Bùi Xuân Phái (1921–1988)
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The noted Vietnamese artist Bùi Xuân Phái 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. Phái’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 unique, seductive style that some call the Phái Street style.
Bùi Xuân Phái’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.
Bùi Xuân Phái was a member of the 1946 graduating class of the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts d’Indochine. He was part of a group that formed the last generation of graduates from that school along with with Nguyễn Sáng, Nguyễn Tư Nghiêm and Dương Bích Liên. 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. Phái 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 École Supérieure, Phái 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 and lived and worked at 87 Thuốc Bắc street until his death in 1988. Between 1956 and 1957, Bùi Xuân Phái taught at the Hanoi Fine Arts College. Because of his support for the Nhân Văn – Giai Phẩm (Humanist Literary) movement, Phái was ordered sent to a re-education labor at a joinery workshop in Nam Định, where he developed carpentry skills that later aided him in making his own frames and easels. As a political consequence he as 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. Phái 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, Phái was awarded the President Hồ Chí Minh Medal in recognition his achievements. Since his death, Phái’s works have grown in popularity, with one result being that numerous copies and outright fakes have been circulated.
Prizes and Awards:
The Hồ Chí 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.
Bùi Xuân Phái’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.
Bùi Xuân Phái was a member of the 1946 graduating class of the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts d’Indochine. He was part of a group that formed the last generation of graduates from that school along with with Nguyễn Sáng, Nguyễn Tư Nghiêm and Dương Bích Liên. 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. Phái 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 École Supérieure, Phái 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 and lived and worked at 87 Thuốc Bắc street until his death in 1988. Between 1956 and 1957, Bùi Xuân Phái taught at the Hanoi Fine Arts College. Because of his support for the Nhân Văn – Giai Phẩm (Humanist Literary) movement, Phái was ordered sent to a re-education labor at a joinery workshop in Nam Định, where he developed carpentry skills that later aided him in making his own frames and easels. As a political consequence he as 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. Phái 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, Phái was awarded the President Hồ Chí Minh Medal in recognition his achievements. Since his death, Phái’s works have grown in popularity, with one result being that numerous copies and outright fakes have been circulated.
Prizes and Awards:
The Hồ Chí 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.