Magnificence and Regality: The Princely Collection of Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Lộc

Live Auction: 7 November 2023 • 2:30 PM CET • Paris

by Pierre Grosser, Historian, history professor at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, Sciences Po.

Prince Bửu Lộc was born on 22 August 1914 in Hué. That made him just a few months younger than his cousin, Emperor Bảo Đại, who was the last monarch of Vietnam. His great-grandfather was the eleventh son of Emperor Minh Mạng, the second emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty who reigned from 1820 to 1841. Minh Mạng is famous for having resisted the ambitions of Siam to the west and for having long been hostile to Occidental appeals, and particularly those of France, the United States, and Catholics. That great-grandfather, Nguyễn Phúc Miên Trinh, was a great poet; he also became a regent after the death of Emperor Tự Đức in1883.

Bửu Lộc attended secondary school at Lycée Albert Sarraut, founded in 1919 in Hanoi. He then enrolled at the Ecole Supérieure de droit, a law school that opened in Hanoi in 1931. The University of which it was a part, founded in 1906, was the first of its kind in the French Empire. At the time, professors from Metropolitan France considered the law students there to have an equivalent academic level. Bửu Lộc came to France to earn a PhD in Economic and Political Sciences at the University of Montpellier. He presented and, in 1941, published his thesis on L’usure chez les paysans au Viet Nam (“Usury among peasants in Vietnam”). He then enrolled at the Paris bar association.

After WWII, Bửu Lộc returned to Vietnam and began his political career. In the 1920s and 1930s, the French had their hopes staked in Bảo Đại, the heir to the Nguyễn dynasty who had received a French education. After declaring the independence of Vietnam on 2 September 1945, Hồ Chí Minh also sought to obtain the cooperation of Bảo Đại. However, Bảo Đại retired from political life and left for China. Meanwhile, the First Indochina War began in the autumn of 1946 following the failure of negotiations between France and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam – governed by Hồ Chí Minh – and French military efforts to reconquer Indochina.

Bửu Lộc met Bảo Đại in Hong Kong. He became one of his close advisors. He received letters from Vietnam asking for Bảo Đại to get involved in the country’s matters. More importantly, he was oneof the arbitrators of long negotiations with the French, who wished to entrust the emperor again and create a Vietnamese state in order to bring him to power. Bửu Lộc was director of the cabinet of Bảo Đại from October 1948 to the end of 1950. As such, he directed the negotiations which led to the Franco-Vietnamese agreements of Hạ Long Bay on 8 March 1949. Thus the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was established. While Bửu Lộc convinced France to do what it had refused to do for Hồ Chí Minh in 1946 – particularly to unite Tonkin, Annam and Cochinchina in a single state –, that new state became a member of the French Union created by the constitution of the French Fourth Republic; it was also part of the Indochinese Federation. Bửu Lộc was in charge of establishing the first institutions of that state, but it was not truly independent. He did successfully reassert Vietnamese sovereignty over the Paracel Islands(Hoàng Sa) as early as April 1949.

In 1950, Bửu Lộc came to France to follow through on the National Assembly’s ratification of agreements and then become the diplomatic representative of the State of Vietnam. On 17 September 1952, he presented his letters of credence as the High Commissioner of Vietnam in France, accredited by the President of the French Republic who was also the President of the French Union. He therefore became a part of the diplomatic corps in Paris without being a true ambassador. One month later, Bửu Lộc was elected a non-resident member of the French Academy of Colonial Sciences.

Bửu Lộc frequented the French political personnel in charge of the governmental policies about Indochine in the successive French governments, endeavouring for his country to gain full independence. Indeed, he became increasingly critical of the attitude of France and therefore was suspected to have sought to negotiate with Hồ Chí Minh.

Bửu Lộc was sent to organise a Congress in Vietnam in 1953; but its radicalism – particularly on issues of diplomatic and military sovereignty – worried the French. Nguyễn Văn Tâm, the head of the Vietnamese government, resigned on December 17th. The emperor asked Bửu Lộc to form a new government, the third for the young State of Vietnam. It was a difficult process: its composition was only announced on 11 January 1954, a few days before the inauguration of the new president of the French Republic, René Coty, who was much less invested in imperial issues than his predecessor, Vincent Auriol. For the first time, Vietnam was being led by a man who was trusted by the emperor, and the government was composed of specialists and academics.

