HÀ NỘI — A silk painting by a popular female painter Lê Thị Lựu (1911-1988) was sold for US$207,821 at an auction sale by Sotherby’s in Hong Kong on Sunday.

The silk painting, titled Trẻ Em Nghịch Hoa (Children Playing with Flowers), drawn in 1966, was among the highest priced items at the sale, which showcased some 186 works from across the world, including 45 works by Vietnamese artists.

The 64.5cm x 54.5cm silk painting drawn with various colour materials is considered an advancement in the development process of silk painting in Việt Nam, with the surface effect found to be different from those found in silk paintings earlier. The artist has managed to nearly achieve the surface effect of colour powder, acrylic and even oil-on-canvas paintings.

The work was sold at an initial price of $19,184 and expected to be sold at $31,973 at the most.

Lựu was born in 1911 in the northern province of Bắc Ninh and got an education in Hà Nội. She was a student of the Indochina Fine Art College’s third course. She then taught drawing in Huế from 1935 to 1937 and in Hà Nội from 1938 to 1939. In 1939, she moved to settle down in France, where she worked as a Professor at Lycee Corot in 1962 and at Lycee Rodin and Lycee d’Orsay in 1963.

At the same auction sale in Hong Kong, Lê Phổ’s (1907-2001) Đàn Bà và Đứa Trẻ (A Woman and Her Child), silk, 45.5cm x 29cm, was sold at $140,679.

Bùi Xuân Phái’s (1920-1988) Hà Nội Phố (Street Scene), oil on canvas, 61cm x 75.5cm, painted in 1969, was sold at $47,959.

Nguyễn Văn Tỵ’s (1917-1992) lacquer painting Thiếu Nữ Trong Vườn (Young Women in the Garden), 150cm x 293cm, painted in 1942, was sold at $175,849.

Painting Mơ Mộng (Dream), silk, 46cm x 60.5cm, painted in 1940 by Vũ Cao Đàm (1908-2000) was sold at $127,890; Mẹ và Con Gái (Mother and Daughter), silk, 40cm x 23cm, by Mai Trung Thứ (1906-1980) was sold at $47,959, while the painting Mẹ và Con Ở Trong Vườn (Mother and Children in the Garden), oil on canvas, 96.5cm x 129.5cm, by Lê Phổ was sold at $151,869. — VNS