Traditional painting in Vietnam

Vietnamese traditional painting can be divided into several types: these are portraits, landscapes, genre and religious paintings. Pictures were painted on silk or rice paper with water-based paints and ink.

portraits

Picturesque portraits, like sculptural ones, were created from memory or from descriptions and memories. A small number of portraits of emperors, dignitaries, representatives of the nobility have been preserved in pagodas, burial temples of royal families and family tombs of large feudal lords. The oldest among the works of this kind are the portrait of Nguyen Chai dating back to the 15th century, the portrait of the scholar Fung Khak Khoan (17th century), the portraits of two princes Nguyen Quy Duc and Nguyen Quy Kan (mid-18th century). The artist carefully drew facial features, 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) will 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 a landscape that glorifies the beauty of native nature. The silk scrolls that have come down to us (XVIII-XIX centuries) are a series of landscapes executed in the traditional Chinese manner, observing the principles of stage 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 expresses the artist's mood more than the surrounding reality. In the future, especially since the beginning of the 20th century, as they become more familiar with European painting, landscape painting undergoes significant changes.

Genre paintings

The plots of works of this kind were very limited and the paintings were mainly decorative. The main characters, in addition to natural elements, in the works of art of that time, are people: "a scientist, a peasant, an artisan, a respectable old man, a fisherman, a woodcutter, a plowman, a shepherd." A classic example of such genre painting is the painting “A Fisherman Fishing”. Vietnamese painting of this period is characterized by a static, two-dimensional image.

Pictures of cult content

Religious paintings were also painted with water colors on silk, rice paper or wood. They are distinguished by a fine and painstaking technique of writing, exceptionally carefully drawn out 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 to navigate the complex hierarchy of cult characters. In addition, each master sought to emphasize the highly valued meticulousness of execution, the subtlety of the drawing and the elegance of the brushstroke.

Lubok - folk painting

A special place in the visual arts of Vietnam is occupied by popular prints. The Vietnamese folk painting is a variant of the Russian lubok. The picture is minted on a wooden board (cliche), then painted, and finally printed on a special fibrous paper "kei zo". The paints were made from ashes from the burning of bamboo leaves, straw (black), bark of the dyp tree (white), yellow stone (red), sophora flowers (yellow), indigo (blue), copper rust (green). A distinctive feature of Dongho luboks was a colored background, obtained by adding glutinous rice decoction mixed with powder of crushed sea shells to the dye. This kind of coating made the paper more durable, and mother-of-pearl powder gave the picture a slight shimmer. The so-called Hanoi luboks are long pictorial scrolls. Traditionally, hieroglyphs and drawings were applied to the scrolls. Usually the Vietnamese created cycles of paintings: "Four Seasons", "Flowers and Birds", "Journey to the West". Sometimes several interconnected drawings were depicted at once in one picture (“Twenty-Four Examples of Sons of Piety”).

Luboks were usually made for various holidays, but mainly for the New Year (according to the lunar calendar) Tet holiday, which is both the spring and the main holiday of the year. There is a significant difference between popular prints created before the French conquest and after, when paper of a different quality and format and new colors became widespread. The name of the master was never affixed to the early luboks, and only starting from the 20th century. we know the names of the most famous masters: Nguyen Thé Thuk, Vuong Ngoc Long, Thuong Manh Tung, and others. As a rule, whole families were engaged in this trade and passed on their skills from generation to generation. Among the plots of popular prints are various wishes on the occasion of Tet, traditionally expressed using 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 the Buddha and body-satvas, various spirits), prints depicting landscapes, four seasons.

The laconic and expressive style of popular 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 the study of their own artistic traditions arose, folk luboks were rightfully 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. Lacquer screens, vases, trays, caskets and other items were covered with a shiny lacquer layer. The color scheme of the lacquer was limited to black, red and brown, so gold and silver powders, mother-of-pearl and eggshell inlay, and engraving were used as decorative additions. Artists-painters who studied at the Higher School of Fine Arts in the twenties laid the foundation for attempts to transfer the charm of lacquer painting to easel painting. And limiting the color possibilities of the varnish was one of the most difficult obstacles. However, little by little this problem was solved. Blue, yellow, green shades appeared in the palette, and combinations of dyes enriched lacquer painting with purple, lilac, pink, and scarlet colors. Nevertheless, the technology of lacquer painting still remains very laborious.

