Lebadang was born in 1921 in Bich-La-Dong, a village along the Huong River in Quang-Tri Province of Hue, Vietnam. He expressed himself through a variety of media, including painting, watercolor, sculpture, jewelry and graphic works. He often combined various media, creating sculptural, highly textured artwork. He lived in Paris since 1939, studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse for six years until his first one-man show in 1950. Painting and printmaking were Lebadang’s most frequently used media but he also worked in terra cotta and a variety of other media, including foam and cast paper relief. Whatever he created, each piece spoke to the entangled roles of man and nature. His work is exhibited in many public and private collections, including the Cincinnati Museum of Art in Ohio, the Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona, the Rockefeller Collection in New York, the Foundation Museum in Kenya, the Lund University Museum in Sweden, the Loo Collection in Tokyo, and the Museum of Arts and Letters in France. Lebadang was honored with numerous awards and accolades during his career. He also designed an award for the International Institute of St. Louis. The Lebadang Award is presented biannually to an individual who has demonstrated extraordinary volunteer service. The award program was established by the institute in 1989 to recognize organizations and individuals who exemplify “Peace within you, your country, and the world.”
