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Alix Angèle Marguerite Hava, born in Marseille in 1894, studied drawing and music at the Conservatory of Toulouse. A prodigy, gifted in music as well as art, at the age of fifteen she won a gold medal in piano and considered a musical career before becoming a painter. After her graduation from the Conservatory, she moved to Paris where she became a pupil, and then a colleague, of the important Nabi painter Maurice Denis. In 1910 she collaborated with Denis on the decoration of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées . Later she worked in the Studios of Sacred Art founded by Maurice Denis and Georges Devallières in 1919. She married in 1920 and went to Shanghai with her first husband, Professor Paul de Fautereau-Vassel, who was posted to the Franco-Chinese Mission there. In 1921, living then in Hanoi, she took part as a staff artist in several scientific expeditions to China. In 1925 she was made a professor and taught drawing at the French Lycée in Hanoi. In 1926, the artist and her husband returned to Paris where their son, Michel, was born. While in Paris, she was commissioned to do the illustrations for a French edition of Rudyard Kipling’s Kim, which she did using drawings she had made on a visit to Ceylon. When Fautereau-Vassel decided to remain in France, his wife, taking her young son with her, returned to the life she had created for herself in Asia.
In 1930, she had an exhibition at the Galerie Portal in Saigon, and then settled in Luang Prabang (Laos) where she became close to the ruling family and was commissioned to do a series of large murals in the Royal Palace (official name: Haw Kham, and today a national museum.). The murals in what was the King’s reception room depict everyday life in Laos. According to the Royal Palace Museum web site, each of the murals “…is intended to be viewed at a different time of day, depending on the light that enters the windows on one side of the room, which matches the time (of) day depicted.” The murals are considered a national treasure. Unfortunately, there are no reproductions of the murals as it is forbidden by the government to photograph them. In 1931, Aymé moved back to Hanoi and was named professor at the Lycée Albert Sarraut. There she taught the ancient Vietnamese art of lacquer work which she had earlier mastered. In July of that year she returned to Paris and married Colonel Georges Aymé, who later became General Aymé, Commander of the French Army in Indochina. Maurice Denis was one of the witnesses at her marriage. Her husband’s brother, Marcel Aymé, became one of the most celebrated French novelists of the 20th century after the artist helped launch his career by introducing him to one of her friends at the publishing house Gallimard. While in Paris, she had an exhibition at the Galerie Druet and was invited to work on the important Colonial Exhibition to which she contributed a number of works done in lacquer. In 1935 there was a large exhibition of her work in Saigon.
During her years in Asia, Aymé traveled extensively in Indochina, India, and Ceylon. She also visited and painted in China, Japan, and Korea. When she returned to live in Paris in 1945, she was commissioned to do the mural decorations of a chapel in Luc-sur-Mer (Calvados). During this period she became a close friend of, and worked with, the painter Foujita. In 1948 she was given an exhibition at the Galerie Moullot in Paris and moved into an apartment/studio in the Porte de St. Cloud, where she continued to live and work after the death of her husband in 1950. That same year, she was given an exhibition in Paris at the Galerie de la France d’ Outremer on the rue de la Boétie, and published an article on the art of lacquer in the journal Tropique. In 1952, there was an exhibition in Florence of her works in lacquer, which were also shown in 1952 in Paris in rue de la Boétie. For the journal Pax Christi, in 1960 Aymé wrote and illustrated Paul et Kao au Laos, a story of seven episodes drawn from her experiences in Laos. In 1961 she was given an exhibition at the Galerie Rauch in Monaco. In 1962, Aymé went to live and paint for eight months in Brazzaville in the Congo, the final journey of a life spent largely in travel, exploration, painting and drawing. Alix Aymé died on her 95th birthday while putting the finishing touches to one of her lacquer pieces.
Her work is found in a number of public collections, including the Cabinet des Dessins of the Louvre and the Musée des Années Trente in Paris, the Musée des Beaux-Arts in La Rochelle, and the Royal Palace in Luang Prabang. Her first American museum exhibition was held March - September 2012 at the Evergreen Museum and Library of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.Filming has begun on a documentary film about her life and art.