Vietnamese art historians believe that the desire of artists to prove themselves in the creation of easel lacquer painting was only possible after the August Revolution of 1945. The patriotic folk artists reflected in their work the new socialist reality. Among the first experimenters working with lacquer paints was Chan Wan Kang, now a well-known artist in both oil and lacquer painting. His early lacquer paintings were successful at the 1935 Hanoi Exhibition. Being a great master of the European technique of oil painting, Chan Van Kang showed himself as a deeply national artist in his lacquer works. At the 1958 exhibition in Hanoi, lacquer painting first made itself known as a new emerging art form.

Consistent realist and subtle lyricist Fan Ke An builds his painting "Memories of an Evening in Northwestern Vietnam" (1955) on a contrasting combination of translucent blue-green tones with light yellow opaque gilding. This painting is significant in conception and romantic in execution. Against the background of the mountains flooded with the evening sun, a chain of soldiers in blue uniforms clearly stands out, descending from the pass to the bottom of the mountain gorge. They walk towards the sun, catching its last rays before leaving into the darkness of the night. Three primary colors yellow, blue, green (not counting a small amount of black lacquer) convey the richness of the artist's emotional intention due to the special play of textures and different depths of the reflected color.

The golden glow of the dark lacquer surface manifested itself most organically in the composition of one of the strongest masters of lacquer painting Le Quoc Lok “Through a Familiar Village” (the painting was shown in Moscow at the international exhibition of fine art of the socialist countries in 1958). The painting “Night Camping” by artist Nguyen Hiem demonstrates the possibilities of lacquer painting in creating a sense of mystery and romance. The use of inlay to enhance the decorative effect can be seen in Nguyen Kim Dong's "Ceramic Craft" (1958), depicting two potters at work. The alternation of wide planes of eggshell inlay (the white wall of the oven and the white clothes of the potters) with the simplest color 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) lacquer, which was especially popular among masters of the 1920s and 1930s. 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 lacquer coating, a pattern is cut out (to the very ground), which is filled with various dyes. An example is Guin Van Thuan's painting Vinhmok Village. The crisp engraving, highlighted with delicate light tones, creates a sharp contrast against the shiny and smooth black background. The composition of the picture with a high horizon allows you to expand the whole panorama of the life of the fishing village.

The increased decorativeness of the texture of lacquer paints, which allows inlay with other materials, gives this painting a special expressiveness. Vietnamese lacquer painting has gone 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 picture of a coal mine, a village scene, an image of a steel shop or a pig farm, even a still life and a portrait. Painting, which was formed during the harsh years of the war, reflecting the people's dream of happiness and peace, lives and develops in today's socialist Vietnam as an aesthetic expression of a lofty human spirit.

Vietnamese visual art has always included material as an integral element of the beauty of the work. It is no coincidence that in the traditional Vietnamese fine arts, the profession of a craftsman-master was especially developed and each master was a specialist in his field: there were masters in the manufacture of lacquer products, mother-of-pearl products, masters in the processing of precious metals, pearls, copper, wood, silk.

Painting with water colors on silk

Vietnamese artists have 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 Wan Kang "A Child Reads to Mother" (1954); Nguyen Fan Chan "A Girl Washes", "After the Fight", "Child Care" (1962, 1970), "Drink Tea" (1967); Nguyen Chong Kiem "Visit" (1958); Nguyen Van De "Summer Afternoon"; Fan Hong "Walking in the rain" (1958); Nguyen Van Trung Moonlight on the Sand (1976); Chan Dong Lyon "Working Party Girls" (1958); Ta Thuk Bin "Rice Harvesting" (1960); Nguyen Thi Hang "Vietnamese Daughters" (1963); Wu Giang Hyon "Fish" (1960); Nguyen Thu "Visit to the Village" (1970), "Rain" (1972), "Weaving" (1977); Kim Bak "Fruits of the Motherland", etc.

The innovation lay in the fact that they conveyed real life with the help of generalized methods embodied on silk. Artists have deeply and successfully explored the theme of productive labor. The most striking works of this period belong to Nguyen Phan Chan: in his works he creates a new spiritual life, depicts happy women, children, families in the days of peace, etc. In the work "Portrait of Czy Dong Ty" (1962), Nguyen Phan Tran shows beauty female body on soft silk, demonstrating their deep research in art.Another master of this trend in painting is Nguyen Hu (b. 1930). He conveys in his work the transparency of the mountain air, the expanse 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 graphic art.

