Vietnamese paintings. Palette knife painting by Phan Thu Trang
The Vietnamese are creative people with their own approach to art. There is a lot of unusual and colorful things in Vietnamese paintings made from a variety of materials. We want to tell you about some of them, because perhaps you didn’t even suspect that works of art could be created from such scrap materials. At the same time, we will touch upon both ancient ways of self-expression of artists, and the most modern ones.
Silk embroidered paintings
The huge number of shades used to create paintings and the delicate painstaking work of skilled craftswomen have made Vietnamese silk embroidered paintings famous throughout the world. Natural landscapes and portraits of people come to life in the paintings. The double-sided paintings are especially surprising. All works are also distinguished by the effect of three-dimensionality of the image. Paintings by craftswomen can be seen at the silk factory in Dalat. This is not just a factory, but a beautiful exhibition hall where you can admire the stunning works of embroiderers and, if you wish, buy your favorite painting. In addition, visitors can see how girls work on creating these amazing paintings right in the halls.
Lacquer paintings
Lacquer is a durable, waterproof material, and the Vietnamese use it to create beautiful paintings and decorate boxes, trays, screens and other objects with lacquer images. Working with varnish requires certain skills, because this material hardens quickly. Craftsmen must act quickly and carefully. You can see lacquer paintings in a workshop in Ho Chi Minh City, going there on a sightseeing tour. The workshop has a variety of items from large chests of drawers to tiny boxes that can be purchased as souvenirs.
Chicken feather paintings
Such unique works can be seen in the ancient district of Hoi An, they are created by an artist named Dinh Thong. Since childhood, he was interested in fine arts, drew using traditional paints and pencils, made collages from paper, and then decided to introduce something completely new and unusual into his work and made his first painting from chicken feathers. Usually the artist uses feathers from Vietnamese birds, and they come in four colors: black, white, brown and gray. Dinh Thong glues feathers onto cardboard, thereby creating landscapes, portraits or abstract compositions. These unusual paintings are characterized by durability, color fastness, and most importantly, originality.
Bas-relief glass engraving OWL
This type of art is not ancient. It appeared after glass mosaics were brought to Vietnam from Europe. SOVA glass paintings were invented thanks to Fan Hong Vin. It was he who developed a new technique for bas-relief engraving on glass. Using this technique, the artist turns ordinary glass tiles into works of art. Vinh invented a special sandblasting machine that is used to process frosted glass, and also came up with a method for clouding crystal products. Engraving is used not only to create ordinary paintings, but also to make various elements of room decor: doors, walls, partitions. A beautiful effect is created when the light falls on the glass: the space becomes sparkling! The paintings depict flowers and plants, animals, people or natural landscapes.
Rice paintings
As you know, rice for the Vietnamese is the most important cereal and product on the table. Vietnamese people value and respect rice. It is not surprising that rice also entered the field of fine arts. Using rice grains, artists working in Huu Cuong Nguyen's workshop create unique paintings that depict the nature of Vietnam and the people living and working in the country. For work, craftsmen choose strong grains of equal size. In order to give the beans different shades, they are roasted at different temperatures. Experienced professionals can produce more than ten shades of rice. To stick the rice onto the base, viscous milk glue is used. The finished paintings are dried in the sun. Craftsmen spend from six to twelve days to produce one painting.
Butterfly wing paintings
Paintings from butterfly wings are created by Vietnamese professor Bui Cong Hien. He took up this work after leaving teaching at the Faculty of Biology at the Hanoi Institute. Together with engineer Dang Ngoc Anh, they began breeding butterflies to create paintings. During the work, a special, specially developed type of glue is used, which preserves the natural delicacy of butterfly wings. Now the professor and engineer are hatching an idea to teach peasants how to breed butterflies and create amazing and unusual paintings so that they can increase their income.
Paintings from different natural materials
In some interior luxury Vietnamese stores, you can see original paintings created by a group of Ourway students. They are made from natural materials and one might not immediately guess that the craftsmen used eggshells, plant roots, hay, sawdust and straw for their works. It is interesting that students try not to paint the materials for their paintings. They find colorful sawdust and use the shells of not only chicken eggs, but also duck and quail eggs. At the initial stage, the sketch is applied to the base with a pencil, then the future picture is covered with glue, onto which various materials are applied. All paintings are original and not similar to each other, which is their special value.
Traditional painting in Vietnam
Vietnamese traditional painting can be divided into several types: portraits, landscapes, genre and religious paintings. The paintings were painted on silk or rice paper with water-based paints and ink.
Portraits
Painting portraits, like sculptural ones, were created from memory or from descriptions and memories. A small number of portraits of emperors, dignitaries, and representatives of the nobility have been preserved in pagodas, mortuary temples of royal families and family tombs of large feudal lords. The oldest among works of this kind are the portrait of Nguyen Chai, dating back to the 15th century, the portrait of the scientist Phung Khac Khoan (17th century), and the portraits of two princes Nguyen Quy Duc and Nguyen Quy Canh (mid-18th century). The artist carefully drew facial features and clothing details, based on descriptions of relatives or his own memories, so the external resemblance was very approximate. New trends in the portrait genre, which only later (in the work of Vietnamese artists of the 30s of the XX century) would manifest themselves to a greater extent, were first reflected in the works of the artist Le Van Mien.
