Art Guide

Every aspect of Vietnamese culture echoes with a spirit of resilience and survival, utilizing any and all natural resources to overcome obstacles and stay true to their spirit.

Their art is no exception. Although it may seem to be a newcomer in the international art scene, it has over three thousand years of expression and has recently been attracting worldwide attention.

The Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts d'Indochine was established by the French in Hanoi in 1925 and introduced painters to realism and symbolism. But the path to contemporary art stems from the themes of village life. The motifs and traditional style found in pagodas, temples and antique porcelain exist in an entirely modern way. Art Critic Jeffrey Hantover has written: "Through tradition, Vietnamese artists could be patriotic and modernist at the same time, could pay homage to their cultural past while expressing their own personal visions."

Vietnamese art has its own identity and character that draws on a rich and varied history, as well as assimilating influences of French, Chinese, Cham and regional folk art. Since 1989, there has been a steady stream of tourists able to witness the explosion of the art scene and they have provided a strong market for the young artists who are passionate about their work.

In recent years more artists have been invited abroad to show their work, while dealers from around the world have paid attention to the surge of interest from buyers and collectors in Hong Kong, Singapore, France and America. Traveling museum exhibits have also contributed to their reputations.

About Vietnamese Art:

C. David Thomas
Director, Indochina Arts Project, Newton Centre, Massachusetts.
For those of us living in the United States trained in the western art traditions, there is something both familiar and mysterious about Vietnamese contemporary art. Vietnamese arts have, in their own unique way, incorporated into their paintings much of their 4,000 year history as well as that which the French brought to them during this century. This combination makes contemporary Vietnamese art some of the most exciting currently being made anywhere in the world.

We are very fortunate that the Gallery Cyclo in San Francisco has brought an excellent selection of this work to the United States for all of us to enjoy.

Sherry L. Goodman
Curator for Education, University of California at Berkeley, University Art Museum.
A startling freshness and depth of vision mark the best of the new Vietnamese painting. An empty boat suspended alongside mysterious dwellings in a primal blue; engulfing fields rising to enfold the viewer in time and place; glowing, spattered scenes viewed through a screen of Vietnamese calligraphy...these haunting images emerge with compelling authenticity from sustained artistic endeavor.

Imbued with an almost hallucinatory sense of place, contemporary Vietnamese art often seems to be made directly from the dust and depths of the countryside itself. Equally, it bears a deeply-felt sense of the past, whose accumulated force we feel right beneath the surface of this powerful new art of the present.

David Chamberlain
First American to serve in Vietnam as Interactive Artist in Residence, Boston, Massachusetts.
The studios of Vietnamese artists are cooking. Artists are champing at the bit, eagerly exploring multiple approaches and directions from a multitude of influences: Local, Regional, Asian, Western. So much to work with, so much change, so quickly, so long awaited...so much happening. This momentum is leading to a century's worth of imagery...this decade. As in many cultures, Vietnam's artists are the visionaries; the philosophers; the prophets whose time, now, has come.

Suggested Reading:

100 Vietnamese Painters and Sculptors of the 20th Century,
Mai Ly Quang, The Gioi Publishers, Hanoi 1996

100 Years of Contemporary Paintings from Vietnam,
Ha Thuc Can and Dao Hung, Dong Son Editions

Art in the Vietnamese Village,
N. Quan and P.C. Thuong, Art Publishing House, Hanoi 1991

Fine Contemporary Vietnamese Art: Poetic Reflections,
J. Day, I. Findlay-Brown, K. Ninh, Trinh Cung, Galerie La Vong, Hong Kong 1994

L'Art du Vietnam,
L. Bezacier, Ed. De l'Union Francaise, Paris 1955

Les Peintures sur soie du Vietnam,
Hoang Cong. Luan, Art Publishing House, Hanoi 1992

Painters of the Fine Arts College of Indochina, Nguyen.Quang. Phong, Art Publishing House, Hanoi 1993

Uncorked Soul: Contemporary Art from Vietnam,
Jeffrey Hantover, Plum Blossoms (International) Ltd, Hong Kong 1991

Vietnam's Oil Paintings, 1925-1995,
Quang Viet, Fine Arts Publishing House, Hanoi 1996

Vietnamese Contemporary Art,
Quang Phong and Tran Tuy, Fine Arts Publishers, Hanoi 1996

Vietnamese Contemporary Painters,
T.V. Can, Huu Ngoc and Vy Huyen, Red River Publishing House, Hanoi 1987

Young Artists of Vietnam,
Phan Cam Thuong and Luong Xuan Doan, Fine Arts Publishing House, Hanoi 1996 .