Symbol of peace in the lacquer artwork by Alix Aymé (1894-1989)

In the official catalogue of works by artist Alix Aymé, the painting ‘Girl and Dove’ is numbered L47, completed around the 1960s. Since 1945, after returning to France, she devoted her creative life to the experiences of the lands where she had been in.

Part of Alix Aymé’s series of typical portraits, this work retains the characteristic visual spirit when creating her single portraits: The central figure occupies 3/4 of the painting surface, standing out on a flat background that is either treated or monochrome to create expressive depth, or combined with decorative elements such as flowers, leaves, animals to enrich the visual and symbolic concept. In particular, in some paintings such as ‘Portrait of Nguyễn Thị Nam’, the background is also created in a cubist style, showing the blend of Eastern and Western art movements.

The lacquer painting ‘Girl and dove’ not only stop at the visual value but also contains profound layers of meaning. In the painting, the image of an Annamese girl in a deep red áo dài, sitting upright, looking far away, her hands holding a dove – a symbol of peace… this image has gone beyond the portrait of a specific individual, becoming a symbolic image with a general meaning of the desire for peace.

Alix Aymé used a multi-identity visual language, combining the image of animals such as geese – which are popular in both Europe and Asia, with stylized flowers and leaves that are not too purely Eastern or Western. As a French painter who has lived and worked for a long time in Vietnam, China, Laos and Cambodia, she has developed a unique visual world, where different indigenous cultural elements are blended together in her soul, reflecting the depth of experience and cross-cultural artistic consciousness.

‘Girl and dove’ is not only a beautiful lacquer painting, but also contains the symbol of Pablo Picasso’s dove of peace (from 1949), one of the global images, associated with the desire for peace of all mankind. Through ‘Girl and dove’, Alix Aymé presented a quiet and humane way of artistic expression in the form of a girl and a dove – gentle yet profound.

ALIX AYME (1894–1989)
‘Girl and dove’, around 1940–1950
Lacquer
46 × 38 cm
Signed in the lower right corner
Estimate: 30.000 – 40.000 EUR

The artwork is in the auction on June 1, 2025 at Millon, ‘Legends: 100 years from Indochina Fine Arts College’

Contact:
Ta Hsi CHANG
tchang@millon.com
+33 (0) 1 47 27 93 29
Hotline: +84 706 430 688
Email: info@millon-vietnam.com

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