梅忠恕

Mai Thu ranks among the few modern Vietnamese artists, such as Le Pho, Vu Cao Dam and Nguyen Phan Chanh, who fully mastered the art of elegant ink and gouache painting on silk during the early 20th century. Using a traditional technique but employing Western motifs and a distinctly French salon style, Maternit? (Lot 2256) dates from Mai Thu's finest period of the 1940s. It evokes a direct interpretation of the classical Madonna and Child, yet is also the idealised visage of a Vietnamese mother and infant with the woman wearing the traditional ao dai and her son in a loose flowing tunic and pants. Mai Thu's delicate handling of their composed features draws attention to the serene emotions of the state of motherhood. Presenting a familiar image within a harmony of warm, soft colours and moderate details of the slender bodies twisting gently to accommodate one another, this poetic rendition from Mai Thu radiates the familial love and warmth surrounding the pair.