ALIX AYME (1894-1989). - Lot 246

Lot n° 246
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Result : 14 500EUR
ALIX AYME (1894-1989). - Lot 246
ALIX AYME (1894-1989). Professor at the Indochina School of Fine Arts. Portrait of Milau with poppies, circa 1950-1960. Polychrome lacquered wood panel with golden highlights signed in the lower right corner. Dimensions: 46,5x35 cm. (Slight cracks in the center and on the right, panel slightly faded). Bibliography : Preparatory tracing of the lacquer signed by Alix Aymé and specifying the name of the model "Milau" at the bottom left. Provenance: French private collection. Alix Aymé is one of the pioneers of the art of lacquer in Indochina, a technique that she developed and promoted alongside Joseph Inguimberty from the 1930s. The portrait we present can be seen as an archetype of her art, a true cross between Asian tradition and European culture. Like a window on the golden background adorned with flowers, the alcove often found in the artist's portraits seems to act as a halo that enhances the delicate face of the young girl. The arms crossed, the head slightly bent, the attitude oscillates between pose and spontaneity. The shimmering red of the poppies in the background reminds us of the carmine red lips of the model, who is smiling slightly. Her gaze is both soft and piercing, the pupils enhanced by a delicate gold. It emanates an intimacy that the artist has always tried to transcribe in her compositions. Our painting evokes other portraits made in the same years by the artist and the use of gilding is a characteristic of Alix Aymé's work. Her mastery of gold and silver backgrounds recalls the influence of the Japanese master lacquerers she had met a few years earlier. Here the gold background is worked in thick layers, incised to translate the material effect of the ao dai. Heiress of the Nabis, student of Maurice Denis, Alix Aymé wants to be as much a draftswoman as a colorist and it is without restraint, in a refusal of pure imitation that she uses a deep chromatic range where gold predominates, giving the composition a warmth and a light that the alcove seems to contain. Most probably realized between 1950 and 1960, this work belongs to the French period of the artist then returning from Indochina after the Second World War. Asian subjects remain her favorite subject, a subject that she declines from old sketches made during her Vietnamese period.
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