Lithograph by Hoi Lebedang, Petite Bateau,c1965

Frame: 19" x 15 1/2"
Lithograph: 11 3/4" x 8 1/4"

Hoi Lebedang
(source: parkwestgallery.com) Lebadang was born in 1921 in Bich-La-Dong, a village along the Huong River in Quang-Tri Province of Hue, Vietnam. He expressed himself through a variety of media, including painting, watercolor, sculpture, jewelry and graphic works. He often combined various media, creating sculptural, highly textured artwork.

He lived in Paris since 1939, studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse for six years until his first one-man show in 1950. He found his first marketable success painting hundreds of cats on ceramic plates, still in high demand. Already an established artist by the 1960s after starring in an exhibition at the Cincinnati Art Museum, Lebadang always strove to create what was new and exciting. He created large-scale abstract oil paintings with vivid blues and glowing puddles of orange and red. He sold to tourists and collectors, quickly establishing himself as a serious artist with never-ending creativity.

He also utilized pure foam board as a medium, using a knife to cut out intricate designs. He placed the finished foam between two pieces of glass, creating a frame that allows light to shine through, producing ornate patterns and effects.

Painting and printmaking were Lebadangs most frequently used media but he also worked in terra cotta and a variety of other media, such as Vessel (1994). Whatever he created, each piece spoke to the entangled roles of man and nature.

From some of his paintings, it’s easy to tell that Lebadang was inspired by a legacy of French painting, though his work was more mysterious, cavernous, and delicate. But the French wasn’t his only inspiration. Vietnam’s millennium under Chinese rule soaks through his art: the mountains, the fog, and especially his square red signature provide parallels to early Chinese painting. Lebadang’s signature acted as his own logo and closely mirrored the calligrapher’s square red seal of a Song Dynasty hand scroll. Their size, shape, and color are virtually identical.

After dozens of successful exhibitions, Lebadang sent money back to Vietnam to rebuild his devastated village, from the schools to the hospitals, until his village became the best in the country. He was honored by the Vietnamese government with a sponsored Lebadang foundation and museum, the first arts foundation in Vietnam. Splitting his time between Vietnam and Paris, the artist claimed that one day he would retire. But nevertheless, his creativity continued to flourish.

His work is exhibited in many public and private collections, including the Cincinnati Museum of Art in Ohio, the Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona, the Rockefeller Collection in New York, the Foundation Museum in Kenya, the Lund University Museum in Sweden, the Loo Collection in Tokyo, and the Museum of Arts and Letters in France.

Lebadang was honored with numerous awards and accolades during his career. He also designed an award for the International Institute of St. Louis. The Lebadang Award is presented biannually to an individual who has demonstrated extraordinary volunteer service. The award program was established by the institute in 1989 to recognize organizations and individuals who exemplify Peace within you, your country, and the world.

Good condition overall