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Thumbnail-size images of copyrighted artworks are displayed under fair use, in accordance with guidelines recommended by the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts, published by the College Art Association in February 2015.
Nom Elegy II
Le Quoc Viet (Vietnamese, born in 1972)
Vietnamese
2008
Medium/Technique
Ink and white gouache on paper
Dimensions
Height x width: 34.9 × 129.9 cm (13 3/4 × 51 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated by Nancy and Jerry Younger and partial gift of Judith and John Day
Accession Number2017.3996
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAsia, Contemporary Art
ClassificationsPaintings
Le Quoc Viet (b. 1972) is a prominent print maker and painter, based in Hanoi, Vietnam. His work, though rooted in traditional techniques of calligraphy and woodblock printing, breaks creatively with these traditions. Nom Elegy II (2008) uses the format and medium of ink and brush scroll painting to create a work of art that conveys the pain of losing Vietnam’s links to its most ancient traditions. The work specifically refers to the loss of the native literary writing system of Nom, which is not known to most Vietnamese today. Here a mountain range formed of Chinese characters intersects with a horizontal row of Nom characters that seem to be blurring and fading before our eyes.
Provenance2009, sold by the artist to Judith Hughes Day, New York; 2017, sold by Day to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 11, 2017)