Kindling Our Dreams of Travel, Through the Eyes of Southeast Asia's Artists

Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur de Merprès
Festival Along the Sea
Estimate: 1,100,000 - 2,000,000 HKD

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Driven by an ardent desire to capture the subtle intricacies of light and color, Adrien Jean Le Mayeur de Merprès traveled across continents, before eventually finding his muse in the bustling Balinese islands. The paintings of Le Mayeur capture the exuberance of Bali’s culture against a stunning backdrop of the island’s vistas. Paying homage to the romantic nostalgia of old Bali, the maestro employs virtuosity in his ceaseless chase of light.

Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur de Merprès
(i) By the Beach (ii) By the Beach
Estimate: 70,000 - 90,000 HKD

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Immersed in an Impressionist’s paradise, the enraptured Le Mayeur was consumed with the need to render the sights on canvas, working en plein air to capture the sunlit atmosphere. He found it all on Bali island— the picturesque beauty of its green vistas, the sunlit seas and its profusion of placid tranquility inspired one of the most prolific periods of his career. Modeling his home after the radiant ambiance of the Balinese shores, Le Mayeur’s coastal abode had walls and windows that opened to a vast panorama of the serene seaside. Marveling at his surroundings, the artist enthused about finding his Eden, “I’ve evidently made all things serviceable to my art. All my actions have but one purpose: facilitating my work.”

Aw Tee Hong
Singapore Shophouses
1982
Estimate: 60,000 - 90,000 HKD

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Singaporean artist Aw Tee Hong celebrates the cultural spirit of the country where he grew up with intricate and colorful portrayals of his homeland. The present work captures Aw Tee Hong’s pursuit of his art as well as his multicultural influences, as he illustrates a scene, suspended in a time of expanding urbanization, showing the neat rows of Singapore’s shophouses amid the backdrop of glasses and steel towers in the distance. The creates a moment of serenity and an atmosphere of dreamy nostalgia awash in the gentle warmth of the late afternoon sun. The depiction of the city expresses the artist’s deep and unwavering love for the charm and beauty of Singapore.

Pham Van Don
Sur la Baie d'Along (Ha Long Bay)
Estimate: 60,000 - 90,000 HKD

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Hanoi-born Pham Van Don was a graduate of the Indochina Fine Arts College and specialized in wood carving, wood prints and lacquer painting. Much of his art centered around the traditional daily life in Vietnam, including glimpses into village, markets, and family life. The present work depicts a majestic view of Ha Long Bay at sunset, with a few humble boats in the foreground looking out onto the famous jutting karsts and water luxuriating in daylight’s last gentle caress.

Tran Phuc Duyen
Temple on Hoan Kiem lake and it's bridge
1954
Estimate: 50,000 - 70,000 HKD

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In 1954, Tran Phuc Duyen and two of his brothers emigrated to France, and there he continued his training as an artist at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts Paris. Painting from deep memories of his homeland, Duyen’s lacquer paintings are filled scenes of a light-filled country, a feeling of tranquility shown through many details – contemplative, delicate and spare. In the present work, the temple is softly enveloped by the setting on the Hoan Kiem lake and its bridge. Although the artist never had the opportunity to return to Vietnam, from his paintings it is easy to imagine that his soul never left the country with its depictions of the landscape and its ethereal beauty.

Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur de Merprès
Cafe in the Port of Marseille
Estimate: 60,000 - 80,000 HKD

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Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur de Merprès spent his youth admiring the work of his father, a well-known marine painter. While circumstances forced him to enroll in engineering at university, Le Mayeur soon returned to painting in the Impressionistic tradition, rendering the landscapes of Belgium and France in hazy hues.

Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur de Merprès
Djibouti
Estimate: 60,000 - 80,000 HKD

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As World War I broke out in Europe, Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur de Merprès found himself enlisted as a war-time painter and photographer. Perhaps deeply affected by the violence of the war, he sought a retreat in the exotic worlds depicted by the French post-impressionist artist Paul Gauguin. Consumed by wanderlust, he visited Italy, North Africa, India, Cambodia, Burma, Madagascar and Turkey, in the early 1920's depicting the foreign scenes before him in fluid sensitivity.

Rafiee Ghani
Shadows in the Forest
2019
Estimate: 30,000 - 50,000 HKD

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As a child growing up in Kelantan, Malaysia, Rafiee Ghani had no access to books, internet or information about life outside the remote town. His father, who had traveled around Asia, would tell him tales of distant lands in the hopes of igniting his sense of imagination. Later as an artist, Rafiee would enrich his understanding and awareness of the world through travel, and this would often become an inspiration in his work. It is unknown which forest is referenced in the present work. It may be the same forest in his hometown where he spent many an afternoon as a child playing with friends. Or it might be a place from Morocco or elsewhere in North Africa, where Rafiee has returned time and again for inspiration since 1986.

Zaw Win Pe
View of Bagan
2002
Estimate: 20,000 - 40,000 HKD

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In his travels, Zaw Win Pe has been drawn to the sunlit regions of northern Myanmar, admiring in particular the rich colors of the autumn landscapes. He paints with a knife building up layers from a palette of equally rich colors, revealing a semi-abstract landscape that shines through with striking depth and luminosity. In the present work, the ancient city rises and recedes in the distance, awash in the soft glow that ushers in the arrival of morning.