Landscapes
One of the favorite types of painting among Vietnamese artists has traditionally been landscapes, glorifying the beauty of their native nature. The silk scrolls that have come down to us (XVIII - XIX centuries) represent a series of landscapes executed in the traditional Chinese manner, observing the principles of backstage construction of space and subtle color nuances. The most common characteristic feature of Vietnamese landscape painting is that the image of nature is perceived as idealized, abstract and more expressive of the artist’s mood than the surrounding reality. Subsequently, especially from the beginning of the 20th century, as we became more familiar with European painting, landscape painting underwent significant changes.
Genre paintings
The subjects of works of this kind were very limited and the paintings were mainly for decorative purposes. The main characters, in addition to natural elements, in the works of art of that time are people: “a scientist, a peasant, a craftsman, a venerable old man, a fisherman, a woodcutter, a plowman, a shepherd.” A classic example of such genre painting is the painting “Fisherman Busy Catching Fish.” Vietnamese painting of this period is characterized by static, two-dimensional images.
Pictures of cult content
Religious paintings were also painted with watercolors on silk, rice paper or wood. They are distinguished by a subtle and painstaking writing technique, exceptional care for the smallest details of clothing and furnishings. This, in particular, can be explained by the fact that it was certain clothes and various attributes that helped navigate the complex hierarchy of cult characters. In addition, each master sought to emphasize the highly valued thoroughness of execution, the subtlety of the drawing and the grace of the brushstroke.
Lubok – folk painting
Luboks occupy a special place in the fine arts of Vietnam. Vietnamese folk painting is a variant of the Russian popular print. The painting is stamped on a wooden board (cliché), then painted, and finally printed on special fiber paper “kei zo”. Paints were made from ash from burning bamboo leaves, straw (black), dyp tree bark (white), yellow stone (red), Sophora flowers (yellow), indigowort (blue), and copper rust (green). A distinctive feature of Dongho splints was the colored background, obtained by adding a decoction of glutinous rice mixed with crushed sea shell powder to the dye. This unique coating made the paper more durable, and the mother-of-pearl powder gave the painting a slight shimmer. The so-called Hanoi popular prints are long, picturesque scrolls. Traditionally, hieroglyphs and drawings were applied to the scrolls. Typically, the Vietnamese created cycles of paintings: “The Four Seasons”, “Flowers and Birds”, “Journey to the West”. Sometimes several interconnected drawings were depicted in one picture (“Twenty-four examples of sons of piety”).
Lubki were usually made for various holidays, but mainly for the New Year (according to the lunar calendar) Tet holiday, which is both spring and the main holiday of the year. There are significant differences between popular prints created before the French conquest and after, when paper of a different quality and format and new paints became widespread. The name of the master was never put on the early popular prints, and only starting from the 20th century. we know the names of the most famous masters: Nguyen The Thyc, Vuong Ngoc Long, Tiong Manh Tung, etc. As a rule, entire families were engaged in this trade and passed on their skills from generation to generation. Among the subjects of the popular prints are various wishes on the occasion of Tet, expressed traditionally with the help of images of various flowers, fruits, animals, objects symbolizing prosperity, numerous virtues: peach - longevity, pomegranate - numerous offspring, peacock - peace and prosperity, pig - abundance and etc. In addition, popular prints were edifying, historical, religious (depicting Buddha and body satvas, various spirits), and prints depicting landscapes and the four seasons.
The laconic and expressive style of folk popular prints, their special figurative structure, their inherent optimism and peculiar humor undoubtedly became an expression of certain features of the national character. And already in the first decades of the 20th century, when interest in studying one’s own artistic traditions arose, folk popular prints rightfully began to be given a worthy place in the national heritage.
Lacquer painting
Europe learned about the extraordinary Vietnamese lacquer painting in 1931, when visitors to the World Exhibition in Paris saw the work of students and graduates of the Higher School of Fine Arts of Indochina. For many centuries, the sap of the lacquer tree, which grows everywhere in Vietnam, has been used as a material for creating works of this type of painting. Lacquered screens, vases, trays, boxes and other items were covered with a shiny layer of varnish. The color range of varnish was limited to black, red and brown, so gold and silver powders, inlay with mother-of-pearl and eggshell, and engraving were used as decorative additions. Artists-painters who studied at the Higher School of Fine Arts in the twenties initiated attempts to transfer the charm of lacquer painting to easel painting. And limiting the color options of the varnish was one of the most difficult obstacles. However, little by little this problem was solved. Blue, yellow, and green shades appeared in the palette, and combinations of dyes enriched lacquer painting with purple, lilac, pink, and scarlet colors. However, to this day the technology of varnish painting remains very labor-intensive.
