Dang Lebadong

Birds on a Branch original lithograph Dang Lebadang

20th century

During World War 2, Lebadang was part of the force of “Indochinese workers” most of whom were forcibly recruited by the French state to work in arms and munitions factories, replacing the French workers mobilized into the army. Alone and without resources he survived for a time in wartime France, and enrolled for a course in painting given by M. Espinasse and sculpture lessons given by M. Manin at the “École des beaux-arts” (School of Fine Arts) in Toulouse. In the sculpture studio he made a very lifelike bust of one of his fellow-students and a bare female foot which already showed a sureness of design and a control of volume. There, he was to find the real France, the warmth of friendship, the solidarity and that French culture which had always fascinated him.In June 1948 he gained his diploma and won a competition for designing advertisements. With this money, he travelled to Paris. Lebadang left for Paris, attracted to the city by its cultural effervescence. Those post-war years were a Bohemian period, in the Latin Quarter, the rue du Chat-qui-Pêche and the rue Mouffard which were the subjects of many paintings. He had a studio in the rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Geneviève where he painted one of his first self-portraits in oil, using a range of grey and blues on raw linen. During the fifites Lebadang held his first exhibitions, in Paris and in the provinces, which were well received in the press. In 1958, the artist discovered lithography in the Arts-Litho studio, and regularly attended the studios of Fernand Mourlot and Jacques Desjobert. He held his third exhibition at the Galerie Cézanne at Cannes, and gave an exhibition of his new works in the Galerie Au Seuil Étroit in Paris. In the same year, the Château de la Napoule near Cannes organized an exhibition of his works. In the following years, galleries in Paris and in the French provinces hosted numerous exhibitions (Galerie Pierre Hautot, rue du bac, Galerie Bonaparte, rue Bonaparte, Galerie Fontaine, avenue Victor Hugo, Galerie Minage in Montpellier). In the sixties, England (the Frost and Reed Gallery in London), Germany, Switzerland (Leandro Gallery at Lausanne) and Norway (Spektrum Gallery and the Lundt University at Bergen) welcomed his works, opening the way to the United States and interested collectors there. He had his last exhibition at the “Galerie Au Seuil Étroit” at Paris and new exhibition at the “Galerie Sources” at Aix-en-Provence. In 1966, the Cincinnati Art Museum, in Ohio, produced the first exhibition dedicated to his work in the United States. In the same year he exhibited at the Newman Contemporary Art Gallery in Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.