https://vietnamtimes.org.vn/vietnamese-king-ham-nghis-art-works-exhibited-in-france-42013.html
The exhibits were collected in nearly 10 years by Amandine Dabat, a fifth generation descendant of the King, who did a doctoral thesis on King Ham Nghi’s art career and is also the author of the book "Ham Nghi - Empereur en exil, artiste à Alger" (Ham Nghi - Emperor in exile, artist in Algeria) published in 2019 in France, reported VNA.
This is the first exhibition about King Ham Nghi since his death. The last exhibition held by the Emperor was in 1926.
Adrien Bossard, the curator of the Nice Museum for Asian Arts, said the exhibition is a unique event because King Ham Nghi is an Asian, but he followed European impressionist art and developed his career in Africa.
He said the exhibition not only gives the public a new and interesting view of Asia, but also spotlights historical significance because the exhibits talk about a figure of royal lineage in Vietnam which was related to the Indochina war and the French colonial period in the Southeast Asian country.
The exhibition has so far attracted 8,000 visitors, and it is hoped to welcome 25,000 people by the end of June.
Ham Nghi, whose real name was Nguyen Phuc Ung Lich, was the eighth emperor of the Vietnamese Nguyen Dynasty, but reigned for only one year (1884-85), according to Vietnam News
After the failure of the Can Vuong (Save the King) movement against French colonial rule, King Ham Nghi was captured and exiled to Algeria, then a colony of France, on December 12, 1888.
According to historical documents, to get over his boredom in exile, he studied French and was able to communicate with French intellectuals and learned how to ride a bicycle, rare among Vietnamese at the time.
He also studied photography, literature and especially painting. His first paintings were self-portraits in exile, of him wearing traditional royal attire and a headscarf.
His self-portraits were implied: “I am still an Annamite (a reference to Vietnamese people during the French protectorate in Vietnam) and the French colonists cannot subdue me.”
