Discussion on the life and artistic career of King Ham Nghi

Within the framework of the exhibition project "Heaven, mountains, water" taking place in Hue, on March 26, the French Institute in Hue in coordination with related units will organize a discussion about the life and artistic career of King Ham Nghi.

The discussion will take place at 9am on March 26 at the French Institute in Hue, No. 1 Le Hong Phong, Phu Nhuan Ward, Hue City. The speakers participating in the program are Dr. Amandine Dabat, 5th generation descendant of King Ham Nghi, curator Ace Le, Dr. Tran Dinh Hang, Director of the Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies in Hue.

King Ham Nghi and his creative life during his exile in Algeria. Photo: TL

The discussion will delve into the life and artistic career of King Ham Nghi, a patriotic king exiled to Algeria. In exile, he turned painting into his passion and a means to express his desire for freedom. In addition, the speakers will bring to the audience stories about the research and implementation of the exhibition, along with interdisciplinary perspectives.

The audience had the opportunity to hear speakers share about his historical background and exile, living conditions and supervision in Algeria, his time studying painting and artistic connections as well as the artistic legacy that King Ham Nghi left to the art history of Vietnam as well as the world.

The event is an opportunity for the public interested in history and art in Hue to broaden their perspective on King Ham Nghi, a historical figure with both political and cultural roles.

King Ham Nghi (1871-1943), whose real name was Nguyen Phuc Minh and whose courtesy name was Ung Lich, ascended the throne in 1884 at the age of 13. He was the 8th emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty. In 1885, after the fall of the capital Hue, King Ham Nghi and Ton That Thuyet left the capital and issued the Can Vuong edict against the French colonialists. In 1888, the king was arrested and exiled by the French.

The king's artistic talent was discovered in exile. In 1889, he arrived in Algeria, weakened by malaria. There, he began to study photography and drawing.

According to the book "Ham Nghi artiste: Le peintre et le sculpteur" by author Amandine Dabat, King Ham Nghi created many bronze, plaster, and wood sculptures... The king pursued impressionist and post-impressionist styles, often signing his works as Tu Xuan, Xuan Tu in red or leaving his name unsigned.

The painting "Evening" by King Ham Nghi. Photo: Millon

In his landscape paintings, the king expressed his connection with Vietnam through his compositional treatment, in which the ancient tree stands out on the left of the work amidst the vast landscape. This arrangement was inspired by traditional Vietnamese landscape composition.

At the workshop “Ham Nghi - the exiled king, the visual artist Tu Xuan in Algeria” held in Hue in 2021, artist Dang Mau Tuu commented that the king was born to be a painter and needed to be brought into the flow of the country's fine arts.

The Vu