Vietnamese art historians believe that the desire of artists to express themselves in the creation of easel lacquer painting was given the opportunity to be realized only after the August Revolution of 1945. Patriotic people's artists reflected the new socialist reality in their work. Among the first experimenters to work with lacquer paints was Chan Van Kang, now a renowned artist in both oil and lacquer painting. His early lacquer paintings were a success at the Hanoi Exhibition in 1935. Being a great master of the European oil painting technique, Chan Van Kang in his varnish works showed himself to be a deeply national artist. At the 1958 exhibition in Hanoi, lacquer painting first announced itself as a new form of art.
Consistent realist and subtle lyricist Phan Ke An builds his painting “Memories of an Evening in Northwestern Vietnam” (1955) on a contrasting combination of translucent blue-green tones with a light yellow opaque gilding. This painting is significant in concept and romantic in execution. Against the backdrop of the mountains bathed in the evening sun, a chain of soldiers in blue uniforms clearly stands out, descending from the pass into the lowland of the mountain gorge. They walk facing the sun, catching its last rays before leaving into the darkness of the night. The three primary colors yellow, blue, green (not counting a small amount of black varnish) convey the richness of the artist’s emotional intent thanks to a special play of textures and different depths of reflected color.
The golden glow of a dark lacquer surface manifested itself most organically in the composition of one of the strongest masters of lacquer painting, Le Quoc Loc, “Through a Familiar Village” (the painting was shown in Moscow at the international exhibition of fine arts of socialist countries in 1958). The painting “Night Walk” by artist Nguyen Hiem demonstrates the capabilities of lacquer painting in creating a sense of mystery and romance. The use of inlay to enhance the decorative effect can be appreciated in Nguyen Kim Dong's painting "Ceramic Craft" (1958), depicting two potters at work. The alternation of wide planes of eggshell inlay (the white wall of the kiln and the white clothes of the potters) with the simplest colored silhouettes makes the composition so generalized that the picture looks almost like a mosaic or relief.
A description of Vietnamese lacquer painting would be incomplete without mentioning the technique of carved (engraved) varnish, which was especially popular among masters of the 20-30s of the last century. It was usually used to create decorative panels, screens and other interior details. This technique is still used today. On a black or red background of the varnish coating, a pattern is cut out (down to the ground), which is filled with various dyes. An example is Guyn Van Thuan’s painting “Vinh-mok Village”. The crisp engraving, highlighted with subtle light tones, creates a sharp contrast with the shiny and smooth black background. The composition of the painting with a highly raised horizon allows you to unfold a whole panorama of life in the fishing village.
The increased decorativeness of the texture of varnish paints, which allows inlay with other materials, gives this painting a special expressiveness. Vietnamese lacquer painting has evolved from decorative paintings to easel thematic compositions. All genres and all subjects of oil painting became available to her. A seascape, an image of a military campaign in the jungle, a painting of a coal mine, a village scene, an image of a steel mill or a pig farm, even a still life and a portrait. Painting, which was formed during the harsh years of war, reflecting the national dream of happiness and peace, lives and develops in today's socialist Vietnam as an aesthetic expression of the high human spirit.
Vietnamese fine art has always included material as an integral element of the beauty of the work. It is no coincidence that in traditional Vietnamese fine arts the profession of a craftsman received special development and each master was a specialist in his field: there were masters in the manufacture of lacquerware, mother-of-pearl items, craftsmen in the processing of precious metals, pearls, copper, wood, and silk.
Painting with water paints on silk
Vietnamese artists created many works of art based on silk. Among the successful masters working with silk and vividly reflecting real life, it is worth noting: Chan Wang Kang “A Child Reads to His Mother” (1954); Nguyen Phan Chan “The Girl Washes”, “After the Contraction”, “Caring for the Child” (1962, 1970), “Drink Tea” (1967); Nguyen Trong Kiem "The Visit" (1958); Nguyen Van De "Summer Afternoon"; Fan Hong "Walking in the Rain" (1958); Nguyen Van Trung "Moonlight on the Sand" (1976); Tran Dong Luon "Work Group Girls" (1958); Ta Thuc Binh "Harvesting Rice" (1960); Nguyen Thi Hang "Vietnamese Daughters" (1963); Vu Giang Huon "Fish" (1960); Nguyen Thu "Visit to a Village" (1970), "Rain" (1972), "Weaving" (1977); Kim Bak “Fruits of the Motherland”, etc.
The innovation lay in the fact that, using generalized methods embodied on silk, they conveyed real life. Artists deeply and successfully explored the theme of productive labor. The most striking works of this period belong to Nguyen Phan Chan: he creates a new spiritual life in his works, depicts happy women, children, families in days of peace, etc. In the work “Portrait of Chy Dong Tu” (1962) Nguyen Phan Chan shows beauty the female body on soft silk, demonstrating her deep research in art.Another master of this direction in painting is Nguyen Hu (b. 1930). In his work he conveys the transparency of the mountain air, the space and space of his native country. Nature and man are the main characters in his paintings. Nguyen Hu made a significant contribution to the development of modern silk graphics technology.
