The youngest child of a family of six brothers and sisters, Tran Phuc Duyen was born in 1923 in Hanoi. Artist at heart since always, he joined the School of Fine Arts of Hanoi in 1942 where he specialized in lacquer. His talent was quickly recognized and orders poured in, in particular from French officials, bourgeois families or even private companies. In 1950, his know-how was distinguished by the government's choice to offer one of his lacquers in the form of a screen to Pope Pius XII and kept in the Vatican Museum. In 1954, like many former students of the School of Fine Arts in Hanoi, Tran Phuc Duyen moved to France where he followed the teaching of Jean Souverbie at the Beaux-Arts in Paris. The practice of lacquer being subjec...