A corner of the Lê Bá Đảng Art Space at the HCM City Fine Arts Museum in District 1. Photo courtesy of the museum

HCM CITY The HCM City Fine Arts Museum has launched an art space to honour renowned artist Lê Bá Đảng (1921-2015), who made a great contribution to Vietnamese art and achieved great success in France and other countries in Europe.

The Lê Bá Đảng Art Space displays 27 paintings, sculptures and picture books.

The exhibition introduces works on paper combining various techniques by using collage and superimposition from Đảng’s collection called “Spaces”, highlighting his views of a bond between humans and the universe.

The showcase includes his sculptures with hollow figures made of stainless steel, reflecting Buddhist philosophy referring to the emptiness of the inherent existence.

The space also features the artist’s prints, which use new and innovative techniques such as relief engraving, embossing, lithography, and serigraphy.

The highlights of his collection at the exhibition are Không gian Mẹ Âu Cơ (The Space of Mother Âu Cơ), Mặt Trái Đất (The Earth Surface), and Đường Lên Tiên (Road to Be God).

Đảng’s artworks are displayed at the HCM City Fine Arts Museum. Photo courtesy of the museum

All the exhibits are part of the collection of 236 artworks and documents of Đảng presented to the museum by Lê Tất Luyện and Thụy Khuê – two family members of the artist – in France.

Addressing the opening of the art space on Saturday, Trần Thanh Bình, the museum’s director, said that despite living in France, Đảng had a deep love of his country and expressed it through art. Many of his works conveyed his pride in the country.

Born in 1921 in the central province of Quảng Trị, Đảng went to France in 1939. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts (School of Fine Arts) in Toulouse, France in 1942-48.

He had his first exhibition in Paris in 1950, and held several exhibitions in Europe, the US and Việt Nam.

He was awarded “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” (Knight of the Order of Arts and Literature) by the French Ministry of Culture in 1994.

The artist was honoured with the Medal of War of Resistance by the Vietnamese Government for his peace and anti-war activities in 2005.

His works are on display in well-known art centres worldwide including the Cincinnati Museum of Art in Ohio, the Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona, the Rockefeller Collection in New York, the Loo Collection in Tokyo, and the Museum of Arts and Letters in France.

Art lovers can visit the Lê Bá Đảng Art Space at 97A Phó Đức Chính Street in District 1. VNS