The pictures, each measuring 75cm x 62cm, feature the beauty of women as well as the joys of motherhood and married life.
The exhibition, held by the Education Development Fund and the Saigon Gallery, will last until June 23. The organising board will donate a part of the proceeds from sales of the prints to poor and disadvantaged pupils in the city.
To produce a lithograph, the artist first draws an image using water resistant wax crayons or ink on a block of limestone that has been ground smooth. The stone is then treated chemically so that oil based ink will only stick to crayon wax or ink. Coloured oil-based ink is then rolled over the image on the stone and should stick only to the artist’s drawing. Paper or fabric is placed on top of the inked stone and run through a press to achieve the final print.
Vu Cao Dam was born in Hanoi and graduated from the Indochina College of Fine Arts in 1931. He moved to France after winning a scholarship to study printmaking from the Louvre Museum. His works have been promoted by Christie’s and Sotheby’s fine art auction houses and are sought after by many collectors. His work entitled ‘Mau Tu’ (Motherhood) was selected to be the UNICEF Christmas postcard in 1966, and his oil on canvas ‘Ladies in the Garden’, set a record at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in April, 2008 when it sold for US$230,477.