The Vietnamese are creative people with their own approach to art. There are 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 did not even suspect that works of art can be created from such improvised materials. At the same time, we will touch on both the ancient ways of self-expression of artists, and the most modern ones.

Pictures embroidered with silk

A huge number of shades used in the creation of paintings and the delicate painstaking work of skilled craftswomen made Vietnamese paintings embroidered with silk famous throughout the world. Natural landscapes and portraits of people come to life in the paintings. Double-sided paintings are especially surprising. And all the works are distinguished by the effect of three-dimensional images. Paintings of 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 the girls are working 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, decorate caskets, trays, screens and other items with lacquer images. Working with varnish requires certain skills, because this material quickly hardens. Masters must act quickly and accurately. You can see lacquer paintings in a workshop in Ho Chi Minh City by going there on a sightseeing tour. The workshop has a variety of items from large chests of drawers to tiny boxes that you can buy as a keepsake.

Paintings from chicken feathers

Such unique works can be seen in the old district of Hoi An, they are created by an artist named Dinh Thong. Since childhood, he was fond of fine arts, drawing with traditional paints and pencils, making collages out of paper, and then he decided to add something completely new and unusual to his work and made his first painting from chicken feathers. Usually the artist uses the feathers of Vietnamese birds, and they come in four colors: black, white, brown and gray. Dinh Thong sticks feathers on cardboard, thus creating landscapes, portraits or abstract compositions. These unusual paintings are characterized by durability, color fastness, and most importantly - originality.

Bas-relief engraving on glass OWL

This kind of art is not ancient. It appeared after a glass mosaic was brought to Vietnam from Europe. SOVA glass paintings were invented thanks to Phan Hong Vinh. It was he who developed a new technique of bas-relief engraving on glass. Using this technique, the master 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 for the manufacture of various elements of room decor: doors, walls, partitions. A beautiful effect is obtained 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. The Vietnamese value rice and respect it. Not surprisingly, rice also entered the realm of fine arts. With the help of rice grains, artists working in the Huu Cuong Nguyen workshop create unique paintings that depict the nature of Vietnam and the people living and working on the territory of the country. For work, the master chooses strong grains of the same size. In order to give the grains different shades, they are fried at different temperatures. Experienced professionals can get more than ten shades of rice. Viscous milky glue is used to stick rice on the base. Finished paintings are dried in the sun. The masters spend from six to twelve days on the production of one picture.

Butterfly wings paintings

Butterfly wing paintings are created by Vietnamese professor Bui Kong Hien. He took up this after he left teaching at the Faculty of Biology at the Hanoi Institute. Together with engineer Dang Ngoc Anh, they began breeding butterflies to create paintings. In the process of work, a special, specially designed type of glue is used, which preserves the natural tenderness of butterfly wings. Now the professor and the engineer are hatching an idea to teach the peasants how to breed butterflies and create amazing and unusual paintings so that they can increase their income.

Pictures 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 of natural materials and it is not immediately possible to guess that the masters used eggshells, plant roots, hay, sawdust and straw for their works. It is interesting that students try not to color the materials for their paintings. They find multi-colored sawdust, use the shells of not only chicken, 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, on which various materials are superimposed. All paintings are original and do not resemble one another, which is their special value.

Palette of happiness- Painting of Vietnam 1950s

(Hanoi Museum of Fine Arts).

Making a short review of 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 also 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 radiance of sand on the ocean coast and sun-drenched rice fields, with the variegation of 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 visual tradition was strongly influenced by the Confucian philosophy and Buddhist culture of China, the complex forms and images of Hindu art, and later the styles and trends of French art. Of course, in the 1950s, no matter how hard 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 bright and strong thread that has never been interrupted, creating a fabric with patterns that express the very soul of Vietnam. And therefore, probably, we will not see in the art of Vietnam in the 1950s either the instructive intonations of the Confucian tradition, or the Buddhist detachment, or the somewhat proud sophistication of the French school, or a hint of an open “polite. agitation”, nor a socialist realist emphasis on ideology. Vietnamese painting, if you try to characterize it literally in “a nutshell”, expresses a secret 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 cursory 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 his own heart, melted from the ice of everyday life by the warm palette of Vietnamese masters.

