Huyen’s Portrait of an Old VietnameseGentlemen, lot 304, dated 1952 and painted with charcoal and red chalk onpaper, sold for 2,800 USD but it was his second piece that fetched the mostmoney.
Nue De Mademoiselle Hai Duong (Miss HaiDuong’s Nude), lot 301, dated 1937, and painted with ink and gouache on silklaid on paper, was sold for 19,100 USD.
This confirms the large range of influence theVietnamese art market has around the world, especially in Hong Kong.
The decision of auctioning off Huyen’s artworkswas made by Sotheby’s after many of his paintings were displayed and sold at anexhibition at Vietnamese Chon’s Auction House.
Hoang Ngoc Hung, head of Chon’s Auction House,said the late painter’s Dang Ngoc (Natural Beauty), a rare nude lacquerpainting, dating back to 1967, previously displayed at the house’s 9th auction,was sold for 45,000 USD, out pricing other lots at the exhibition.
He added on the last week of April, Chon’s will select halfof the painter’s works, kept by eight collectors to go to auction,including The Portrait of Vietnamese Women (painted in 1938, pricedat 600 USD), The Portrait of Mademoiselle Van (dated 1940, pricedinitially at 700 USD), Seeking a Friend (dated 1944, priced at 1,000USD), The Bo Market (dated 1961, priced at 600 USD).
Huyen was born in the northern province of BacNinh in 1915 and died in 1994.-VNA