PUBLISHING JANUARY 2027 · PRE-ORDER NOW

Nguyễn Gia Trí — A Vietnamese Lacquer Legend

Authors: Nguyễn Hải Yến & Thai Ha
Edited by: Thai Ha
Publisher: PICTURE Art Foundation
Language: Bilingual Vietnamese and English
Extent: 375 pages, 25 × 35 cm
Binding: Hardcover, rounded spine
ISBN: Standard979-8-9976498-0-7Collector’s979-8-9976498-1-4Deluxe979-8-9976498-2-1

Publishing January 2027

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Inside the Book

375 oversized pages trace nearly a century in the life and artistic journey of Nguyễn Gia Trí.

Developed through years of research, archival study, and cross-referencing by art historian Nguyễn Hải Yến — who has devoted more than six decades to research, collecting and curatorial work, twenty-seven of them at the Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts — together with collector Thai Ha and a dedicated editorial team, this publishing project is presented under the patronage of PICTURE Art Foundation (USA) with the support of its Founding Patrons.

The book guides readers through the defining moments of Nguyễn Gia Trí’s life, artistic evolution, and enduring legacy. More than 200 artworks, sketches, archival photographs, and historical documents, together with previously unpublished stories and materials, offer a deeper understanding of the artist who expanded the expressive possibilities of lacquer painting and left a lasting mark on the history of modern Vietnamese art.

The Collector's Edition box open, its lacquered lid lifted away to show the hardcover volume lying in the case — The Collector’s Edition, numbered and cased in handcrafted Vietnamese lacquer.

375: OVERSIZED PAGES, 25 × 35 CM
200+: ARTWORKS, SKETCHES, PHOTOGRAPHS & DOCUMENTS
60: YEARS OF THE AUTHOR’S RESEARCH AND CURATORIAL WORK

THE AUTHORS

Six decades of scholarship, a lifetime of collecting

Nguyễn Hải Yến

ART HISTORIAN · CO-AUTHOR

BORN: 1942, Hanoi. Her family is from Nội Duệ, Tiên Du, Bắc Ninh.
EDUCATED: Trưng Vương High School, Hanoi; Department of Literature, Hanoi University of Education, 1964.
1964–1970: Institute of Fine Arts, Ministry of Culture.
1971–1998: Curator, Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts.
TAUGHT AT: Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema; the College of Journalism and Television; and the Hanoi College of Arts.

A distinguished art historian and researcher, Nguyễn Hải Yến’s work has contributed significantly to the study and preservation of twentieth-century Vietnamese art.

Over more than five decades devoted to Vietnamese art, she has conducted extensive research into Vietnamese painting across different periods, with particular focus on the formative decades of modern Vietnamese art. Her scholarship has helped illuminate the lives, careers and historical significance of many important Vietnamese artists. The artists and art coming from the École des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine are her specialty, and many of the leading painters of the time were her friends and acquaintances — allowing her to write about the artists themselves, not only their work.

Drawing on decades of scholarship, firsthand experience at major cultural institutions and museums, and an extensive knowledge of Vietnamese art history, she has played an important role in documenting, interpreting and bringing the heritage of Vietnamese art to audiences both in Vietnam and abroad.

In Nguyễn Gia Trí — A Vietnamese Lacquer Legend, her research and reflections provide an important scholarly foundation, helping situate Nguyễn Gia Trí within the historical context and broader development of twentieth-century Vietnamese art.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

The Painter Tô Ngọc Vân (co-authored, 1982)
The Painter Nguyễn Phan Chánh (1992)
Vietnamese Art in the Modern Period, 1930–1945
Hanoi Art in a Bygone Era (co-authored, 2010)
Hội họa Hà Nội — Những kí ức còn lại (PICTURE Art Foundation, 2010; in English as Through My Eyes, 2011; awarded by the Central Theoretical Council)

She has also written the entries on Vietnamese artists in the Encyclopedic Dictionary.

Thai Ha

DIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER · CO-AUTHOR

“Art is meant to be shared.”
“Art traditions and techniques should be preserved.”

These two mantras guide Thai Ha’s journey of art collecting and art presentation. Born in South Vietnam, he immigrated to the United States in the late 1970s, graduated from medical school, and has practised as a gastroenterologist for the last 35 years.

He began collecting art created by the artists and teachers of the École des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine in Hanoi. His collection now includes drawings, paintings, lacquer and sculpture from this extraordinary group of artists, created during an extraordinary time.

As co-founder of the PICTURE Art Foundation he has led the effort to publish books about the school and its artists, curate exhibits showcasing the depth of talent coming from it, and produce a documentary detailing the Vietnamese lacquer process — ensuring that knowledge is preserved for years to come. He also funded Where Cultures Meet, the sculpture we commissioned from Benjamin Victor through an open call, and donated it to California State University, Dominguez Hills, where it is installed; the words on its base are ones he uses as a guide throughout his life.

INSIDE · TWO CHAPTERS

The man, and then the legacy

Journeys into his creative universe

The core of the book, following Nguyễn Gia Trí the person and the path by which he became an artist: the years at the École des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine, Vụ Bản and Sơn La Prison, the years under restriction in Hanoi, exile, supervised residence in Thủ Dầu Một, and the late work — closing with his path toward abstraction.

Recognition and artistic legacy

How the art world, the press and later scholarship came to understand him: exhibitions and their reception, Vietnamese criticism of 1939–1944, international coverage from the colonial period onward, his artistic philosophy, and a comprehensive view of his works in the Thai Ha Collection.

