A member of the Vietnam Fine Art Association, Bui Xuan Phai had a profound influence on the development of Modern Vietnamese art. His works are highly artistic and are executed in poetic, free flowing brushstrokes, and refined colours. The adorable and lively rendition of a cat executed through unique forms ignites the viewer’s imagination. Bui Xuan Phai, one of the internationally best known Vietnamese artists, was persecuted in 1957 for his support of the Nhan Van movement for political and cultural freedom, and was only ‘rehabilitated’ in 1984, when he was allowed to hold his first solo. In 1996, he was amply vindicated when he was posthumously awarded the coveted Ho Chi Minh Prize. He graduated from the Fine Arts College of IndoChina in 1946, and was involved in the anti-French resistance in Viet Bac and the August 1954 Revolution in Hanoi. He was dubbed one of the Four Pillars of Vietnamese Art, the others being Nguyen Tu Nghiem, Duong Bich Lien and Nguyen Sang.