SLICES OF LIFE - Sketches by late artist Nguyễn Gia Trí, a master in lacquer art, are on display at the HCM City Fine Arts Museum. Photo courtesy of the HCM City Fine Arts Association.

HCM CITY — A painting exhibition featuring the art of sketch drawing by the late talented artist Nguyễn Gia Trí has been opening in HCM City.

The event commemorates the 30-year anniversary of Trí’s death.

It is organised by the city’s Fine Arts Association, in co-operation with the Bình Minh Art Gallery and the artist’s family.

More than 50 works featuring life and people are displayed. Many sketches depict landscapes, villages, flowers and women. Themes on Vietnamese history are also included.

The paintings come from different collections owned by Trương Văn Thuận.

“Through the exhibition, I hope art lovers will learn more about painter Trí’s art,” said collector Thuận at the event’s opening ceremony.

LEGENDARY TALENT - Artist Nguyễn Gia Trí’s sketch painting called No Name at a new exhibition to commemorate 30 years from the artist’s death in HCM City. Photo courtesy of the HCM City Fine Arts Association.

Painter Trí, a native of Hà Tây (now Hà Nội), graduated from the Indochina Fine Arts College in 1936, and was a leader in setting a new style for traditional lacquer art.

Through his art, Vietnamese lacquer reached new heights with the combination of local culture, traditional artistic styles and western academic painting styles.

Trí used different techniques - including carving, embossing, gilding and polishing - to create a dramatic effect.

One of his famous lacquer works, called Vườn Xuân Trung Nam Bắc (Spring Garden of North, Central and South), is kept at the HCM City Fine Arts Museum.

The painting, which was started in 1969 and completed in 1989, features a spring scene and images of young women representing three regions of Việt Nam in áo dài (traditional long dress) on the way to a spring festival.

It also depicts pagodas, trees and spring flowers.

In 1991, the work was bought by HCM City’s People’s Committee at the price of US$100,000 and given as a gift to the museum.

In 2012, Trí was honoured with the Hồ Chí Minh Award for Literature and the Arts by the Government.

The exhibition will close on June 8 at 29A Ngô Thời Nhiệm Street, District 3. — VNS