Golden Sunset over Halong Bay circa 1938-1945 signed with artist's seal lacquer, pigment, and gold foil on wood 100 by 198 cm. (total six panels with their mount) 39 3/8 by 78 in. The work is accompanied by Emperor Bao Dai's calling card.FootnotesProvenance Private Collection of Emperor Bao Dai Gifted to Edgar Ansel Mowrer circa 1951 Thence by descent to the present owner 范光厚 （范厚） 下龍灣的金色夕陽 約一九三八年至一九四五年作 簽名：范厚筆 藝術家花押 漆木 金箔 來源 保大帝私人收藏 約1951年贈予埃德加·安塞爾·莫勒 現藏家繼承自上述來源 Celebrated as one of the finest Vietnamese lacquer masters, Pham Hau was a pioneer who contributed to the birth of Vietnamese lacquer art which has grown to become a fine art medium in the country today. The rare and exquisite Golden Sunset over Halong Bay, once belonging to Emperor Bao Dai,1 is a true masterpiece by Pham Hau. It is a magnificent representation of his poetic compositions with unparalleled technical virtuosity and supreme workmanship. The Birth of Vietnamese Lacquer Art The École des Beaux-Arts de l'Indochine (EBAI) was established around 1925 through the efforts of Victor Tardieu and Nguyen Van Tho (better known as Nguyen Nam Son). Although modelled after the French academy system, Tardieur's passion for the beauty of the country and the aesthetics of her people compelled him to pursue a mission to renovate and revitalise local art traditions.2 Together with Joseph Inguimberty, Tardieu encouraged the study and application of indigenous art forms and materials while bringing modern European painting practices to his students. It was in this cultural exchange and at the crossroads between the old and the new, the foreign and the local, that Vietnamese lacquer and silk paintings formed their distinctive style and flourished. The 1927 to 1945 period was pivotal for the development of lacquer art in Vietnam. A studio dedicated to lacquer at EBAI was established in 1927 under the leadership of Inguimberty, with support from master artisan Dinh Van Thanh and Alix Aymé who studied lacquer from a Japanese professor at the Professional School in Hanoi.3 In 1932, technical lacquer education was officially introduced to the school's curriculum.4 And in 1938, Evarist Jonchere, the Director of EBAI from 1938 to 1945, elevated the status of lacquer from traditional craft to that of a modern fine art medium by officiating it into the school curriculum and creating a dedicated Lacquer Department alongside Painting and Sculpture within the Fine Arts Section of EBAI. Lacquer art then experienced a magnificent boost in interest, support and practices. The lacquer ateliers of Pham Hau and Nguyen Gia Tri were created in 1934 and c. 1936, respectively, followed by those of Nguyen Van Ty, Hoang Tich Chu and Le Quoc Loc. The Cooperative Society for Indochinese Artists was established in 1939 to support lacquer artists in selling and promoting their artworks via domestic and international exhibitions. Governmental loans were granted to artists for the purchase of expensive materials for lacquer paintings. A dedicated showroom at EBAI was set up. Lacquer paintings and screens (bình phong) became status symbols for the Vietnamese and French elites in Indochina. Pham Hau—A Pioneer Master of Lacquer Art Pham Hau was born in 1903 in Dong Ngac, Ha Dong, Hanoi. Unlike most of his peers at EBAI who came from well-off families, he lost his parents at the age of 10, was trained as a metal moulder at Haiphong Vocational School and worked at Hanoi train station5 before joining EBAI in 1929 at the age of 26. Perhaps it was his life experience, coupled with the skills and disciplines in metal mounding, that drew him to and helped him excel in the most "rebellious"6 yet magical of substances: lacquer. The five years Pham Hau spent at EBAI was also when new processes and techniques for lacquer were discovered and perfected there. Oil was replaced with pine resin in mixing with lacquer to produce a remarkably smoother surface. Silver and gold dust were sprinkled into wet lacquer, allowing for different tones and depths. New colours were added to the traditional lacquer palette which was originally limited to translucent brown (cánh gián) with the same consistency as colours like black and shades of red. Egg shell, ivory and pearl shell were introduced to create a spectrum of white, the most difficult colour to obtain due to the reactive nature of lacquer.7 Together with his EBAI classmates like Nguyen Gia Tri, Nguyen Khang, and Tran Van Can, Pham Hau was working alongside their teachers and mentors including Joseph Inguimberty, Alix Aymé, Tran Quang Tran, Dinh Van Thanh and Le Pho on these important discoveries and