Portrait Of A Young Girl Reading - Mai Thu - Oil On Canvas - Vietnam - Indochina

Portrait of A Young Girl Reading - Mai Thu - Oil On Canvas - Vietnam - Indochina

This painter remains a mystery. His works initially attributed to Mai Trung Thu in his youth production before his departure for France in 1943, being challenged by the latter's family, were reassigned to a certain Nguyen Mai Thu. This new attribution seems very questionable, if not fanciful because no one knows the slightest biographical element of this character and the signature of his paintings has never included the surname Nguyen or the initial N. This name of Nguyen Mai Thu appeared for the first time on sale in 2017 and is taken over for ease from now on with each appearance of a new canvas bearing this signature. Be that as it may, the very European style of these paintings suggests that he was formed in contact with French teachers, probably within the Hanoi School of Fine Arts, given the location of his landscapes.
His production, mainly involving oils on canvas, is mostly located in Tonkin and sometimes dated between 1933 and 1950. We now know that his real name is Mai Thu and that he generally signs "M.Thu" although he had previously signed in turn "THU", "mai thu", as well as in Chinese characters whose transcription pinyin is Méi Qiū.
The very beautiful portrait presented here is all the more remarkable as Mai Thu's portraits are much rarer than his landscapes.