Hue girl

Hue girls in paintings

Two rare oil paintings depicting Hue girls, “Portrait of Miss Phuong” and “Woman wearing a conical hat by the river”, show the skillful brushwork of artist Mai Trung Thu. In “Portrait of Miss Phuong” (painted in 1930, the first year of his arrival in Hue), artist Mai Trung Thu used cool colors and an isosceles triangle composition to bring peace and serenity to the scene and characters. “Woman wearing a conical hat by the river” was painted in oil in 1937, the last year he was in Vietnam. In the painting, there is the figure of a Hue woman wearing a jade green ao dai, her oval face with a sweet expression, her big, sincere eyes, and her curls falling on her cheeks, giving viewers a gentle, peaceful feeling.

Researcher Nicolas Henni-Trinh Duc commented: "The woman stands by the river at noon, her green ao dai shining brightly in the sunlight as if she were a figure carved from jade. Her face is mysterious and covered by a conical hat. The harmony of colors and the sweet depiction of the girl bring peace to the scene."

In addition to the two paintings above, Mai Trung Thu also painted many outstanding works about Hue girls, such as “Young girl playing the Moon lute”, “Girl making poetry”… The painting “Young girl Hue” is very noteworthy, with her hair tied up in harmony with the elegant green ao dai, recalling the graceful, sexy, and seductive beauty of her slender figure, especially her eyes that were sad for no reason. Painter To Ngoc Van once exclaimed: “The painting of a young girl sitting with wet eyes as if about to cry by Mai Thu has captivated viewers”.

Woman wearing conical hat on Huong River

In Mai Trung Thu’s paintings, the girls often have slim figures, wear ao dai, bun hair, and especially dreamy, distant eyes mixed with a bit of sadness. Painter Tran Van Can believes that no one can draw eyes as beautifully as Mai Trung Thu, especially the image of a young girl with eyes as clear as the Huong River but sad and deep. This is the delicate, discreet beauty with the quiet features of a Hue girl in the countryside of Vy village or where there are Kim Long gardens… elegant, simple with a strange attraction of inner beauty, not the noble, golden branches and jade leaves.

Hue in the past through colors

Mai Trung Thu's father, Mr. Mai Trung Cat, was a high-ranking mandarin of the Nguyen Dynasty. During his childhood, he had many opportunities to live with his mother and father in Hue. When he grew up, he was one of the first students of the Indochina College of Fine Arts to come to Hue to teach painting at the Quoc Hoc School. Like many other artists, he was attracted not only by the beauty of the gentle and discreet Hue girls; but also by the space of Hue with its mountains, the Huong River, the houses hidden in green gardens, the quiet mausoleums, the ancient moss-covered pagodas...

Nicolas Henni-Trinh Duc emphasized: Mai Trung Thu excelled in creating a sense of narrative for his paintings. Through his skill in color coordination and skillful strokes, he depicted daily life in Hue in the past. The image of Hue in the past appeared through his paintings of a Hue tea drinking session, young women sitting on a chair, women crossing a ferry, young Hue women holding books, shadows of old ferries... In the painting "Drinking tea in Hue" (1937), he painted three men sitting drinking tea on a mat under a tree in the garden, with a child sitting and listening to the conversation. The detail to recognize the Hue features is the simple but solemn gate. Or in many of his paintings, there appear quite a few square pillows in the style of Hue royalty.

During his years in Hue, Mai Trung Thu devoted himself to researching and painting many Hue musicians, some of which later belonged to King Bao Dai's collection and were displayed in Kien Trung Palace along with paintings by many other artists. In the years after 1930, Mai Trung Thu participated in painting exhibitions in many countries around the world such as Italy, Belgium, the United States, etc. Since 1937, he lived in France, continuing to publish many works on the subject of young girls, children, villages with thatched roofs, temples reminiscent of the peaceful homeland of Vietnam with many memories of an innocent, pure childhood, etc. He became one of the "Four Great European Artists" of Vietnamese painting: Pho - Thu - Luu - Dam (Le Pho - Mai Trung Thu - Vu Cao Dam - Le Thi Luu).

Hue is fortunate to still preserve a painting by the famous painter Mai Trung Thu in the Hue Museum of Fine Arts. It is the painting “Girl by the bird cage”, depicting a nude girl feeding a bird, which is locked in a cage. Below the work is an additional handwriting: “Dedicated to Cuc Diem, XII 78 (December 1978), Mai Trung Thu”. When she was young, Ms. Diem Phung Thi went to France and spent time studying painting with the famous painter Mai Trung Thu. Some time later, the famous painter painted “Girl by the bird cage” as a gift for her. She hung the painting in her private room for a very long time. Then, by fate, this rare painting was kept in Hue, where the famous painter Mai Trung Thu began to show his talent, where his paintings always remembered, where his paintings had to belong…

Ha Nguyen