innovations. Collectively, they triggered the ground-breaking departure from traditional lacquer techniques to modern lacquer, thus building the foundation for the development of an art form that is uniquely Vietnamese. Upon graduation, Pham Hau returned to Dong Ngac on the outskirt of Hanoi in 1934. Entrusted with the first commercial order of fifty lacquer cigarette boxes from Victor Tardieu, he opened his own studio in the village. Artistically gifted and technically brilliant, Pham Hau quickly built a solid brand for his studio and himself. He received a Gold Medal at the first Société Annamite d'Encouragement à L'Art et à L'Industrie (SADEAI) in Hanoi in 1935, and a Premier Certificate at the event's second edition in 1936. He and Nguyen Gia Tri were widely recognised as two pioneer lacquer masters of Hanoi.8 In 1944, they held a joint exhibition at Trang Tien Exhibition House with resounding success. In 1945, he was awarded the Annam Dragon medal by Emperor Bao Dai, a frequent patron of his. The period between 1935 and 1945 marked the peak of Pham Hau's artistic and commercial career, with monumentally scaled works, mostly catered to colonial officials, the royal family, and high-ranking mandarins. His studio was closed in 1945 due to the August Revolution. A new smaller studio was then opened in the family villa at Tran Quoc Toan street in the inner city of Hanoi from 1947 to 1958.9 Due to the limited space and restricted availability of expensive materials, his works during this period tend to be of smaller scale and less opulent10. He also spent more time as an educator, teaching lacquer art at the National School of Handicraft, which he established in 1949. If Nguyen Gia Tri is the master of dreamy scenes of elegant Vietnamese ladies in imaginative settings, then Pham Hau should be considered the master of Vietnam's idyllic landscape. Here we find ancient pagodas ensconced in lush foliage, sprawling Red River delta rice fields, majestic Central Highland mountains, enchanting tropical forests, magical aquatic worlds and rural village quietude with palm trees soaring into the clouds. He managed to capture the soul of the Vietnam immortalised in a realm of limitless imagination. Golden Sunset over Halong Bay—A Unique Masterpiece Golden Sunset over Halong Bay was executed during the period between 1938 and 1945, the peak of Pham Hau's career, bearing all the hallmarks of being a masterpiece of his: original perspectives, poetic compositions, intricate details, and excellent lacquer techniques. The large scale of the screen (100 x 195.8cm) allows us to submerge ourselves into the painting, taking in all the visual and emotional experiences it has to offer. According to Pham Hau's family, he only executed very few works of Halong Bay.11 This is the second one known to date, but of a much more superior scale and quality than the first. With Golden Sunset over Halong Bay, Pham Hau takes us on a journey to the top of a mountain in Halong Bay to take in the panoramic view of the extraordinary sunset. The seascape is expansive without a real focal point. Instead, like in most of his paintings, we explore the beauty of nature in layers. In the foreground, our eyes are drawn to the brilliantly flamboyant red tree, the sun-kissed golden bamboos, tropical ferns, and palm leaves, as well as a nearby rock formation to the right. A fishing village nestles in the safety of the bay, where fishing nets are hung up to dry. Then there are layers upon layers of the majestic cliffs, curving and twisting like great dragons in different directions before disappearing into the distant horizon, where the sky and sea melt into one golden hue. Dotting the waters are traditional junk boats, in which fishermen are lowering their sails after a day at sea. The viewer cannot help but feel, for a moment, like they are living that calm and quiet life, embraced and protected by the harmony of the sun, the sea, the mountain and the forest. Pham Hau's bravura is in full display here. Despite a restrictive lacquer palette, he masterfully created various shades of gold, brown, vermillion, amber and red, demonstrating the limitless power of lacquer in depicting our colourful world. Upon closer examination, the viewer can really appreciate the laborious and painstaking process of lacquer art-making, during which layers of colours and inlays are applied before being sanded down to create the final visual impact. Nowhere can that be seen more clearly than the mountain ranges, where the interplay between colour, light, form and texture materialises a vision that is both realistic and fantastical. Red and gold, the