Painting by Chang Dong Lyon, "Happiness", 1956, painting on silk

The painting by Chan Dong Lyon, created in 1956, is called “Happiness”. The images of this painting, painted on thin silk, seem to emerge from the haze of morning mist in the mountains of northern Vietnam, where the artist comes from. Silk canvas softens the shades, emphasizes the softness of halftones and light and shade play, saturates all the colors of the work with a golden glow. The age-old idea of ​​a happy family, harmonious relationships developing in harmony with the outside world, with nature is expressed by the artist so simply and clearly, gracefully and sincerely. The harmonious connection of the world of people and the world of nature is expressed not only by the plot, but also by the color scheme: the faded bluish-gray costume of a peasant woman echoes the silvery-bluish, partially ashy, halftones of the mountains in the distance, serving, in fact, as a perspective background for the genre scene. The poor peasant life does not look miserable, is not associated with the "heavy burden" of the people, as one might read in old textbooks. The underlined modesty of clothes, the restraint and serenity of gestures, the artlessness of the porch of the hut focus our attention on the inner harmony reigning in the hearts of the depicted people. Maybe someone is inclined to think that all this is just an indicator of "primitiveness" and "backward economy", or communist "propaganda" of the worker-peasant way of life ... Do not rush to conclusions. Let's turn to the centuries-old legend of the happiness of a hero named Chu Dong Tuai. This poor fisherman once met a beautiful royal daughter, Tien, who was accustomed to clothes embroidered with gold. The young people fell in love, 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, lively sincere feelings, and the smiles of children. Since then, the love of Chu Dong and Tien is believed to patronize young couples to survive all the hardships of life and maintain their feelings and relationships. And in this picture - as if an echo of an old legend, reminding us, absorbed by the whirlwind of big cities, how to open the doors of happiness. But not even a Vietnamese and not at all “communist” philosopher Soren Kierkegaard said that “the doors of happiness do not open inwards, but from within.” So, Vietnamese painting is both confession and philosophy in colors.

painting by Tho Ngoc Wang "Buffalo donated after the agrarian reform", 1955, watercolor.

But about the painting by To Ngoc Wang with the expressive title "Buffalo donated after the agrarian reform" one could definitely say "propaganda", "political order" ... and put an end to it. Well, I do not!!! And it's not all that simple! In the way of thinking of the Vietnamese, it is primarily their independence and ability to adapt any ideas to their own spiritual warehouse that is striking. The graphic image in its artistic solution is more reminiscent of a study, 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 the development of dynamics along the diagonal of the composition. The buffalo seems to be looking at his new mistress with surprise. On the face of a woman, a restrained smile expresses calmness, confidence and joy. In ancient Vietnamese mythology, the buffalo symbolizes the guardian of the sun. As it is said in legends and fairy tales, at the time of the creation of the world by mythical heroes, the heavenly buffalo carried a solar disk on its horns, and began to play with it, tossing it up - when the sun jumps in height, then the day comes when it falls 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 that stopped not only a moment from the history of Vietnam in the 20th century, but also the motives of ancient legends and myths.

painting "Two girls with a brother" Tho Ngoc Wan, 1954, oil painting

In his painting “Two Girls with a Brother,” To Ngoc Wan conveys the joy of spiritual closeness of people, a feeling of happiness from life itself and communication. The white clothes of a young girl sitting on the floor echo the snow-white flowers in the background, her figure symbolizes the purity of the flowering of youth. The figure of the older sister looks exquisite, her face is illuminated by inner peace and clarity of thought. The slight flickering of light reflections 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 seem to be closed inside the picturesque space, creates a special world inside the picture, breathing peace and kindness. Masterfully executed classical compositional scheme, however, does not seem canonical and frozen. The soulfulness of the faces and the richness of the picture with light, the figure of a child dressed in a bright red sweater, 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's "Spinning Thread" does more than depict a scene of routine work by spinners during the establishment of the independent state of Vietnam, when women had to work every day for 10 or 12 hours to complete the plan. In the traditional worldview of the Vietnamese, work is not just a way to survive, 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, communication and continuity of generations. And in the picture there is a visible embodiment of this philosophical and religious idea, which is deeply traditional for Vietnam. Interestingly, unlike the revolutionaries in Russia, the Vietnamese revolutionaries did not at all seek to impose an atheistic ideology, they only sought national freedom, political independence. This allowed the Vietnamese to preserve the original 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 built on a comparison of three plans, perspectively shrinking and going deep into the picturesque space. In the foreground, a young girl is focused on doing her job. The bright yellow color of her jacket 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 exactly yellow. It is also the color of youth, the rays of the sun that give 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 dressed in earthy clothes. Her element is the earth, her image is associated with the fertility of the soil, her work is in the name of the prosperity of her native land. And the third plan is the actual image of nature, eternal, preserving life, giving strength and faith. Reading a picture like an open book, from one plan to another, from one line to another, we realize that the artist tells us in colors about the spiritual connection between generations, about the continuity of the life thread of human culture, eternal and uninterrupted, like the life of nature itself. .

