Artist donates sketches to Hue

Fantastic cat: Four of 12 cat sketches that artist Le Ba Dang has donated to Hue. .

HUE — Paris-based Vietnamese artist Le Ba Dang has donated his unique collection of 12 cat sketches to the city of Hue on the occasion of Viet Nam's Year of the Cat.

The collection will be displayed at Le Ba Dang Arts Centre, 15 Le Loi Street.

The paintings, many dating back to the 1950's, are typical of the first works Dang sold in Paris. Drawn in a Chinese calligraphy style, the ink portraits depict inquisitive, agile cats.

Dang decided he'd try drawing small sketches of cats to sell. He sold over 160 paintings in the first month and after expanding his work to ceramic plates, the business provided his family with a steady income for the next five years.

Dang, who was born in the central province of Quang Tri in 1921, immigrated to Paris in 1939. He joined resistance forces to fight fascism in France but was captured by the Germans and held as a prisoner of war.

After the war, he studied at the Toulouse Arts Institute and became famous across Europe.

He held his first exhibition in Paris in 1950 and in 1989, he was honoured by the International Institute of Saint-Louis, USA. He was also awarded the Culture and Arts Medal by the French government in 1994. — VNS

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Noted artist gives Hue sketches of cat

Two cat sketches by Le Ba Dang.

HUE - Paris-based Vietnamese artist Le Ba Dang has donated his unique collection of 12 cat sketches to the city of Hue on the occasion of Viet Nam's Year of the Cat.

The collection will be displayed at Le Ba Dang Arts Centre, 15 Le Loi Street.

The paintings, many dating back to the 1950's, are typical of the first works Dang sold in Paris. Drawn in a Chinese calligraphy style, the ink portraits depict inquisitive, agile cats.

Hue writer Hoang Phu Ngoc Tuong recalled a story about the artist's early days in Paris, when he struggled to make ends meet.

Dang decided he'd try drawing small sketches of cats to sell. He sold over 160 paintings in the first month and after expanding his work to ceramic plates, the business provided his family with a steady income for the next five years.

Dang, who was born in the central province of Quang Tri in 1921, immigrated to Paris in 1939. He joined revolutionary army troops to fight fascism in France but was captured by the Germans and held as a prisoner of war.

After the war, he studied at the Toulouse Arts Institute and became famous across Europe. He held his first exhibition in Paris in 1950 and in 1989, he was honoured by the International Institute of Saint-Louis, USA. He was also awarded the Culture and Arts Medal by the French government in 1994. - VNS

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Painting by King Ham Nghi auctions in Paris

The painting Declin du jour by Ham Nghi King to be auctioned in Paris on Wednesday

A painting by Vietnam’s Emperor Ham Nghi (1872-1943) will go on auction in Paris on Wednesday, November 24, reports Tuoi Tre.

Bidding will start at 800-1200 euro.

According to the website Millon & Associe, the king painted the small oil on canvas painting called Déclin du jour (Sunset) in 1915 while he was living in the Gia Long Villa in the  Algerian capital of Alger.

Phan Thanh Hai, deputy director of Hue Monuments Conservation Center, said he expects other paintings of the king to come on auction in Paris in the future.

Ham Nghi was the eighth Emperor in Vietnam’s Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945). He ruled for only one year (1884-1885). Together with Emperors Thanh Thai and Duy Tan, Ham Nghi orchestrated several revolts against the French colonists. In 1885, he led the Can Vuong uprising.

Ham Nghi was arrested by the French and exiled to Algeria in 1888. He died in 1943 and was buried in Aquitaine, France in 1965.

Most cities in Vietnam have major streets bearing his name.

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Sophie Paris inaugurates fashion center in city

Models show fashion products of Sophie Paris on the opening of this foreign company in HCMC on Tuesday - Photo: Mong Binh

HCMC - Sophie Paris as one of Asia’s leading direct selling fashion companies on Tuesday opened its fashion center in HCMC’s District 3 to showcase the products the company will distribute in Vietnam through multi-level marketing from next month.

Nick Jonsson, general director of Sophie Paris Vietnam, told reporters at the launch function for the company in Vietnam that 650 members had pre-registered to sell fashion products for children, women and children in Vietnam. But, he expected the number would reach 2,000 before the company started to distribute its items in Vietnam on December 1.

Sophie Paris products have been imported into Vietnam in preparation for the market launch, Jonsson told the Daily.

Interested members and customers can view the full catalogue at www.sophieparis.vn or visit the Sophie Paris showroom at 84B Tran Quoc Toan Street from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays to Fridays. Jonsson said Sophie Paris Vietnam would be running regularly fashion shows at the in-house fashion center for members and fashion lovers.

Bruno Hasson, founder and president of Sophie Paris, described the prices of his company’s fashion products for Vietnam as reasonable, but the quality was guaranteed in terms of materials and designs. These products, including bags, wallets, watches and accessories, are designed by the Indonesia-headquartered company’s French design team.

With trendy products and competitive prices, Jonsson believed Sophie Paris Vietnam targeted 10,000 members and US$2 million of business in the first year of operations. “We enter Vietnam with high hopes and lofty ambitions.”

Hasson pinned high hopes that business of Sophie Paris would fare well in this market of more than 86 million people. “Vietnam offers tremendous opportunities for us as a company.”

Hasson said Sophie Paris had been expanding fast in Indonesia since its inception in 1996, at about 20-30% annually in recent years for the market and the Philippines but stronger in Morocco. He painted a bright future for Sophie Paris Vietnam.

“I’m confident that in Vietnam we will grow very fast and very big,” Hasson said, crediting the company’s entry and expansion were backed by tax reductions and tax breaks as a result of the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement.

Hasson said most of Sophie Paris products were made in Indonesia and the company would consider adding made-in-Vietnam fashion items to its product line-up when the opportunity came.

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