most expensive materials, are the symbolic and spiritual colours of the East—gold for prosperity, happiness, and opulence, and red for power and good fortune. These are also the official colours of the royal family and the court, and perhaps that was why they were picked to construct the dominant palette of this screen. Gold was used unsparingly: subtle and under-toned in the foregrounding water, and glitteringly playful and transformative in the backgrounding sky and its reflection across the horizon. This iconic masterpiece of Pham Hau comes with an unrivalled provenance. The screen once belonged to Emperor Bao Dai who ordered several paintings and screens from Pham Hau for his personal collection and as official gifts to statesmen and politicians. In 1951, the screen was granted as a gift to the Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and author Edgar Ansel Mowrer when he visited Bao Dai in Da Lat together with Donald Heath, the American Minister to Vietnam, and the French Governor General Marshal Jean de Lattre.12 Mowrer was travelling extensively in the Far East to cover the ongoing conflicts around the region for American and English newspapers. The screen has been kept in his family's country home in New Hampshire ever since. The family also kept the calling card of Bao Dai with notes by Mowrer on the back of the card.13 As Alix Aymé beautifully put it: "The lacquer artwork is born slowly, coat by coat, worked, polished with love and only reaches perfection after months or years... Beautiful lacquers attest to the wisdom of those who knew, disinterestedly, how to submit themselves to the exigencies of a severe technique, in order to realise a marvellous collaboration of material and spirit."14 Golden Sunset over Halong Bay offers a window to the past, present, and future of lacquer art, and demonstrates the sheer artistic brilliance of one of its true masters. Pham Le 1. Bao Dai (1913-1997), the last reigning emperor of Vietnam, served as the Head of State from 1949 to 1955 before he moved to France. 2. Gouvernement Général de L'Indochine, Les Ecoles D'Art de L'Indochine (Hanoi: Imprimerie D'Etrême Orient, 1937), 7. 3. Maurice Denis Archive, Aymé_Denis 3935, Letter from Alix Aymé to Maurice Denis. 4. INHA, Fonds Victor Tardieu Archives, 125,52,81. Report on the proposed reduction in hours of operation of EBAI, addressed to the Directorate of Public Instruction in Indochina, dated 6 May 1933. 5. See Pham Gia Yen, The Lacquer Art of Pham Hau (Hanoi, Vietnam: Fine Art Publishing House, 2019). 6. Alix Aymé, "L'Art de la Laque (The Art of Lacquer)," Tropiques: revue des troupes coloniales 327 (1950): 53, 60. 7. This summary on the technical developments of lacquer was based on Nguyen Quang Phong, Các Họa Sỹ Trường Cao Đẳng Mỹ Thuật Đông Dương, Painters of the Indochina School of Fine Arts (Hanoi: Fine Arts Publishing House, 1993); Quang Viet, Hội Họa Sơn Mài Việt Nam (Vietnamese Lacquer Painting) (Hanoi, Fine Arts Publishing House, 2014) and Alix Aymé, "La Laque en Indochine et L'École des Beaux-Arts D'Hanoi," Etudes D'Outre Mer (December 1952): 411. 8. Indochine, Hebdomadaire Illustré 22 (6 February 1941), Maîtres-laqueurs de Hanoï 9. Pham, The Lacquer Art of Pham Hau, 28. 10. Ibid 11. Interview with Mr. Pham Gia Yen on 9 September 2021. 12. Edgar Ansel Mowrer, Triumph and Turmoil: A Personal History of Our Time (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1968), 388. 13. In addition, there is a handwritten label in French on the back of the screen that reads, "This panel belongs personally to His Excellency, Nguyen De." It is known that Nguyen De was Bao Dai's Director of Cabinet entrusted to take care of all court affairs. 14. Alix Aymé, "L'Art de la Laque (The Art of Lacquer)," Tropiques: revue des troupes coloniales 327 (1950): 53, 60. 范光厚（范厚）是推動越南現代漆畫藝術誕生的先驅人物，被譽為越南最優秀的漆畫大師之一。時至今日，漆藝在越南已發展為現代繪畫與純藝術的重要媒介。曾由越南阮朝末皇保大收藏之《下龍灣的金色夕陽》極為精美罕見，堪稱名副其實的傑作。此畫華麗地表現出范氏構圖佈局上的詩意，同時展現了這位大師無人能及的精湛技巧和非凡工藝。 這件作品創作於 1938 年至 1945 年間，正值范光厚創作生涯的巔峰，並具備其傑作中的標誌性元素：具原創性的視角、充滿詩意的構圖、精緻的細節，以及卓越的漆畫技藝。其大規格尺寸讓觀者得以沈浸其中，藉由視覺與情感充分體驗和品味畫作。據范氏家人所言，范光厚畢生以下龍灣為主題的作品極少，《下龍灣的金色夕陽》是目前已知的第二件，尺寸不僅比第一件大得多，素質亦更為上乘。 金色和紅色在東方深具象徵意義且最為高貴，金色代表繁榮、幸福和財富，而紅色象徵權力與好運。金、紅兩色也是皇室和宮廷的代表色彩，或許范光厚是基於這個原因而將此兩色做為《下龍灣的金色夕陽》的主色。他盡情地在畫中使用金色，不只前景裡的水波微透金影，背景的天空和地平線上的倒影更是金光閃爍，相當耀眼。 范光厚這幅獨樹一幟的傑作曾為保大所藏，出處可說無出其右。保大向范氏訂購漆畫和漆屏，除供私人收藏之外，亦贈與政要和外賓。曾經榮獲普立茲獎的美國記者兼作家埃德加·安塞爾·莫勒(Edgar Ansel Mowrer) 在二戰前後周遊亞洲各國，為英美報章採訪報導該區域的政治與軍事衝突。他正是於1951年，偕同美國駐越南國大使希斯(Donald Heath)和法國遠征軍總司令德·拉特爾(Jean de Lattre)到大叻(Da Lat)造訪當時身為越南國國長保大時，獲贈《下龍灣的金色夕陽》。莫勒將這幅作品帶回美國，此後這件具有歷史與藝術價值的漆畫屏風便一直收藏於其家族位於新罕布什爾鄉間的房子裡。莫勒的家人仍保存著保大當時使用的名片，其背面留有莫勒親手書寫的筆記。