Chang Ding To, "Wooden Bridge", 1956, watercolor

Shi Ngoc, "Wooden Bridge", 1956, water-based painting on glue

Often, the image of a bridge acts as a symbol of connection and continuity of generations as the basis of happiness. Symbolically, and not only visibly, linking the shores, the bridge is metaphorical, it hints at the need for bonds 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 able to be flexible, but not break under gusts of wind. In a painting by another artist, Chan Ding To, painted in the same 1956 as Shi Ngok's painting, the theme of the bridge also became central.

Compositionally, the picture is divided into three parts vertically. Below is a river, a symbol of impermanence and change, the mobility of being, 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 religious freedom, 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 of heaven, which people must keep, protect, protect and honor, work on earth, invariably admiring this gift. And it is no accident, therefore, that the bridge here also acts as a metaphor for the connection between heaven and earth, spiritual and mundane 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 sky echoes the color of the muddy waters of the river, carrying fertile silt to the fields.

picture of Fang Ke Ana<Уборка урожая во Вьетбаке>, 1953, lacquer painting

The desire to sing the fertility of the fields, the beauty of the native land and the alluring mystical expanse of the high skies was reflected in the painting by Fan Ke An "Harvesting in Viet Bac". The artist worked in the technique of lacquer painting, traditional for Southeast Asia, but the artistic and visual system is based in this work on the principles of European realistic painting. Phan Ke An preferred, like many other craftsmen in Vietnam, to make his own paints for his work. This is the secret of the elusive beauty and originality of shades, the uniqueness of halftones, the melodiousness of color combinations. By mixing crushed sophora shoots and twigs in various proportions to create yellow paint, the artist achieves a variety of shades of yellow that realistically conveys the richness of a fresh harvest and fills the pictorial space with a sense of the joy of life. The greenish color is achieved with the help of copper oxide and pine resin, the effect of inner radiance is achieved by adding finely crushed mother-of-pearl to the lacquer layer. The multi-figure composition in perspective reduction is 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 foothills of high mountains, where the limit of the fertile field, and as if merging in a single stream with the rhythm of the life of nature, constituting unity with it and thereby embodying the true harmony of being. . The faces of the peasants are not visible to the viewer, individualism is generally alien to the Vietnamese, but the viewer is conveyed by the powerful energy of these people, whose expressive figures are imbued with a sense 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 colors on glue

The image of unity and friendship between the peoples of Vietnam is embodied in Wang Bin's painting "Friendship of the Peoples of the North and the South." The painting is made in a complex technique that combines the traditions of Vietnamese lacquer painting and Western European watercolors. Water-based paints are applied by the artist on a specially prepared lacquer adhesive base. After the watercolors dried, the artist applied new layers of transparent glue on top, which gives the color of the picture a subtle brilliance and a special elegance of shades. The images of two girls, symbolizing the unity of the North and the South, are also associated not only with the historical upheavals 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 about the legendary Chung 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. . Wang Bin conveys in this picture a very graphic 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 ​​brotherhood 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, where the pro-American "puppet" government was strengthened. In Washington, it was decided to rely on Ngo Dinh Diem associated with the CIA, who, of course, not without the support of American intelligence agencies, was nominated for the post of prime minister of the puppet government in southern Vietnam, because the United States wanted to turn South Vietnam into a colony of a new type. In October 1955, Diem removed Emperor Bao Dai from power by holding fraudulent elections, after which he proclaimed the creation of a sovereign Republic of Vietnam, which was an objective violation of the Geneva Accords. Thus, the prospect of Vietnamese reunification was deliberately postponed indefinitely. A serious strategic mistake by Diem 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 constituted 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 it. No matter how hard the 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 the independence and unification of the country (recall that the north and south of Vietnam eventually united in 1976). So, Wang Bin'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 the river. At first glance, the picture seems deserted, the figures of people are only conditionally indicated in the background. However, nature itself seems to be endowed with humanity, spirituality, a sense 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 the artist as the accuracy of hearing for the 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 greens unite all colors with an emerald glow and relax our eyes, then dense greens 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 of the flourishing of their native country, or simply a dream of happiness.