Published: March 4, 2011Palette of happiness- Painting of Vietnam 1950s
(Hanoi Museum of Fine Arts).
Taking a short look at the works of Vietnamese masters in the 1950s, one is constantly amazed at how modern the images created in those harsh times seem. The colors of the paintings themselves are fresh, as if reflecting the variety of shades of the nature of Vietnam, with the dense greenery of tropical plants and the azure tints of the waves of Ha Long Bay, with the golden glow of the sand on the ocean coast and sun-drenched rice fields, with the colorful bustle of flower markets...
Since ancient times, the artistic culture of Vietnam has absorbed all the best achievements and influences from outside. The formation of the Vietnamese artistic tradition was strongly influenced by the Confucian philosophy and Buddhist culture of China, the complex forms and images of Hindu art, and later by the styles and movements of French art. Of course, in the 1950s, as difficult as it may be to guess, the art of socialist realism had a great influence. But with all this, the history of Vietnamese painting seems to be a ball of a bright and strong thread that has never been interrupted, creating a fabric with patterns that express the very soul of Vietnam. And therefore, we probably will not see in the art of Vietnam in the 1950s either the instructive intonations of the Confucian tradition, or Buddhist detachment, or the somewhat proud sophistication of the French school, or a hint of open “polit. agitation,” nor the socialist realist emphasis on ideology. Vietnamese painting, if you try to characterize it literally in “a nutshell,” expresses hidden admiration for the simplest everyday life; it is a feeling of happiness frozen in colors and a dream of happiness at the same time. In general, after taking a quick glance at the paintings of the 1950s from the collection of the Hanoi Museum, the visitor is left with a strange feeling of confidence that the answer to the “damned” question “What is happiness and how to find it?” finally found in the depths of my own heart, melted from the ice of everyday life by the warm palette of Vietnamese masters.
Painting Tran Don Luon, “Happiness”, 1956, painting on silk
The painting by Tran Don Luon, created in 1956, is called “Happiness”. The images of this painting, painted on thin silk, seem to emerge from the haze of the morning fog in the mountains of northern Vietnam, where the artist is from. Silk canvas softens the shades, emphasizes the softness of halftones and light and shadow play, and saturates all the colors of the work with a golden glow. The artist expresses so simply and clearly, elegantly and sincerely the age-old idea of a happy family, harmonious relationships developing in harmony with the surrounding world, with nature. The harmonious connection between the human world and the natural world is expressed not only by the plot, but also by the coloristic solution: the faded bluish-gray costume of the peasant woman echoes the silvery-bluish, partly ashy, half-tones of the mountains in the distance, which essentially serve as a perspective background of the genre scene. Poor peasant life does not look miserable and is not associated with the “heavy burden” of the people, as one might read in old textbooks. The emphasized modesty of clothing, restraint and serenity of gestures, and the artlessness of the hut’s entryway focus our attention on the inner harmony reigning in the hearts of the people depicted. Maybe someone is inclined to think that all this is just an indicator of “primitiveness” and a “backward economy”, or communist “propaganda” of the worker-peasant way of life... One should not rush to conclusions. Let's turn to the centuries-old legend about the happiness of a hero named Chu Dong Tuai. This poor fisherman once met the beautiful royal daughter Tien, who was accustomed to clothes embroidered with gold. The young people fell in love with each other, and Tien ran away from the palace to live in a simple hut with her lover, considering her main wealth to be the nature of her native country, living, sincere feelings, and the smiles of her children. Since then, the love of Chu Dong and Tien is believed to patronize young couples to survive all the hardships of life and preserve their feelings and relationships. And in this picture there is, as it were, an echo of an ancient legend, reminding us, absorbed in the whirlwind of big cities, of how to open the doors of happiness. But it was not even the Vietnamese and not at all “communist” philosopher Soren Kierkegaard who said that “the doors of happiness open not inward, but from within.” So, Vietnamese painting is both a confession and a philosophy in colors.
painting by To Ngoc Van “Buffalo Donated After Agrarian Reform”, 1955, watercolor.
But about To Ngoc Van’s painting with the expressive title “Buffalo Donated After Agrarian Reform” one could accurately say “propaganda”, “political order”... and call it a day. Well no!!! And here everything is not so simple! What is striking about the way of thinking of the Vietnamese is, first of all, their independence and ability to adapt any ideas to their own spiritual makeup. A graphic image in its artistic design is more reminiscent of an etude, a sketch, and such a sketchy character serves as an expression of the poetry and internal dynamics of the image. The feeling of impetuous movement is achieved by developing dynamics along the diagonal of the composition. The buffalo seems to look at its new owner with surprise. On a woman’s face, a discreet smile expresses calm, confidence and joy. In ancient Vietnamese mythology, the buffalo symbolizes the guardian of the sun. As it is said in legends and fairy tales, during the time of the creation of the world by mythical heroes, the heavenly buffalo carried the solar disk on its horns and began to play with it, tossing it - when the sun jumps in height, then the day comes when it descends on the horns of the heavenly buffalo, then in peace comes night. And this buffalo given to a young peasant woman is a metaphor for hopes for the light of the sun of a new life, free and happy, an image captured by the artist’s swift brush, which stopped not only a moment from the history of Vietnam in the twentieth century, but also the motifs of ancient legends and myths.