Nguyễn Gia Trí’s life, from Chương Mỹ in 1908 to Ho Chi Minh City in 1993 — his own words on shadow and lacquer, and nine works from the Thai Ha Collection reproduced in the book.

Read about the life and the work

HANDCRAFTED LACQUER BOXES

The book itself becomes lacquer work

Both limited editions are housed in handcrafted lacquer boxes, meticulously created by Vietnamese lacquer artists through a demanding multi-stage process. From selecting materials and preparing the wooden core to layering lacquer, polishing, and final finishing, every box preserves the creative imprint of its maker, bringing together the art of bookmaking and the enduring tradition of Vietnamese lacquer.

A completed lacquer presentation box: deep red-brown lacquered wood with a gold-bordered panel inlaid in the lid, reproducing one of Nguyễn Gia Trí's garden scenes in black, vermilion and eggshell — The first completed presentation box for the Collector’s Edition.

The front edge of the Collector's Edition box, its title engraved in white on deep red lacquer beneath the inlaid lid panel — The box carries the title along its front edge: *Huyền thoại sơn mài Việt Nam* — *A Vietnamese Lacquer Legend*.

The Collector's Edition presentation box open on its hinges, the title and edition name set into the lining of the lid, with the hardcover volume seated in the case — The Collector’s Edition in its presentation box.

The Deluxe Edition box: a near-black lacquered case with a vermilion garden scene inlaid in the lid and the title engraved along its front edge — The Deluxe Edition box, its lid inlaid with a garden scene in vermilion and gold.

The Deluxe Edition box open, its lacquered lid lifted away to show the hardcover volume lying in the case — The same box open. Each edition carries its own jacket.

An early step in the production process to create the presentation box for the Collector’s Edition.

A key step in the multi-step process required to create this hand-crafted genuine Vietnamese lacquer presentation box, with real gold. Each Deluxe Edition book, limited to 20 worldwide, comes with one of these boxes.

01
Selecting materials
02
Preparing the wooden core
03
Layering the lacquer
04
Polishing and finishing

THREE EDITIONS

The Standard Edition is published for readers who appreciate art, Vietnamese culture, and the history of fine arts. The two limited editions are created for collectors and those who wish to preserve this publication as a lasting artistic legacy.

Standard Edition

The complete bilingual publication, for readers who appreciate art, Vietnamese culture, and the history of fine arts.

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Collector’s Edition

LIMITED TO 80 COPIES

Housed in a handcrafted lacquer box, and preserving an original etching created exclusively for this project by the American artist Yuroz as a tribute to Nguyễn Gia Trí.

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III

Deluxe Edition

LIMITED TO 20 COPIES

Housed in a handcrafted lacquer box, preserving two etchings by Yuroz: one in its original printed state, the second individually hand-coloured and finished by the artist for each numbered edition.

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A TRIBUTE ACROSS GENERATIONS

Yuroz, in conversation with a lacquer master

Celebrated for his expressive visual language, Yuroz’s works are held in numerous private collections, museums, and art institutions around the world. Created exclusively for this publication, his etching represents a meeting point between the vision of a contemporary artist and the legacy of Vietnam’s great lacquer master.

In the Deluxe Edition, a second etching is individually hand-coloured and finished for each numbered copy, so every one carries its own visual rhythm and artistic character. Through layers of colour applied with intuition and emotion, Yuroz opens a dialogue across generations, cultures, and artistic languages — his admiration and artistic affinity for Nguyễn Gia Trí expressed in every gesture of colour.

VOICES FROM THE LEGACY

Memory, scholarship, and a dialogue between artists

“Nguyễn Gia Trí is not merely a name in Vietnamese art, but also a vivid testament to the aspiration to bring Vietnamese art to a truly universal stature.”

Nguyễn Hải YếnART HISTORIAN · CO-AUTHOR

“Some encounters can shape an entire chapter of a life. The fragments that remained from Nguyễn Gia Trí’s life gradually came together, forming a more complete collection of his artistic journey.”

Thai HaDIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER · CO-AUTHOR

“The more I read through the archival materials, articles, and research on his work, the more I came to appreciate the depth of his artistic journey — and better understood why his work continues to resonate today.”

Michael JohnsonPICTURE ART FOUNDATION · PRESIDENT AND CO-FOUNDER

“It feels like a conversation with an artist from another generation, carried through colour, material, and the language of painting.”

YurozCONTEMPORARY AMERICAN ARTIST

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Also from us

The Nguyễn Gia Trí volume continues a publishing programme devoted to modern Vietnamese art — begun with the Hanoi Fine Art Movement, and reaching next toward Saigon.

Cover of Through My Eyes: two women in pale blouses leaning together, painted on silk, on a dark blue cloth binding — English, 2011

Cover of Hội họa Hà Nội: the same painting of two women on silk, with the title set in Vietnamese — Vietnamese, 2010

Through My Eyes: The Hanoi Fine Art Movement – The Early Years

Hội họa Hà Nội — Những kí ức còn lại

By Nguyễn Hải Yến, formerly curator at the Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts in Hanoi. We published the Vietnamese edition in 2010 and the English in 2011; the Vietnamese edition received an award from the Central Theoretical Council.

Both editions are still available — ask us through the contact form.

FORTHCOMING

16 Golden Brushes of Vietnamese Art

Art, background and stories from 16 artists of the Hanoi Fine Art Movement. In progress.

The Saigon Fine Art Movement (working title)

A third title covering the Saigon fine art movement of the 1960s and 1970s, including the Saigon Young Artists Association.