Joseph Inguimberty (1896 - 1971) — Study Of Female Faces, Indochina, Circa 1930

Study of female faces, Indochina, circa 1930
Ink and pencil on paper, stamped lower right.
27 x 20.5 cm

Provenance:
Family of the artist
Private collection in the south of France

Certificate of authenticity issued by Giulia Pentcheff, author of the first catalog of the artist's painted works.

The painter of two shores: from Indochina to Provence 

Born in Marseille in 1896, Joseph Inguimberty left his native city for Paris, where he trained at the École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs. In 1925, he answered Victor Tardieu's call and moved to Hanoi to teach at the École des Beaux-Arts, which he accompanied for over twenty years in the birth of modern Vietnamese art. Alongside Alix Aymé, he participated in the revival of traditional lacquer techniques, which they adapted by skilfully blending Asian know-how with Western influences.
The Second World War interrupted this long period in Indochina. Returning to France in 1946, Inguimberty settled in Menton, his wife's hometown, and returned to Provençal landscapes, which he painted with an eye profoundly transformed by his Asian experience. His works blend flat colors, serenity and slender forms, creating a subtle fusion between the rice paddies of  Tonkin and the lavenderfields of Provence.
Marseille, his home town, remains a constant source of inspiration. He had already painted monumental scenes of dockworkers on the quays in the 1920s, and he continues to survey its ports and creeks, faithful to his practice of painting from the motif. Despite a rich career and regular exhibitions in Parisian galleries, he remains little known locally, even though he is now recognized in Vietnam as one of the major artists of his time.
In 2012, the Alexis Pentcheff gallery in Marseille organized a major retrospective entitled Le Sud de Joseph Inguimberty, restoring the visibility of his work in France. At the same time, the publication of the first catalogue raisonné, directed by Giulia Pentcheff in collaboration with the artist's children, reconciles the different facets of his work and reveals the profound unity of ajourney shared between two cultures, two worlds, two forms of light.
In this way, Joseph Inguimberty has created a singular body of work, at a crossroads that transcends geographical and temporal boundaries. An art that is both rooted and floating, where painting becomes the meeting place between memories of elsewhere and familiar landscapes, between tradition and modernity.

Discover more works by this artist on the gallery's website: https://www.galeriepentcheff.fr/fr/peintre-joseph-inguimberty