Lacquer box with landscape
| Accession Nr.: | 59.73.1-2 |
|---|---|
| Type: | object for daily use; lacquers |
| Date of production: |
1950s
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| Place of production: |
The landscape painted on the top of the box depicts colourful sailboats. The reflection of the foreground figures on the rippling water is already indicative of an artist who has mastered European painting traditions and technical knowledge. In the background, large rocks and receding ships can be seen (presumably in Halong Bay).
The Vietnamese lacquer art, a prominent branch of local craftsmanship, enjoyed a renaissance at the turn of the twentieth century. What's more, painters themselves began to experiment with the use of lacquer in fine art, as encouraged by the French artist Victor Tardeu, founder of the Indochinese Academy of Arts. The representatives of the lacquer painting movement, which could hardly be separated from nationalist and modernist aspirations, expected it to create, in addition to artistic experimentation, a distinctively Vietnamese art that could be exported.
The Vietnamese lacquer art, a prominent branch of local craftsmanship, enjoyed a renaissance at the turn of the twentieth century. What's more, painters themselves began to experiment with the use of lacquer in fine art, as encouraged by the French artist Victor Tardeu, founder of the Indochinese Academy of Arts. The representatives of the lacquer painting movement, which could hardly be separated from nationalist and modernist aspirations, expected it to create, in addition to artistic experimentation, a distinctively Vietnamese art that could be exported.