painting “Two girls with a brother” To Ngoc Van, 1954, oil painting
In his painting “Two Girls with a Brother,” To Ngoc Van conveys the joy of spiritual closeness between people, the feeling of happiness from life itself and communication. The white clothes of the young girl sitting on the floor echo the snow-white flowers in the background; her figure symbolizes the purity of the blossoming of youth. The figure of the elder sister looks exquisite, her face is illuminated by inner peace and clarity of thoughts. The slight flickering of light reflexes on the faces and clothes of the girls enhances the expressiveness of the color scheme of the picture. The compositional solution emphasizes the calm, contemplative nature of the scene. The figures of two girls and a child are inscribed in an oval, which makes the dynamics of the composition as if closed inside the pictorial space, creating a special world inside the picture, breathing peace and kindness. A masterfully executed classical compositional scheme, however, does not seem canonical or frozen. The sincerity of the faces and the saturation of the picture with light, the figure of a child dressed in a bright red jacket, childishly naively bright in relation to the color of the picture as a whole - all this gives vitality and a special taste to the depicted scene from everyday life.
Nguyen Duc Nun painting<Прядильная нить>, 1956, lacquer painting
Nguyen Duc Nun in the film “Spinning Thread” does not simply depict a scene of the routine work of spinners during the formation of the independent state of Vietnam, when women had to work every day for 10 or 12 hours to fulfill the plan. In the traditional worldview of the Vietnamese, work is not just a way to survive, to earn a living, it is not a tedious duty, but something like a cult, religious service, as well as a way to maintain sacred traditions, connection and continuity of generations. And in the picture there is a visible embodiment of this philosophical, religious and deeply traditional idea for Vietnam. It is interesting that, unlike the revolutionaries in Russia, the Vietnamese revolutionaries did not at all seek to impose an atheistic ideology, they only strove for national freedom, for political independence. This allowed the Vietnamese to preserve primordial folk spiritual values and ancient historical monuments of art, and, of course, most importantly, the traditional way of thinking, not emasculated by any dry ideological schemes. The composition of the painting is based on a comparison of three plans, perspectively contracting and going deep into the pictorial space. In the foreground, a young girl is intently doing her work. The bright yellow color of her sweater is symbolic - in Buddhism it is the color of the spiritual path, because the clothes of Buddha Shakyamuni, when he embarked on the path of wandering in search of truth, leaving his rich father's house, were precisely yellow. This is also the color of youth, the rays of the sun, giving life to all living things. Diligence in work is also asceticism, a personal spiritual path that this young girl begins. In the background is an elderly woman wearing earth-colored clothes. Her element is earth, her image is associated with the fertility of the soil, her work is for the sake of the prosperity of her native land. And the third plane is the actual image of nature, eternal, preserving life, giving strength and faith. Reading the picture like an open book, from one plan to another, from one line to another, we realize that the artist is telling us in colors about the spiritual connection between generations, about the continuity of the thread of life of human culture, eternal and continuous, like the life of nature itself .
Chan Din To, "Wooden Bridge", 1956, watercolor
Chi Ngoc, "Wooden Bridge", 1956, watercolor painting on glue
Often, the image of a bridge appears as a symbol of connection and continuity of generations as the basis of happiness. Symbolically, and not just visibly, connecting the banks, the bridge is metaphorical, it hints at the need for ties between people - friendship, family, cooperation, spiritual connection, mutual understanding of different generations. Shi Ngoc, depicting a shaky wooden bridge, shows how strong it is in the wind - strong, like trees connected by their roots to their native land and capable of being flexible, but not breaking under gusts of wind. In the painting of another artist, Tran Dinh To, painted in the same 1956 as the painting by Chi Ngoc, the theme of the bridge also became central.
Compositionally, the picture is divided into three parts vertically. Below is the river, a symbol of impermanence and change, the mobility of existence, above is the sky, eternal, connected in consciousness with everything sublime and spiritual. Whatever religion the modern Vietnamese peasant professes (and in Vietnam there has always been a high degree of freedom of religion, some are not only Buddhists or followers of the teachings of Confucius and Lao Tzu, but Christians or Muslims), he invariably believes in the ancient wisdom that fertility earth is a sacred gift from heaven, which people must preserve, protect, protect and honor, work on earth, invariably admiring this gift. And it is no coincidence that the bridge here also acts as a metaphor for the connection between heaven and earth, the spiritual and worldly principles in human life. The idea of the unity of spiritual and worldly life seems to be emphasized by the color of the picture - the color of the heavens echoes the color of the muddy waters of the river carrying fertile silt to the fields.
