Anh Duong


Anh Duong was born in Bordeaux, France to a Vietnamese father and Spanish mother. She studied ballet with the Franchetti Academy of Classical dance in Paris. In 1988 she moved to New York City where she began painting. Annina Nosei was the first art dealer to include one of her work in a group show. In 1991 Sperone Westwater Gallery featured Duong's first painting solo exhibition in New York. Her earliest self-portrait titled Summer in Montauk (1988) was included in a 1997 show at the PMMK Museum of Modern Art in Ostend, Belgium. Two years later (1999), the Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont presented her first solo exhibition of self-portraits with more than 65 works on display.

Duong has since become a recognized painter in New York City. Forgetting the subject to focus on the technical painting itself, she focuses on the portrait, and mostly the self-portrait that she has painted on a daily basis as a diary. "(...) her paintings expose an unexpected, unglamorous, intimate relationship with her body (...) Duong's paintings should be viewed as contributions to a different genre - they belong alongside the work of women such as Dora Maar, Anaïs Nin, and Frida Kahlo, artists who compellingly exposed interior worlds whose beauty, intelligence, and character inspired creativity, both in themselves and in others" (artnet Magazine, 2004).

Her latest solo exhibitions in New York have been at the Sonnabend gallery and the Robilant&Voena gallery in London.

She has sculpted the 50 stars that are part of the entrance mural for the the Statue of Liberty new museum opened in 2018.

She has also sculpted the 40 birds for the entrance mural of the new headquarters of the Hillary Clinton foundation Vital Voices in Washington DC opening in 2022.

A retrospective of 20 of her paintings has been exhibited at the Gmurzynska gallery in Zurich in 2021. Her first show in Los Angeles “Without obsession I am lost,” curated by Isabelle Bscher from Gmurzinska gallery is opening in 2022 at the Spring Place Beverly Hills.

Duong has also worked on a number of portraits commissioned by collectors such as Bruno Bischofberger, Aby Rosen, Princess Maria Theresia Alexandra of Thurn and Taxis, Domenico Dolce and Simon de Pury. Duong's latest portrait has been a sculpture standing nine feet tall in stainless steel of Diane von Furstenberg commissioned by Barry Diller for the figurehead of his yacht Eos.

The National Portrait gallery in Washington DC has acquired a portrait she made of Diane von Furstenberg for their permanent collection.

A book has been published of her work by Assouline (Self)-Portraits

She received the Veuve Clicquot Tribute to Inspiring Women Award.

Earlier in life, and before becoming a painter and sculptor, Duong was discovered by David Seidner and was invited by him to be featured in a YSL campaign for Vogue. From that moment on, she started working for numerous designers, including Christian Lacroix, John Galliano, Donna Karan as well as posing for Herb Ritts, Deborah Turbeville, Steven Meisel, Patrick Demarchelier and Peter Lindbergh. She lately starred in the Kate Spade- H&M -Bergdorf Goodman- Miu Miu- Pomellato and Thom Browne campaigns to name a few.

Her career also includes appearances in films such as The Mambo Kings, Scent of a Woman, I Shot Andy Warhol, and High Art which was presented in Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals. Duong also acted in two films by French director Laetitia Masson, For Sale and  Love Me which was screened in the Berlin Film Festival.

After a break from acting while she was focusing on her art career. Duong started again with her role of Nasrin in Appropriate Behavior by Desiree Akhavan in the Sundance competition - GHB of French director Laetitia Masson and Abel Ferrara Welcome to New York. The only living boy in New York and Uncut Gems by the Safdie Brothers.

Duong lives currently between New York and Paris