郎身邊的牆壁分割成方塊，讓二人成為畫面絕對的主角。作品的細節精緻，女郎身姿線條優美，起伏流暢有致，展現藝術家在筆墨書法方面的非凡造詣。

珍妮·奧博耶於《法國-圖解》的武高談專輯寫道：「他的技巧與其先祖的底蘊緊密相連——武高談對絲絹的細膩紋理、柔軟度和染墨方式瞭如指掌。」