painting by Fan Ke An<Уборка урожая во Вьетбаке>, 1953, lacquer painting
The desire to glorify the fertility of the fields, the beauty of the native land and the alluring mystical expanse of the high skies is reflected in Phan Ke An’s painting “Harvesting in Viet Bac.” The artist worked in the traditional Southeast Asian technique of varnish painting, but the artistic and visual system in this work is based on the principles of European realistic painting. Phan Ke An preferred, like many other craftsmen in Vietnam, to make his own paints for his works. This is the secret of the elusive beauty and originality of shades, the uniqueness of halftones, and the melody of color combinations. By mixing crushed sophora shoots and branches in various proportions to create yellow paint, the artist achieves a variety of shades of yellow that realistically convey the richness of the fresh harvest and fill the pictorial space with a sense of the joy of life. The greenish color is achieved using copper oxide and pine resin, the effect of internal radiance is achieved by adding finely crushed mother-of-pearl to the varnish layer. A multi-figure composition in perspective reduction was originally solved. The figures of working peasants in impetuous movement gradually move away from the viewer into the depths of space, becoming barely noticeable points closer to the foot of the high mountains, where the limit of the fertile field is, and as if merging in a single stream with the rhythm of life of nature, forming unity with it and thereby embodying the true harmony of existence . The faces of the peasants are not visible to the viewer; individualism is generally alien to the Vietnamese, but the viewer is conveyed the powerful energy of these people, whose expressive figures are imbued with a feeling of happiness from creative work and a sense of unity and closeness to their native nature.
Wan Bin, painting<Единство народов севера и юга>, 1956, painting with water paints on glue
The image of unity and friendship between the peoples of Vietnam is embodied in Van Binh’s painting “Friendship of the Peoples of the North and South.” The painting was made using a complex technique that combines the traditions of Vietnamese lacquer painting and Western European watercolors. Water-based paints are applied by the artist onto a varnish-adhesive base specially prepared for them. After the watercolor paints had dried, the artist applied new layers of transparent glue on top, which gives the color of the painting a subtle shine and a special grace of shades. The images of two girls, symbolizing the unity of the North and the South, are also associated not only with the historical vicissitudes of the 1950s, but also with the legends of ancient times. For those who are familiar with the ancient history and legends of Vietnam, the images of these girls are like an echo of the legends of the legendary Trung sisters, who in the first century AD gathered a powerful army and defeated the Chinese rulers, achieving, albeit for a short time, independence for their people . Van Binh conveys in this picture a very clear metaphor - a call for the north and south, like two legendary sisters, to unite and achieve the absolute liberation of the territory of Vietnam. To better understand what we are talking about here, let us briefly recall the history of the division of Vietnam. The idea of fraternity and unity of the peoples of Vietnam became especially relevant in the 1950s, because in 1954 the territory of Vietnam was divided along the seventeenth parallel into two parts - northern Vietnam, which achieved independence, and southern Vietnam, where the pro-American “puppet” government was strengthened. In Washington, it was decided to rely on Ngo Dinh Diem, who was connected with the CIA, who, of course, not without the support of the American intelligence services, was nominated to the post of prime minister of the puppet government in southern Vietnam, because the United States wanted to turn South Vietnam into a new type of colony. In October 1955, Diem removed Emperor Bao Dai from power through fraudulent elections, after which he proclaimed the creation of the sovereign Republic of Vietnam, which was an objective violation of the Geneva Agreements. Thus, the prospect of Vietnamese reunification was deliberately postponed indefinitely. Diem's serious strategic mistake was the abolition of village self-government in the south, which violated centuries-old Vietnamese traditions, especially the traditions of the South Vietnamese rural way of life. As a result, the peasantry, which made up the bulk of the population of South Vietnam, turned out to be opposed to the Diem government, which began, among other things, repressions against the communist underground that remained in the country after 1954, although it was weak and did not pose a real threat to him. No matter how hard pro-American circles tried to divide the people of Vietnam, this was not possible, and in December 1960, the patriotic forces of South Vietnam created the National Liberation Front to fight for independence and unification of the country (remember that the north and south of Vietnam eventually united in 1976). So, Van Binh’s painting was, as they say now, “on the topic of the day,” while remaining in close connection with traditional images that echo the legends and centuries-old history of Vietnam.
Lyrical, saturated with the radiance of light and a variety of colors, are the paintings of Luong Xuan Ni. Contemplative peace fills the landscape, depicting a simple village on the banks of a river. At first glance, the picture seems deserted, the figures of people are only conventionally indicated in the background. However, nature itself seems to be endowed with humanity, spirituality, and a feeling of happiness. Luong Xuan Ni paints in oils, adhering to the traditions of the French school, which is why his colors sometimes resemble the palette of Cezanne or Renoir.
The subtlety of the sense of color is as important for an artist as the accuracy of hearing for a musician. And, as if a refined beautiful melody, from note to note, from chord to chord, conveying the movements of the soul, the color scheme of the landscape sounds. Either yellow highlights flash on the water and foliage, then soft green greenery unites all the colors with an emerald glow and relaxes our gaze, then thick greenery and brownish tree trunks emphasize the color of tropical flora.
