The bestl known of all Vietnamese modern painters, Bui Xuan Phai is respected and admired for both his art and moral character. He epitomizes for the Vietnamese the lone artist suffering for his art: he lost his teaching position at the Hanoi College of Fine Arts in 1957 for supporting a movement for political and cultural freedom and was not allowed to show his work in public until a solo exhibition in 1984. Nicknames "Phai Pho" (street-painting Phai) for his many evocative street scenes of Hanoi, Phai also captured with evident affection Cheo (Vietnamese opera) actresses and musicians backstage and in performance. As early as the 1950s he experimented with abstraction but did not sign these forbidden works, showing them only to family and friends.

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Street Scene, n.d., oil on cardboard, 5 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches;
Courtesy of C. David and Jean Thomas

It is estimated that Phai painted several thousand works on whatever material was available-matchboxes, newspapers, cardboard, old schoolbooks,. Often having little money, he traded artwork for food and drink.
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Small Street, 1985, gouache on paper, 15 x 19 inches;
Courtesy of Dr. Nguyen Quan

An admirer of early twentieth-century French modernists, Phai nerevtheless gave to his street scenes a distinctive Vietnamese lyrical expressiveness with his irregular line and forms, and his quick, suggestive treatment of figures.

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