Amandine DABAT
THE EMPEROR OF ANNAM HAM NGHI – known as "Prince of Annam", 春子 "Tử Xuân", PAINTER AND SCULPTOR (1871-1944)
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THE EMPEROR OF ANNAM HAM NGHI – known as "Prince of Annam", 春子 "Tử Xuân", PAINTER AND SCULPTOR (1871-1944)
The expert
Amandine Dabat is the great-great-granddaughter of the Vietnamese emperor Hàm Nghi. A Doctor of Art History, she graduated from Paris-Sorbonne University (Paris IV) and dedicated her thesis to him, titled "Hàm Nghi (1871-1944), Emperor in Exile, Artist in Algiers," defended in 2015 and published in 2019 by Presses de Sorbonne Université. This doctoral thesis is based on the exceptional discovery of Hàm Nghi's private archives (2,500 letters and letter drafts). Amandine Dabat also holds a Master's degree in Vietnamese Studies from Paris-Diderot University – Paris VII (2014). She is a member of the Centre de Recherche sur l’Extrême-Orient de Paris-Sorbonne. Amandine Dabat has curated two exhibitions dedicated to the work of Emperor Hàm Nghi:- Art in Exile – Hàm Nghi, Prince of Annam (1871-1944), Musée des Arts asiatiques, Nice (2022).
- Art in Exile – Hàm Nghi, Prince of Annam (1871-1944), Musée des Arts d’Afrique et d’Asie, Vichy (2024).
- William Shorrock Prize, French Colonial History Society (2014)
- Flora Blanchon Foundation Prize from the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (2017)
- Young Talent Prize from the Franco-Vietnamese Friendship Association (2018)
- Literary Creation Support Prize from the Simone and Cino Del Duca Foundation - Institut de France, upon recommendation by the Académie française (2020).
The Artist
Emperor Hàm Nghi was born in Vietnam in 1871. He was enthroned as emperor in 1884 amidst the French colonization of Indochina. After a year of reign, his regents provoked the Battle of Huế, but the French prevailed. Regent Tôn Thất Thuyết (1839-1913) retreated to the mountains of central Annam with the emperor to form a resistance movement against the colonizers. Hàm Nghi's name became a symbol of resistance against the French. After three years of struggle, in October 1888, the emperor was betrayed, captured, and handed over to the French, who decided to exile him to Algeria. Hàm Nghi arrived in Algiers in January 1889. He was deposed, and his title of emperor was no longer to be used to refer to him. The French authorities then assigned him the title and name of "Prince of Annam," disregarding his civil status (Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Lịch). Hàm Nghi settled in El Biar, in a Neo-Moorish villa in the heights of Algiers. After a few months of exile, he began taking painting and drawing lessons with the Orientalist painter Marius Reynaud (1860-1935). Hàm Nghi started working on painting and drawing every day. While he was then, in the eyes of the authorities, the "Prince of Annam," he continued to be called Tử Xuân by his close friends, a nickname that became his artist name. From 1893, Hàm Nghi traveled to France approximately every two years for health reasons. He stayed mainly in Vichy and Paris, where he met contemporary artists while familiarizing himself with the styles and techniques of the masters who preceded him. The main subject of his paintings is nature. His specificity is his constant search for light and backlighting effects. Nothing specifically Vietnamese appears in his work, recalling French landscape painting of the second half of the 19th century. In the summer of 1899, in Paris, Hàm Nghi met Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), who introduced him to sculpture. Rodin's influence was very significant in his work. The following year, the prince met the poetess Judith Gautier (1845-1917), daughter of Théophile. At the same time, he befriended the sculptor Pierre Roche (1855-1922), born Pierre Massignon, and his son, the future Islamologist Louis