Another painting by Luong Xuan Ni is a still life. Flowers in a vase are like the embodiment of a dream about the flourishing of one’s native country, or simply a dream of happiness.
The tablecloth patterns are reminiscent of the naive and dynamic patterns in the paintings of Henri Matisse, but we are not talking about imitation, but rather about the continuity of traditions. Vietnamese artists never copied French masters, but only borrowed and adopted the features they liked, interpreting them on the basis of their own worldview. Flowers in a vase are so simple and delightful, and just as poetic and elegant. I am reminded of the lines of the 11th century Vietnamese poet Man Giac: “Springs pass, hundreds of flowers fall, hundreds of flowers bloom with a new spring.” Flowers are symbols of the changeability and transience of life, and, at the same time, hope for rebirth in the whirlwind of existence.
Mai Long, who was just beginning his career as an artist in the 1950s, depicted a scene from life in the Tai Meo National Autonomous Region in northwestern Vietnam. This region is practically cut off from the major commercial and cultural centers of Vietnam by high mountains and forests, due to which the Tai Meo people have preserved their own unique culture. A young man in love dedicates the melody of the bamboo flute khen to his girlfriend. The girl’s bright clothes, in their inner glow, echo the color of the full moon, which brings to mind images from Vietnamese folk poetry, when the beauty of a woman is often compared to the face of the moon illuminating the darkness of the night. Just as the moon gives light to the night landscape, so the beauty of a girl illuminates the life of a young man with its gracious light. The feeling of the coolness of the night is conveyed in flickering bluish reflections, and it seems that the whole world, the peaks of distant mountains, and thin tree trunks are intently listening to the melody that pierces the silence of the night, warming the air of the night and the girl’s heart.
“Whenever there was no evil winter, the world would forget about spring...” It is with these words that we can complete our short story about Vietnamese painting of the 1950s, which, against the backdrop of the hardships of war, seemed to be a colorful embodiment of the very idea of happiness. These are lines from the famous “Prison Diary” of Ho Chi Minh, written during the years of the harsh struggle for the independence of the Vietnamese people. It was then, in the 1940s, that Nguyen Ai Quoc (translated as Nguyen Patriot, real name was Nguyen Tat Thanh), imprisoned for his struggle, the future leader of free Vietnam, adopted a pseudonym, under which he gained worldwide fame. Translated, the name Ho Chi Minh means endowed with wisdom. Wisdom, as a combination of life experience and observation, a manifestation of natural talent and true humanity, the embodiment of spirituality, kindness and compassion, is precisely the wisdom that leads to happiness and freedom, in a philosophical, and not just a political, understanding. Having taken such a sonorous pseudonym, modest and intelligent, but at the same time strong-willed and irreconcilable in the struggle, the leader of the national liberation movement in Vietnam seems to be affirming the idea that it is wisdom that must be guided not only in matters of governing the state, but also in overcoming steep challenges. twists of fate. The wisdom of the Vietnamese people in their pursuit of happiness has always been reflected in the fine arts. The pictorial art of the 1950s, with its colors, seemed to herald the arrival of “spring” - the revival of independent Vietnam after the harsh “winter” of wars and deprivations.
To summarize a brief overview of works of Vietnamese painting of the 1950s from the collection of the Hanoi Museum, one could say what role they played in the history of Vietnamese art in particular and in world artistic culture in general, or how closely the images are related , created by artists, with historical events of those years and with the historical and cultural national tradition. But, probably, it will be enough just to look into your own soul - and this is the result of getting acquainted with the art of Vietnam in those years that are already relatively distant from us. It’s as if we have become somehow richer and wiser, having immersed our eyes and feelings in the palette of happiness.
Lukashevskaya Yana Naumovna, art historian, independent art critic, exhibition curator.
© site, 2011
From: Biryukova Irina,
On trends in the development of landscape painting in modern Vietnam. Features of the country's artistic life in modern economic and political conditions.
Autumn fog on Mount We-lin
envelops the trees.
Various colors of herbs, myriads of flowers
decorate the mortal world.
Nguyen Zy “Conversation in Kim Hoa about poetry” XVI century.
Contemporary painting in Vietnam amazes with its diversity of artistic styles. At the same time, there is no clear division into styles and genres - the style of each artist is unique in its individuality, but at the same time, all masters strive to find and express precisely the national Vietnamese ideal. Since ancient times, the Vietnamese people have felt themselves to be an integral part of nature, obeying its rhythms and admiring its strength and beauty. Achieving harmony with nature for the Vietnamese is not only a contemplative and philosophical concept, but also an urgent necessity. Geographers sometimes call Vietnam “the balcony on the Pacific Ocean.” The humid climate and constant flooding forced the inhabitants of these lands to look for an opportunity to adapt to such difficult conditions. The hard work and responsibility of the Vietnamese helped them develop these lands, which were initially not suitable for agriculture. The Vietnamese are rightfully proud of this fact. They have a saying: “In Cambodia they eat rice, in Laos they trade it, and in Vietnam they grow it.” Now rice grown in Vietnam has the most valuable nutritional qualities, and therefore for the economy of this country it is the same important factor as oil and gas for many other countries.
