S.M HÀM NGHI (1871-1944). - Lot 91

S.M HÀM NGHI (1871-1944). River on a summer afternoon. Oil on canvas signed in ideograms and dated 1909 lower right. Dimensions: 27x35 cm. (Wear, central fold and network of cracks). 19 paintings of H.M. Hàm Nghi the Emperor of Vietnam in Exile. Provenance: Henri Aubé, French military officer stationed in Hanoi between 1907 and 1909, including a canvas board with Henri Aubé's visiting card on the back. Most signed with the artist's monogram and dated between 1909 and 1911. The person who made the connection between Hàm Nghi and Henri Aubé may have been Henri de Gondrecourt, a fellow student of Henri Aubé's at Saint-Cyr (1885-1887). Henri de Gondrecourt was then stationed in Algiers from 1893 to 1895, where he befriended Hàm Nghi and maintained a correspondence with him. It is likely that Henri Aubé, like many officers stationed in the colonies, took cures at the Vichy thermal military hospital. Between 1909 and 1913, Hàm Nghi made recurrent visits to this same establishment in Vichy. If the two men met, it was certainly in Vichy. My hypothesis is as follows: Hàm Nghi and Henri Aubé became friends in Vichy through their mutual friend Henri de Gondrecourt. The fact that Henri Aubé was stationed in Hanoi at the time must have contributed to this bond. Hàm Nghi was in the habit of painting on the motif in the Vichy area. He must have given these 19 paintings to Henri Aubé out of friendship. The officer must have asked him to sign them (something Hàm Nghi would not normally have done, as he was only in the habit of signing paintings intended for exhibition). The officer's travels between France and Indochina may explain why he cut the canvases from their stretchers, to transport them more easily.