VietNamNet Bridge – More than 40 paintings by contemporary Vietnamese artists will be on sale at the Sotherby's autumn auction of Southeast Asian modern and contemporary art in Hong Kong on October 3.

Painting Three Bathing Girls by Le Pho.
The collection includes Ba Co Gia Dang Tam (Three Bathing Girls) painted in around 1938 by Le Pho (1907-2001) which is expected to go from US$77,000-103,000. Also under the hammer will be Canh Chua (A Pagoda) by Pham Hau (1903-1995) at $64,000-90,000.

According to Mok Kim Chuan who is responsible for collecting paintings in the Southeast Asia region for Sotherby's, the collection by Vietnamese artists sold at this session played an important role in the country's history and modern art.

The paintings, which were varied in topics, sizes and materials, had been created by artists such as Le Pho, Pham Hau, Le Van De and Mai Trung Thu, he said.

These paintings are considered on a par with those by other noted artists from the region like Affandi (1907-1990), Hendra Gunawan (1918-1983), S. Sudjojono (1914-1986) and Georgette Chen (1907-1993).

The organisers said as many as 170 works, estimated to fetch US$4.2 million, would be available at the auction.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News