Nguyen Thi Tam, “Village Scene”, Hanoi Museum, silk, watercolor, 60x45, 1990s.
Any Vietnamese is truly a patriot of his land, knowing the names of almost every mountain or river, every beautiful flower. When Vietnamese artists paint nature, they try not to copy any landscape from nature, but to convey their personal experiences from contemplating the beauty of their native country, to express their sincere love for the endless grandeur and diversity of nature. Landscape painting on silk has the most exquisite artistic qualities. The material itself allows you to show the finest nuances of color and convey the changes occurring in the landscape due to weather phenomena. Nguyen Thi Tam in his “Village Scene” depicts a morning landscape after rain. The trees are reflected in the muddy clay water of the bay, and the horizon line is hidden by a foggy haze. In the foreground of the picture are rickety wooden walkways leading to modest village houses. Before us is a poetic image of the capricious nature with which the Vietnamese are accustomed to living in harmony. Houses are practically flooded with water, and children are having fun carefreely, swinging on the bridges.
Chu Thi Thanh, "Folk Festival in Northwestern Vietnam", Hanoi Museum, silk, watercolor, 70x65 cm.
A typical piece of landscape painting on silk from the 1990s is “Folk Festival in Northwestern Vietnam.” The artist Chu Thi Thanh here achieves a true organic synthesis of landscape and genre painting. The folk holiday is correlated by the master with the elements of nature. It seems as if nature itself is taking part in the celebration: the branches of the trees, bent by the wind, echo the smooth movements of the village dancers, and the mountains serve as a natural backdrop for this joyful scene. There are no local colors in the coloring of the painting. Light shades of green, grayish blue and lemon yellow create a unique major color unity.
Le Kim My, “Northern Vietnam”, Hanoi Museum, silk, watercolor, 60x45 cm.
The artist Le Kim My paints the North Vietnamese view with the same inspiration, but he is attracted not by festive fun, but by everyday work. In the landscape “North Vietnam” he depicts girls walking along the edge of a rice field and carrying wicker baskets behind their backs. The tree trunks are graphically painted by the master, which evokes associations with the traditional painting of China and Korea. The color scheme is dominated by shades of green, conveying the freshness of foliage saturated with moisture. Landscape oil painting became popular at the beginning of the new 21st century, but it tends more towards decorativeness than towards genuine picturesqueness. Silk is a familiar material for Vietnamese painters, the lightness, smoothness and transparency of which help them fully demonstrate the richness of their palette. Vietnamese artists began painting in oil on canvas only in the middle of the 20th century. For a long time, work in this technique did not go beyond student attempts to master a new painting method. Only now have artists turning to oil painting begun to actively seek visual means to embody Vietnamese artistic ideals. It is important for any Vietnamese artist to emphasize the special colorfulness that distinguishes the nature of his native country. If in painting on silk masters create a variety of colors due to exquisite subtle combinations of somewhat muted colors, then in oil painting artists reveal the visual and decorative properties of usually local bright colors.
Le Thanh, "Trees in Autumn", private gallery in Hanoi, oil on canvas, 60x75 cm.
We can admire the impeccable beauty of yellow and blue colors in the painting “Trees in Autumn”, painted in oil by an artist named Le Thanh. Some contemporary Vietnamese artists are so passionate about the beauty of local flowers that they create entire seasonal cycles of landscapes. This is, for example, Lam Dak Manh, who created a cycle of more than twenty paintings depicting the central street in Hanoi at different times of the day and year. Color allows you to characterize the colors of a certain season, convey to the viewer the feeling of hot summer or cool winter. Such works are in great demand among European and American collectors and entrepreneurs, and therefore almost every gallery in Hanoi employs a master who can custom-make any type that interests the customer in a certain color scheme. Unfortunately, a painting made in this way does not always have the features of truly high art. It is worth recognizing, however, that both the customer and the artist are usually endowed with good taste, so the Vietnamese art industry rarely stoops to the level of handicrafts. Buyers of Vietnamese art are mainly European intellectuals and major French entrepreneurs, descendants of the aristocratic families of those influential figures who did business in the Asian colony. It may seem very strange that the former aggressors and occupiers invest significant funds in the Vietnamese economy and show more friendly attention to Vietnam than former like-minded people and partners. In France, for example, exhibitions and fairs of Vietnamese artists are held almost every year.
Lam Dak Manh, "Street in Hanoi", Hanoi, artist's gallery, 60x65 cm.
Contemporary Vietnamese painting, which has preserved the unique charm of oriental traditions and absorbed a special sense of modernity, is an important part of world culture. The amazing internal harmony characteristic of this strong and noble people, who withstood the horrors of destructive wars with dignity, gave birth to bright and original art, filled with highly poetic images.
From: Oleg Volkov,