Massignon (1883-1962). He also met the painter Henry Valensi (1883-1960). The year 1903, during which several exhibitions were dedicated to Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), marked a major turning point in Hàm Nghi's painting. From this date, he abandoned a rather academic approach to landscape and incorporated Gauguin's colors, the blue outlines, and the flat tints of the Nabis into his palette. He also became interested in the work of the Impressionists, from whom he borrowed the use of brushstrokes and the production of series of canvases painted in the same location. In June 1904, the Prince of Annam exhibited about ten pastels in the rotunda of the Guimet Museum. In 1909, Hàm Nghi participated in a collective exhibition at the Galerie Devambez, Boulevard Malesherbes in Paris. He exhibited his drawings there under the name "Prince of Annam," alongside sculptures by Judith Gautier, and paintings by Théophile Gautier and Sacha Guitry. Sculpture became Hàm Nghi's major art form from the 1920s onwards. He fashioned female figures, male and female busts in clay, and made his own plaster casts. He had some bronzes cast in Paris for his 1926 exhibition (paintings, pastels, and sculptures) at the Mantelet-Colette Weil gallery in Paris. Hàm Nghi attempted to maintain his artistic activity within his private sphere, exceptionally agreeing to exhibit his works at rare exhibitions organized by friends. A political prisoner, Hàm Nghi found his freedom through art. His discretion throughout his exile regarding his art, subsequently maintained by his descendants, prevented the knowledge and dissemination of his work until recent years. Hàm Nghi, a patriotic emperor and national hero in Vietnam, is now recognized as the first modern Vietnamese artist trained by French painters and sculptors.Bibliography
Reference work: Amandine Dabat, Hàm Nghi. Emperor in Exile, Artist in Algiers, Paris, Sorbonne Université Presses, "Asie" collection, 2019. Exhibition catalogue: Amandine Dabat, Adrien Bossard (eds.), Hàm Nghi, Prince of Annam (1871-1944) Art in Exile, Exhibition Catalogue, Nice, Musée des arts asiatiques, March 19 – August 28, 2022, Milan, Silvana editoriale, 2022. Published articles and book chapters: Amandine Dabat, "The Prince of Annam (1871-1944). A Vietnamese Orientalist in French Algeria?", Histoire de l’Art, no. 82, 2018/1, p. 141-152. Amandine Dabat, "From Emperor Hàm Nghi to the Prince of Annam. A Figure of Exile," in Dominique Barjot, Jean-François Klein (eds.), From Colonial Indochina to Present-Day Vietnam. First Overseas Interviews, Paris, Académie des Sciences d’Outre-Mer – Magellan & Cie, 2017, p. 181-192. Amandine Dabat, "The Political Exile of Emperor Hàm Nghi in Algiers," in Alain Ruscio (ed.), A Life for Vietnam. Mélanges in Honor of Charles Fourniau, Paris, Indes Savantes, 2016, p. 161-183. Amandine Dabat, "Emperor Hàm Nghi (1871-1944): The Universe of an Artist," in Caroline Herbelin, Béatrice Wisniewski, Françoise Dalex (eds.), Arts of Vietnam, New Approaches, Proceedings of the International Colloquium (CREOPS – Paris-Sorbonne University), September 4-6, 2014, Rennes, Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2015, p. 105-112. Amandine Dabat, "Metaphors and Cultural Identity. A Vietnamese Emperor in Exile, Hàm Nghi (1871-1944), Artist in Algiers," in Véronique Alexandre-Journeau (ed.), Metaphors and Cultures. In Words and Images, Paris, L’Harmattan, coll. L’univers esthétique, 2012, p. 269-280 Amandine Dabat, "Vua Hàm Nghi: người nghệ sĩ hội họa và điêu khắc [King Hàm Nghi: Painter and Sculptor Artist]," Xưa & Nay no. 377, Hanoi, April 2011, pp. 6-8 and 35. Amandine Dabat, "Vua Hàm Nghi: người nghệ sĩ hội họa và điêu khắc," Nghiên cứu và Phát triển no. 3 (86), Huế, 2011, p. 102-111.
Contact
Amandine DABAT
contact@hamnghi.com
www.hamnghi.com (site under construction)
[UFE number : 508]