Bibliography: Bénézit, E. Dictionnaire Critique et Documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, Gründ, Paris, 1999..... Menonville, Corinne de, La Peinture Vietnamienne, une aventure entre tradition et modernité, Arhis, Castillon, 2003..... Paris-Hanoi-Saigon, catalogue of the exhibition, Pavilion des Arts, Paris, 1998
Alix Aymé 1894-1989
Market Scene, Hanoi
Lacquer on wood panel
Signed, lower right: “Alix Aymé”
Panel size: 19⅝ X 33⅞
Frame size: 28 X 43 inches
In a handcrafted frame from RG Les Cadres Gault, Paris
FC12107 SOLD
Alix Aymé 1894-1989
The House on Stilts
Oil on board
Signed, lower left: « Alix Aymé, Estate stamp on verso
Board size: 19 11/16 X 27 1/8 inches
Frame size: 28 3/4 X 36 1/2 inches
In a handcrafted frame from RG Les Cadres Gault, Paris
FC12094 Price On Request
Alix Aymé 1894-1989
Portrait of a Young African Woman Holding Her Head in Both Hands
Charcoal and colored chalks on beige wove paper
Atelier stamp lower right
Sheet size: 18 X 14 5/8 inches
27 1/2 X 24 1/4 inches
In a hand-crafted frame from Les Cadres Gault, Paris
FC10039 Price on Request
Alix Aymé 1894-1989
Portrait of François Wearing a Sweater
Charcoal drawing
Signed, lower right: “Alix Aymé”
Sheet size: 8⅛ X 6 inches
Frame size: 14½ X 12 inches
In a handcrafted frame from RG Les Cadres Gault, Paris
FC12096 Price On Request
Alix Aymé 1894-1989
Sleeping Youth
Colored chalks and charcoal on tan wove paper
Signed, lower right: “A. Aymé”
Sheet siz: 10 5/8 X 14 9/16 inches
18 X 21 3/4 inches
In a hand-crafted frame from Les Cadres Gault, Paris
FC10044 Price on Request
Alix Aymé 1894-1989
Three Young Children in Blue and White
Watercolor, pastel, and charcoal
Signed, lower left:
Sheet size: 20 1/8 inches X 26 1/4 inches
33 X 27 inches
In a hand-crafted frame from Les Cadres Gault, Paris
FC10051 Price On Request
Alix Aymé 1894-1989
Figures on a Beach
Pen & ink drawing on tan wove paper
Atelier stamp, lower right
Sheet size: 12 5/8 X 9 5/8 inches
18 ½ X 15 ½ inches
In a hand-crafted frame from Les Cadres Gault, Paris
FC10054 Price on Request
Alix Aymé 1894-1989
Two Children
Watercolor, pen & ink, ink wash, and charcoal
Signed, lower right, in pencil: “A Aymé”
Sheet size: 17 1/2 X 22 1/4 inches
26 1/4 X 30 3/4 inches
In a handcrafted frame from Les Cadres RG, Paris
FC06231 Price On Request
Alix Aymé 1894-1989
Study of the Head of a Young Boy
Charcoal drawing on off-white beige paper
Signed, lower right: “Alix Aymé”
Sheet size: 8 ½ X 6 ¾ inches
15 X 13½ inches
In a handcrafted frame from RG Les Cadres Gault, Paris
FC07101 Price On Request
Alix Aymé 1894-1989
A Young Girl Wearing a Blue Dress
Tempera on canvas
Signed, lower right: “Alix Aymé”
Canvas size: 21 3/4 X 15 inches
Frame size: 28 1/2 X 21 3/4 inches
In a hand-crafted frame from Les Cadres Gault, Paris
FC09048 Price on request
Alix Aymé 1894-1989
Market Scene
Oil on board
Signed, lower left: “Alix de Fautereau”
Board size: 12⅛ X 19 inches
Frame size: 17¼ X 24 inches
In a handcrafted frame from RG Les Cadres Gault, Paris/
FC12053 SOLD
Alix Aymé 1894-1989
On the Mekong River in Upper Laos
Oil on board
Signed, lower right: “Alix Aymé” (Inscribed on verso: “Fautereau” )
Board size: 14⅝ X 20¾ inches
Frame size: 19½ X 25⅝ inches
In a handcrafted frame from RG Les Cadres Gault, Paris/
FC12055 Price On Request
Alix Aymé 1894-1989
Market Scene, Hanoi
Oil on board
Signed, lower right: “Alix Aymé”
Board size: 15½ X 21⅝ inches
Frame size: 20¾ X 27¼ inches
FC12054 Price On Request
Alix Aymé 1894-1989
Study of a Young Boy (François)
Pastel and charcoal on wove paper
Signed in pencil, lower right: “alix aymé”
Sheet size: 13 X 18¾ inches
Frame size: 21½ X 27⅛inches
1930s
FC12060 Price On Request
Alix Aymé 1894-1989
A Village in Brittany
oil on board
Signed on verso: \"Alix Aymé\": Estate stamp on verso
Board size: 10 X 15¾ inches
Frame size: 16 X 21¾ inches
In a handcrafted frame from RG Les Cadres Gault, Paris
FC12108 Price On Request
Alix Aymé 1894-1989
Studies of Young Girls
Pastels and pencil
Signed, lower right: “Alix Aymé”
Sheet size: 20 X 26¼ inches
Frame size: 28 X 35 inches
Illustrated on page 68 of Alix Aymé: Une artiste peintre en Indochine A French Painter in Indochina, 1920-1945, Pascal Lacombe & Guy Ferrer, Somogy, Paris, 2012.
FC12106 Price On Request
Alix Aymé 1894-1989
Portrait of a Pouting Child
Watercolor and black chalk
Signed, lower right: “A Aymé”
Sheet size: 15¼ X 8 inches (irregular left edge)
Frame size: 24 X 16½ inches
Illustrated on page 46 of Alix Aymé: Une artiste peintre en Indochine A French Painter in Indochina, 1920-1945, Pascal Lacombe & Guy Ferrer, Somogy, Paris, 2012.
FC12103 Price On Request
Alix Aymé 1894-1989
Landscape with a Farmhouse and Figures
Watercolor, pen & ink
Signed, lower left: “Alix Aymé”
Sheet size: 12 X 19 inches
Frame size: 22 X 28¾ inches
In a handcrafted frame from RG Les Cadres Gault, Paris
FC12109 Price On Request
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