Bui Xuan Phai (1921–1988)
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The noted Vietnamese artist Bui Xuan Phai was born on January 9th, 1920 in the Van Canh commune of Kim Hoang village in the Ha Dong district of Hanoi. One of the most respected of Vietnam’s modernists, he is best known for his paintings of old Hanoi as well as his portraits of the actors and singers of Vietnamese opera. Phai’s stylized and heavily outlined street scenes convey both a sense of nostalgia for Vietnam’s past and a feeling of melancholy and foreboding about the future; they have a unique, seductive style that some call the Phai Street style.
Bui Xuan Phai’s father, Bui Xuan Ho, was a government official who was educated under the French colonial system. Although disappointed that his son did not choose to study medicine like his grandfather or uncle, Bui Xuan Ho was pleased to learn, just before his death in 1940, that his son had sold a painting and been chosen to take part in an exhibit in Tokyo.
Bui Xuan Phai was a member of the 1946 graduating class of the Ecole Superieure des Beaux-Arts d’Indochine. He was part of a group that formed the last generation of graduates from that school along with Nguyen Sang, Nguyen Tu Nghiem, and Duong Bich Lien. It was these painters, who had absorbed rigorous French-influenced instruction and an introduction to European methods, who would have a profound effect on the later development of modern art in Vietnam. Phai held a number of European modern artists, including Picasso, Matisse, and Chagall, in high regard and later cited them as influences.
After graduation from the Ecole Superieure, Phai joined the war of resistance against Europeans and also took part in many group art exhibitions in the free zone. In 1952, he returned to Hanoi, where he lived and worked at 87 Thuoc Bac street until his death in 1988. Between 1956 and 1957, Bui Xuan Phai taught at the Hanoi Fine Arts College. Because of his support for the Nhan Van – Giai Pham (Humanist Literary) movement, Phai was ordered sent to re-education labor at a joinery workshop in Nam Dinh, where he developed carpentry skills that later aided him in making his own frames and easels. As a political consequence, he was asked to resign his position at the Fine Arts College and was not allowed to show his work in public again until a solo exhibition in 1984.
To support himself and his family after his fine art was banned, the artist made illustrations for comics and newspapers, using aliases including PiHa and ViVu. He often lived in or near poverty, getting by on his wife’s salary as a nurse, trading art for meals, or accepting gifts from friends. He became a well-known figure in Hanoi and was often seen roaming streets and alleys as he drew and recorded details. Phai also drew nudes and executed numerous self-portraits that reflected his character and sense of solitude.
In 1982, the Vietnamese Communist party acknowledged and pardoned the artist, noting that he had not been politically motivated or subversive in his activities. After his death in 1988, Phai was awarded the President Ho Chi Minh Medal in recognition of his achievements. Since his death, Phai’s works have grown in popularity, resulting in numerous copies and outright fakes being circulated.
Prizes and Awards:
The Ho Chi Minh Prize in Literature and Arts, 1996
Received awards at the 1946 and 1980 Vietnamese National Art Exhibitions
Received prizes at the 1969, 1981, 1983, and 1984 Capital City Art Exhibitions Honored with a medal “For the Cause of Vietnamese Art,” 1997.
Bui Xuan Phai’s father, Bui Xuan Ho, was a government official who was educated under the French colonial system. Although disappointed that his son did not choose to study medicine like his grandfather or uncle, Bui Xuan Ho was pleased to learn, just before his death in 1940, that his son had sold a painting and been chosen to take part in an exhibit in Tokyo.
Bui Xuan Phai was a member of the 1946 graduating class of the Ecole Superieure des Beaux-Arts d’Indochine. He was part of a group that formed the last generation of graduates from that school along with Nguyen Sang, Nguyen Tu Nghiem, and Duong Bich Lien. It was these painters, who had absorbed rigorous French-influenced instruction and an introduction to European methods, who would have a profound effect on the later development of modern art in Vietnam. Phai held a number of European modern artists, including Picasso, Matisse, and Chagall, in high regard and later cited them as influences.
After graduation from the Ecole Superieure, Phai joined the war of resistance against Europeans and also took part in many group art exhibitions in the free zone. In 1952, he returned to Hanoi, where he lived and worked at 87 Thuoc Bac street until his death in 1988. Between 1956 and 1957, Bui Xuan Phai taught at the Hanoi Fine Arts College. Because of his support for the Nhan Van – Giai Pham (Humanist Literary) movement, Phai was ordered sent to re-education labor at a joinery workshop in Nam Dinh, where he developed carpentry skills that later aided him in making his own frames and easels. As a political consequence, he was asked to resign his position at the Fine Arts College and was not allowed to show his work in public again until a solo exhibition in 1984.
To support himself and his family after his fine art was banned, the artist made illustrations for comics and newspapers, using aliases including PiHa and ViVu. He often lived in or near poverty, getting by on his wife’s salary as a nurse, trading art for meals, or accepting gifts from friends. He became a well-known figure in Hanoi and was often seen roaming streets and alleys as he drew and recorded details. Phai also drew nudes and executed numerous self-portraits that reflected his character and sense of solitude.
In 1982, the Vietnamese Communist party acknowledged and pardoned the artist, noting that he had not been politically motivated or subversive in his activities. After his death in 1988, Phai was awarded the President Ho Chi Minh Medal in recognition of his achievements. Since his death, Phai’s works have grown in popularity, resulting in numerous copies and outright fakes being circulated.
Prizes and Awards:
The Ho Chi Minh Prize in Literature and Arts, 1996
Received awards at the 1946 and 1980 Vietnamese National Art Exhibitions
Received prizes at the 1969, 1981, 1983, and 1984 Capital City Art Exhibitions Honored with a medal “For the Cause of Vietnamese Art,” 1997.