In a recommendation letter, Silpa Bhirasri, the father of Thai modern art, wrote: "He is a gifted art student. An artist who truly devotes himself to art and is perhaps the best Thai artist there is now." The student he referred to was the late Thai National Artist Fua Haripitak. That letter from the famed Italian sculptor who worked mainly in Thailand was the only thing Fua had to certify his gift, having had no education degree when he embarked upon his studies at the prestigious Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma in 1954.
Over 60 years later, those words still ring true, as evident in a current exhibition at the Stream of Arts to Foster the Artists Foundation. The show, dedicated to Fua, includes 60 prints of works from the great Thai artist who died in 1993, and who is still revered by younger artists today.
Blue Green.
But "best" is perhaps not the most illuminating of words to describe these pieces. As we walk around the homely gallery space on Sukhumvit 39, more appropriate words of a show that has struck art enthusiasts may include "versatility", "rebellion" and "sacrifice".
"This exhibition will raise funds to establish the Fua Haripitak Foundation," said Fua's only son, Tamnu Haripitak, who is also an artist. "I want later generations to get to see his works and I'm very glad that friends and also my father's students have helped and made this possible."
An oil portrait of Silpa Bhirasri.
Although unfortunate that the set only houses copies, Tamnu said that the prints are of the best quality and he hopes that the public can still benefit from the exhibition. Aside from those on display at the National Gallery Ho Sin Chaofah and the Silpa Bhirasri National Museum, most of the original works are now in the hands of private collectors and galleries abroad.
There's a sense of versatility as the exhibition is an incredible collision of art movements.
Viewers go from witnessing realistic portraits to those of swift, impressionistic brush-strokes, and from a series of nudes and cubist pieces to simple landscape sketches — and suddenly there are exquisite murals from historic Thai temples transferred onto canvases with absolute precision.
Painting of a mural from Wat Yai Suwannaram.
That last subject was something that first sparked a love for art in Fua as he grew up near the Suthat Thep Wararam Temple, which boasts exquisite murals from the reign of King Rama III.
Murals are also something he returned to later on in life, with passion and sacrifice, having acted as a preservationist of murals in a number of historic temples, many of which would have been left to ruin if it wasn't for him.
"The idea began five years ago at his centennial celebration at Silpakorn University," said Tamnu's wife, Sirintorn Haripitak, who helped organise the exhibition. She's also an art lecturer at Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, Chiang Mai Campus.
Red Shirt.
"We were talking about how we could make his legacy live on so that later generations will get to know him. We wanted to do some sort of project but we didn't have any funds. We began by selling Tamnu's paintings to raise funds and realised later that perhaps establishing a foundation would be the best solution. I did a thesis on Fua and I've gathered quite a lot of material on him that can be used, for example recordings of his interviews. All this can be used in our project in the future, a documentary maybe."
One of the most striking portraits in the show is one of an old woman simply holding a sleepy cat in her arms. The painting was named Parent but this was actually his grandmother. Fua's father, a court painter, died six months before he was born and his mother died when he was only seven years old. He was thus raised by this grandmother who was depicted in the painting with warmth and simplicity.
Rome.
After secondary school at the Wat Benchamabophit School, Fua went on to work as a clerk for the State Railway of Thailand for just two days before continuing his study of art at the Poh Chang School of Arts and Crafts. However, he never graduated.
In the final year, he refused to draw in accordance with the school's standards, professing that those strict lines kept the paintings from being alive. This led on to his encounter with Khun Patiparkpimlikit, or Plaeng Tripin, a famed cartoonist during the reign of King Rama VI who first introduced him to impressionism.
Fua was among the first students of the School of Fine Arts, which later became Silpakorn University, where Silpa Bhirasri, or Italian-born sculptor Corrado Feroci, was one of the teachers.
However, because he only got to study painting with Phra Soraraklikit whose expertise lay in precise Thai traditional drawing, Fua later quit and decided to pursue his studies independently with Silpa Bhirasri.
In the early 40s, he went to study at Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan, then West Bengal, India. It was there that he learned about ancient Indian art and about preservation projects which gave him ideas for projects he later began with murals in various historic temples in Thailand.
A few examples of such projects are displayed in the exhibition, with paintings of glass vault patterns from Wat Mahathat which no longer exist today and a mural from Wat Yai Suwannaram with a scene of deities gathering.
Fua Haripitak.
"He said that it's not just about copying the patterns onto canvases," said Tamnu, who spent a lot time as his father's assistant on various projects.
"It's about studying the thoughts of those craftsmen, their composition, their choice of lines and colours, and influences of history, culture, tradition. And all this will connect us to our own roots."
One of Fua's most notable restoration projects was that of the Tripitaka Library at Wat Rakang Kositaram temple (also known as Wat Bang Wah Yai), built during the reign of King Rama I, who spent 20 years on the restoration. Before Fua came, the site was used for keeping corpses and had almost been demolished.
"Fua spent so much time there he was known as the ghost of the Tripitaka Library," said Sulak Sivaraksa, a prominent Thai scholar, in an interview.
"He was a human being who truly devoted himself to art, not money or fame. Art for art's sake, this is who Fua was." Following the passing of many late masters, there's always a question surrounding whether works produced more than half-a-century ago can still be relevant to the contemporary art scene. Tamnu said that he has known many artists in later generations who revealed they had been inspired by his father.
"The late poet and artist Angkarn Kalayanapong used to follow my father when he was copying murals in temples in Ayutthaya onto his canvases. His works were influenced by my father's and it has passed on to later generations."
Even greater than the works Fua has left, Tamnu reminds us, is the ambition he ignited to make Thai people value their own culture, realising that once people learn to see the value in these things, it becomes less difficult for preservation projects to go on.
Fua Haripitak’s collection of 60 paintings is on display at Stream of Arts to Foster the Artists Foundation on Sukhumvit 39 until July 18.
