Fua Haripitak

Biography

In 1949 a small tempera on paper, “Phetchaburi”, won a gold medal at the national exhibition. Its author was thirty-nine, and had already been teaching for several years.

Fua Haripitak was born on 22 April 1910 in Thonburi, into the family of a court painter. He was reportedly named Fua Thong-yu at birth, and took the surname Haripitak later, during the war. He received his primary and secondary education in Buddhist temple schools in Bangkok, then worked at an art school attached to the Department of Fine Arts. In 1932 he entered the Poh Chang School of Arts and Crafts in Bangkok. Accounts of how long he stayed differ: by some, he studied there until 1935; by others, he left without finishing because he was dissatisfied with the teaching methods. He then moved to the School of Fine Arts, from which Silpakorn University grew, and became one of the first students of its founder, the Italian sculptor Silpa Bhirasri. Almost all his early work from this time was lost during the Second World War. One piece survived: an oil portrait of his grandmother holding a cat, “My Grand Mother” (1938).

In 1940 a scholarship from Thanomsakdi Kridakorn enabled him to go to India, to Visva-Bharati University in West Bengal, founded by Rabindranath Tagore. He acknowledged Tagore’s influence. When the war began, Thailand found itself at war with Britain, and the British authorities interned the Thai student; he did not return home until 1946. In the camp he painted a tempera, “Japanese Internment Camp, Purana Qila”. The National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo calls this work one of the earliest examples of Asian cubism. I would add a caveat: the judgment is the museum’s, and comparison is difficult here, since we have no complete picture of Asian painting of the time.

After his return he became a teacher at Silpakorn and stayed there for twenty-eight years. In 1949 and 1950 he won gold medals at the annual national exhibitions, for “Phetchaburi” and for an oil painting, “Portrait of Madame Rienpracha”. A third gold medal came in 1957.

In 1954 the Italian government gave him a scholarship, and he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. The dates differ: by some accounts it was 1954–1956, by others 1954–1955. In Rome he drew in chalk, coloured pencil and ink, and tried abstract and cubist manners. Views of Italy survive: “Rome, Trastevere” (1955), “Snow over Saint Peter’s Basilica” (1955), “Rome” (1956); there is also a nude study. “Red Dress” (1956) and “Blue and Green” (1958) survive as well. Some of the pieces are in the Silpa Bhirasri Memorial National Museum. In 1959 Silpa Bhirasri, responding to his pupil’s solo exhibition, wrote that drawing is “the grammar of art” and that in Fua he saw a future real artist. In 1961 Fua sat on the jury of a competition held by the Tourist Organization under Prime Minister Sarit Thanarat, together with Silpa Bhirasri and Hem Vejakorn.

A separate strand of his life concerned old Thai murals. He copied paintings in ancient temples in order to preserve them as a record of the nation’s art history. A figure of 23,000 temples across the country is quoted, and I would check it. From 1969 to 1982 he took part in restoring the Tripitaka library at Wat Rakhang Kositaram, built under King Rama I, the founder of the Chakri dynasty. Some of the money was his own. The work took twelve years.

In 1980 Silpakorn University awarded him an honorary doctorate in fine arts. In 1983 he received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for public service; the citation spoke of preserving Thailand’s graphic and architectural heritage and teaching it to a younger generation. In 1985 he was named a National Artist in the field of visual art, and in 1990 the government recognised him as an Outstanding Cultural Conservator. He was also an honorary member of the Royal Institute of Thailand and a holder of the Order of the White Elephant (1984) and the Order of the Crown of Thailand (1992).

He died on 19 October 1993.