The patterns of the tablecloth are reminiscent of the naive and dynamic patterns in the paintings of Henri Matisse, but this is not about imitation, but rather about the continuity of traditions. Vietnamese artists have never copied French masters, but only borrowed and adopted the features they liked, comprehending them on the basis of their own worldview. Flowers in a vase are so simple and delightful, and just as poetic and exquisite. The lines of the 11th-century Vietnamese poet Man Ziak come to mind: “Springs pass, hundreds of flowers fall, hundreds of flowers bloom with a new spring.” Flowers are symbols of the variability and transience of life, and, at the same time, hope for rebirth in the whirlwind of being.

Mai Long, who was just beginning his career as an artist in the 1950s, depicted in his work 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 original culture. A young man in love dedicates the melody of a khen bamboo flute to his girlfriend. The bright clothes of the girl in their inner glow echo the color of the full moon, which evokes images from Vietnamese folk poetry, when the beauty of a woman is often compared to the face of the moon that illuminates 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 her blessed light. The feeling of night coolness is conveyed in shimmering bluish reflections, and it seems that the whole world, and the peaks of distant mountains, and thin tree trunks are listening intently to the melody that pierces the silence of the night, warming the air of the night and the heart of the girl.

"When there was no evil winter, the world would forget about spring ...". It is with these words that we can conclude our short story about Vietnamese painting of the 1950s, which, against the backdrop of the hardships of the 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 severe struggle for the independence of the Vietnamese people. It was then, in the 1940s, that Nguyen Ai Quoc (translated as Nguyen Patriot, his real name was Nguyen Tat Thanh), imprisoned for his struggle, the future leader of a free Vietnam, adopted a pseudonym, under which he gained worldwide fame. In translation, 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 political, understanding. Taking such a sonorous pseudonym, modest and intelligent, but at the same time, strong-willed and implacable in the struggle, the leader of the national liberation movement in Vietnam seems to affirm the idea that it is wisdom that should be guided not only in matters of government, but also overcoming steep twists of fate. The wisdom of the Vietnamese people in their pursuit of happiness has always been reflected in the fine arts. The picturesque art of the 1950s, with its colors, seemed to herald the arrival of "spring" - the revival of an independent Vietnam after a harsh "winter" of wars and hardships.

Summing up a brief overview of the 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 art culture in general, or how closely the images are , created by artists, with the historical events of those years and with the historical and cultural national tradition. But, probably, it will be enough just to look into one's own soul - and this is the result of acquaintance with the art of Vietnam of those years already relatively far from us. We seem to have become something richer and wiser, plunging our eyes and feelings into the palette of happiness.

Lukashevskaya Yana Naumovna, art critic, independent art critic, curator of exhibitions.

© site, 2011

In her work, Vietnamese artist Phan Thu Trang uses minimal colors and avoids unnecessary details, which can be considered too simple. However, the beautiful, if somewhat naive, depictions of landscapes, combined with unusual painting techniques, have made Feng's work popular and attracted the attention of collectors from all over the world.

At the very first moment when you see these bright, cheerful landscapes, it seems that the trees are made of many sticky leaves pasted on top of each other. However, this is oil. Phan Thu Trang paints his caramel pastiches of rural Vietnamese life using a palette knife technique. Her close-up painting style gives the impression of a mosaic, patchwork appliqué, or bright stickers pasted onto a canvas.

Phan Thu Trang was born in Hanoi in 1981. She received her first award for talented work at the age of five, taking third place in a large children's drawing competition. By the age of eighteen, Phan Thu Trang took part in a student exhibition in Hanoi, where she won prizes. However, the decision to follow the path of the artist did not come to Phan Thu Trang immediately. First, she graduated from the University of Theater and Film. But despite the diploma, she did not become a director, but returned to painting. Phan Thu Trang is currently a member of the Vietnam Young Artists Association. She is a highly sought-after artist and participates in exhibitions around the world, her work is in the best galleries and private collections.

The images of the villagers of the northern village and their hard lives were etched in her memory, and these vivid memories became the basis of much of Feng's work. The use of unusually warm and soft pastel colors creates a nostalgic mood in the viewer and allows them to feel the "breath of freshness" coming from her landscapes.