Mai Trung Thu (1906-1980)
aka: Mai Thu
PLEASE CONTACT US IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BUY OR SELL A PAINTING BY MAI TRUNG THU.
The Vietnamese artist and musician Mai Trung Thu was born on November 10, 1906, in the village of Rho-Nha in the province of Kien-An (near Haiphong) in northern Viet Nam. After attending high school at the Lycee Francais d'Hanoi, Thu became a member of the first class of the Ecole Superieure des Beaux-Arts d’Indochine (College of Fine Arts of Vietnam). During his studies there, Thu developed a painting style in which he painted on silk, organizing patches of bold colors into defined areas of highlight and shadow. Thu’s nostalgic early paintings celebrated folk themes and the innocence of rural Vietnam.After graduation, Thu served as a drawing teacher at the Lycee Francais de Hue and perfected his playing of the doc huyen cam (a traditional one-stringed gourd lute) and became friendly with many musicians then in the old imperial city. In 1937, Thu, who opposed Communism, asked to be sent to France for the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts. Between 1938 and 1940, Thu participated in the Paris Salon des Independants and the Salon d'Automne while also becoming known, through radio and concerts, as an expert doc huyen player. He would remain in France for the rest of his life.
In 1941 he enlisted for military service in Macon and remained there for some time. Noticed by the influential Combaud family, he was commissioned to paint notable members of Maconnaise society and also decorated the memorial chapel dedicated to the dead of 1914-18 in the Saint-Pierre church of Macon. He also exhibited at Vichy (Galerie Lorenceau) and Lyon (Galerie Bellecour). In 1941 he was invited by the Governor of Algeria to exhibit with Le Pho at the Galerie Romanet in Algiers. In 1943 he returned to Paris, where he settled permanently.
At the conclusion of WW II, Thu devoted himself to filmmaking and made a filmed report of the Fontainebleau Conference, which included the visit of President Ho Chi Minh to Paris. He exhibited his paintings in 1947-48 on the Rue de la Paix and then produced a documentary painting on silk painting, which was shown in Paris at the Cite Universitaire and the Musee de l'Homme.
Between 1952 and 1957 Thu participated in numerous exhibitions (Galerie Conti, Galerie de l'Institut Rue de Seine, Galerie Marforen Faubourg Saint Honore) and became increasingly well known. Through his association with Jean Francois Apesteguy—who became his exclusive representative—his work began to enter major collections and institutions. In 1954, Thu met and married the painter and silk decorator Jeanne Sineray (Sao), with whom he had a daughter in 1956.
In 1960, after Thu’s first exhibition at the Peristyle Gallery (Salle Gaveau, rue de la Boetie), he shared—with Professor Tran Van Khe, a renowned musicologist—the Grand Prix du Disque (Grand Prize in Recording) for a record of traditional Vietnamese music. He then collaborated with UNICEF to create greeting cards in several languages and illustrated a collection of “Poems on Silk” with his friend, the poet Phan Vam Ky. In 1963, Thu was cast by the filmmaker Leo Jouannon in his film "Fort du Fou," in the role of a Catholic priest. Mai Thu continued to exhibit, with exhibitions in 1963 and 1965, including one on the theme of children.
After his exhibition "The Child and the Family" at Doucet Gallery (Place Beauveau), Thu made a return trip to Vietnam in 1973. His exhibition "The World of Mai Thu" took place at the Galerie Vendome, Rue de la Paix, before a second trip in 1975, during the fall of Saigon.
The final exhibition to take place during the artist’s lifetime, "The Poetic Universe of Mai Thu," opened at the Galerie Vendome before the artist’s death on October 10, 1980.
Mai Thu is buried in the cemetery of Vanves in the Hauts de Seine.
In 1941 he enlisted for military service in Macon and remained there for some time. Noticed by the influential Combaud family, he was commissioned to paint notable members of Maconnaise society and also decorated the memorial chapel dedicated to the dead of 1914-18 in the Saint-Pierre church of Macon. He also exhibited at Vichy (Galerie Lorenceau) and Lyon (Galerie Bellecour). In 1941 he was invited by the Governor of Algeria to exhibit with Le Pho at the Galerie Romanet in Algiers. In 1943 he returned to Paris, where he settled permanently.
At the conclusion of WW II, Thu devoted himself to filmmaking and made a filmed report of the Fontainebleau Conference, which included the visit of President Ho Chi Minh to Paris. He exhibited his paintings in 1947-48 on the Rue de la Paix and then produced a documentary painting on silk painting, which was shown in Paris at the Cite Universitaire and the Musee de l'Homme.
Between 1952 and 1957 Thu participated in numerous exhibitions (Galerie Conti, Galerie de l'Institut Rue de Seine, Galerie Marforen Faubourg Saint Honore) and became increasingly well known. Through his association with Jean Francois Apesteguy—who became his exclusive representative—his work began to enter major collections and institutions. In 1954, Thu met and married the painter and silk decorator Jeanne Sineray (Sao), with whom he had a daughter in 1956.
In 1960, after Thu’s first exhibition at the Peristyle Gallery (Salle Gaveau, rue de la Boetie), he shared—with Professor Tran Van Khe, a renowned musicologist—the Grand Prix du Disque (Grand Prize in Recording) for a record of traditional Vietnamese music. He then collaborated with UNICEF to create greeting cards in several languages and illustrated a collection of “Poems on Silk” with his friend, the poet Phan Vam Ky. In 1963, Thu was cast by the filmmaker Leo Jouannon in his film "Fort du Fou," in the role of a Catholic priest. Mai Thu continued to exhibit, with exhibitions in 1963 and 1965, including one on the theme of children.
After his exhibition "The Child and the Family" at Doucet Gallery (Place Beauveau), Thu made a return trip to Vietnam in 1973. His exhibition "The World of Mai Thu" took place at the Galerie Vendome, Rue de la Paix, before a second trip in 1975, during the fall of Saigon.
The final exhibition to take place during the artist’s lifetime, "The Poetic Universe of Mai Thu," opened at the Galerie Vendome before the artist’s death on October 10, 1980.
Mai Thu is buried in the cemetery of Vanves in the Hauts de Seine.