<p>Painter and sculptor, Vu Cao Dam was born in Hanoi in 1908. He attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts de Indochine between 1926 and 1931. In 1932 he obtained a scholarship to further his studies as a sculptor in France. Eventually he specialized in painting. His painting during this period was mainly on silk and showed the influence of ancient Chinese art. </p> <p>In July, 1946, Vu Cao Dam executed a bust of Ho Chi Minh at the Fountainbleu Conference held in Paris. After the French re-occupied Vietnam, the portrait bust was hidden at the house of a French farmer who was a member of the French Communist Party.</p> <p>In 1975, after the liberation of South Viet Nam, the bust was reclaimed by Vu Cao Dam's artist daughter, Yannick Vu Jakaber who had it cast in Spain. In 1949, Vu Cao Dam moved permanently to the South of France and became an acquaintance of Marc Chagall who influenced his painting. His paintings from this period have a lyrical, soft touch and pastel coloring. Vu Cao Dam died in France in 2000.</p>