The six months that Bửu Lộc spent at the head of the Vietnamese government were the most difficult time for the young State. Its context was the long battle of Điện Biên Phủ (from March 13th to May 7th), which concluded with a French humiliation that could have been the prelude to a general offensive by the troops of the Democratic Republic. Moreover, the Geneva Conference addressing Indochina began on May 8th. This context thwarted Bửu Lộc’s efforts to consolidate the State – particularly by incorporating the armed forces of the politicalreligious sects of the south which had shown a great deal of reticence – and to finally achieve the country’s complete independence in negotiations with France. The process dragged on, though Bửu Lộc hoped to expedite it in order to begin the international discussions about Indochina in the best possible conditions.

The French, uncertain about the outcome of the war and their presence in Indochina, began to stall as soon as Franco-Vietnamese discussions opened on March 8th. The civil and military authorities in French Indochina criticized the emperor (who left for France on April 10th, never to return to Vietnam) as well as the government, and particularly Bửu Lộc, considered ineffective and ungrateful for not mentioning the French Union in speeches. Bửu Lộc finally obtained, in extremis, a treaty that brought Vietnam closer to full independence on 10 June 1954. However, apart from making a few promises, France hardly showed concern for the State during its negotiations in Geneva, despite the fact that it remained a member of the French Union.

On 16 June 1954, between the resignation of the Laniel government and the investiture of Pierre Mendès France – who concluded the Geneva Accords on July 21st –, the emperor appointed as head of government Ngô Đình Diệm, a man who led the crusade for independence in a more determined way and had the support of the United States. Certain French figures were favourable to the militant leader at that juncture.

Bửu Lộc came back to Paris on April 30th, mainly to manage the Franco-Vietnamese and Geneva negotiations. He briefly returned to Vietnam for the ceremonial transfer of authority to his successor on July 7th. He resumed his work as a high commissioner in France. The French turned a critical eye on Diệm, devising potential replacement plans. Bửu Lộc’s name often came up, either as a figure that could enter the Diệm government, participate in a substitution combination, or become the delegate who could restore the emperor’s authority in South Vietnam. Indeed, Bảo Đại remained in France, particularly favouring Cannes. In the springtime of 1955, a crisis broke out, and the French supported the forces that could finally take down Diệm. Bửu Lộc traveled to Đà Lạt in the hopes of performing a mediation, but Diệm triumphed, supported by the Americans. A referendum made it possible to transform South Vietnam into a Republic, putting an end to the role of Bảo Đại. The missions of Vietnam in France and of France in Vietnam became embassies. Therefore, from the end of 1955, Bửu Lộc no longer officially represented his country, but he remained in France and married there in 1958. In 1963, he attended the funeral for the spouse of the emperor, who lived in Corrèze. Prince Bửu Lộc died on 27 February 1990, seven years before the death of his cousin Bảo Đại.

An interview with Jean-Francois Nguyen and Alain Le Kim

A descendant of the Emperor Minh Mang, Prince Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Lộc (1914-1990) held high political responsibilities, including the preparation of the Geneva Accords in 1954 for the independence of Vietnam. He came to Paris and assembled an exceptional collection of art from his country and works by the pioneers of Vietnamese modern art. His son, Jean-Francois Nguyen, will be bringing some of these masterpieces to auction on November 7th. Among them are paintings by Lê Phổ (1907-2001), who was a friend of the prince. We take this opportunity to discuss memories with Alain Le Kim, the artist’s son.

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Do you know when your fathers met?

Alain Le Kim: In the 1930s, in Hanoi, probably at the Lycée Albert-Sarraut, where Prince Nguyen Phúc Bửu Lộc studied and where my father – who was seven years older than him – taught classes after graduating from the École des beaux-artsd’Indochine. Family ties might also have brought them together, too, since the prince was part of the imperial family, and since my grandfather was the son of a mandarin who was viceroy of Tonkin.

Jean-François Nguyen: In any case, they met while they were young, and their friendship lasted throughout their lives. They continued to correspond when my father went to secondary school in Montpellier in the 1940s. They metagain in Paris. Lê Phổ moved there in 1937. My father arrived in 1950 when he was appointed ambassador, before going on to contribute – as President of the Conseil du Vietnam – to the Geneva Accords in 1954, which aimed to negotiate the country’s independence. After that, faced withhow the situation developed, he left politics. My father was a pacifist. And he definitively moved to Paris, where he married. At that time, he asked Lê Phổ to decorate his apartment on Rue Copernic.And so the painter designed furniture and armchairs of Vietnamese inspiration and had them made by Parisian craftsmen. He even planned out their arrangement in the various rooms. By chance, Alain discovered a series of plans and gouache paintings representing those projects (fig.1). One thing is certain: the two met up frequently in Paris. They would have lunch together and browse the antiques shops for objects to decorate the apartment. They frequented Vũ Cao Đàm, an artist who also attended the École des beaux-arts of Hanoi. They all belonged to the Vietnamese expatriate community that had formed in France. Later, they also visited the French Riviera, staying at my father’s apartment in Cannes or the home of Lê Phổ’s parents in Nice. There – probably at Colombe d’Or in Saint-Paul-de-Vence – my father would play poker with Vũ Cao Đàm and Yves Montand.

