A Reading Girl

Luong Xuan Nhi was an artist known as 'the master of the color green.' Being singled out as such meant that his sense of color must have been highly regarded because Vietnam was a country where pastoral landscapes were popular and green was, understandably, the major color of numerous paintings. The color green, used abundantly in the painting, varies in subtle gradations, reflecting the shadow and the light emanating from outside; while the white ao dai was chosen to create a fresh picturesque effect. The artist seemed to be interested in using color variations and soft brushwork to depict subjects in a realistic, and yet, romantic way. The image of graceful women in ao dai as the symbol of Vietnam was a popular theme among the artists of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de l'Indocine, the alma mater of Luong Xuan Nhi. The school later became the Vietnam Secondary Art School where the artist, a greatly respected educator, taught between the years of 1955 and 1981. (RT)