How did Lê Phổ’s career unfold?

A. L. K.: He made a name for himself as soon as he graduated from the École des beaux-arts. The instruction he received at that establishment – founded by its director, the French painter Victor Tardieu – was solid. The teaching combined Asian traditions with Western art, and indeed it formed the foundation of Vietnamese modernism. My father was quickly able to sell his paintings to colonial administrators who were interested in the Vietnamese culture. Perhaps that is why, for the Paris Colonial Exposition of 1931, he was offered the position of assistant to Victor Tardieu, who was artistic director of the Angkor Pavilion.He prolonged his trip to visit museums before going back to Vietnam. For two years, he travelled through Belgium, Holland, and Italy. Those were very edifying travels.

In 1937, he came back to France for the Exposition Internationale. That time, he was entrusted with the artistic direction of the Indochina Pavilion. And, in the end, he remained in Paris. Then WWII occurred. After the war, he married a Frenchwoman, and two children were born: myself, in 1947, and my brother, Pierre Le Tan, in 1950. But it was a difficult period. During the Reconstruction, paintings were difficult to sell. Fortunately, it was at that time that Prince Bửu Lộc commissioned my father to decorate his apartment. Lê Phổ’s career truly began to soar in the 1960s. He signed a contract with the American gallery Findlay, located on Avenue Matignon, which had several branches in the United States. Through time, his style evolved. He always loved portraying ethereal female figures and family scenes, perhaps because he had never known his mother, who had died when he was two years old. However, his palette became paler, under the influence of the Impressionists and other painters that he met, Nabis such as Bonnard and Fauvists such as Matisse. Probably under the effects of the sunshine in the South of France, too.

Did Prince Bửu Lộc begin his collection with Mr Lê Phổ’s paintings?

J.-F. N.: He first took an interest in Vietnamese works of art in the 1940s, when he was around thirty. He developed his collection over the next decade in Paris, and was particularly drawn to the work of Vũ Cao Đàm and Lê Phổ, to whom he was closest. He loved coming to Le Pho’s workshop. The Sotheby’s auction presents an important piece, La Femme au voile (lot 5), painted in the 1940s.The piece illustrates the artist’s favourite theme: that of an Asian woman wearing the traditional áo dàï. An examination of the palette reveals that he executed this painting when he had already been living in France for a certain time, since the colours are livelier than those of his previous pieces on the same subject. The hues of Les Iris bleus (lot 16), dating from 1960, are nearly Fauvist. They show the Impressionist influence, or that of Matisse.

The fact that he preferred the work of a still little-known painter to a famous Western artistshows how attached he was to the Vietnamese spirit. In any case, we lived our life surrounded by artwork. My father did not collect art just to deposit it in a safe. Canard et lotus – a piece from the 1930s that Lê Phổ considered major – hung in the centre of the dining room of our Parisian apartment. He painted very few animals, but a great harmony emanates from this work throughthe presence of the lotus, the national flower of Vietnam and a symbol of purity in Buddhism, which was my father’s religion. We contemplated it during mealtimes, seated in the chairs that Lê Phổ designed (lot 6). La Femme au voile hung in the office/living room. Works from later in his career – L’Heure du thé and Les Iris bleus – hung at our apartment in Cannes, since their bright colour schemes were more suited to the atmosphere of the French Riviera. Those works have never left the private sphere. They will only be revealed for this Sotheby’s event. For Alain and myself, this is an opportunity to pay tribute to our parents and to reminisce together. In the very last photo taken of him, my father is shown seated in one of the chairs designed by Lê Phổ. And it is his son, Alain, who took the picture. That’s quite symbolic!

ANNICK COLONNA-CÉSARI
Annick Colonna-Césari is a journalist and art critic. art critic, she has worked for L’Express and Artension, and is currently a contributor to Connaissance des arts and La Gazette Drouot.