1993 APT1 Conference : Identity, tradition and change

3 i n t o th e v a r i e g a t e d t e x t u r e o f V ietnamese a r t i s no easy work. £ t i o r to 1950, F rench and Vietnamese r e ­ s e a r c h e r s m a in ly d e a l t w ith c l e a r l y d e f in e d zones such a s th e Dong Son c u l t u r e , Cham s c u l p t u r e ana Hue a r t (1 9 th c e n t . ) I?ot u n t i l th e l a s t d e c ad e s , d id th e te n c e n t u r i e s (from th e 10 t h to th e 20 t h ) o f a r t i s t i c ach ievem en ts w i th te n s o f th ou sand s o f a r c j i i t e c t u r e s and hundreds o f thou sand s o f s c u l p t u r e s d i s p e r s e d i n 11 ,000 v i l l a g e c o n s t i t u t e th e s u b j e c t of s e r io u s s t u d i e s and i n v e s t i g a t i o n s . In th e 17 th and 18 th c e n t u r i e s , our a r t re a c h e d a c l a s s i c a l s ta g e and co u ld be s a id to have made a w orthy c o n t r i b u t i o n to th e w o r ld ’ s a r t . P r e v io u s ly , t h i s co u n t ry was co n s id e red s im p ly as an " e x t r a -C h in e s e " one and i t s a r t a clumsy r e p l i c a o f Ch inese a r t . . . This m is co n cep tio n a f f e c t e d to a no sm a ll e x t e n t th e fo llow -u p o f t r a d i t i o n s by t h e g e n e r a t io n o f a r t i s t s who were t r a i n e d i n th e European s t y l e s in c e 1925. E u ro p e a n - s ty le e a s e l - u s i n g p a i n t i n g i s a new phenomenon f o r a lm o s t a c e n tu r y i n V ietnam . U n like a r c h i t e c t u r e , s c u lp tu r e and f i n e h a n d i c r a f t , i t has no t r a d i t i o n s . However, one o f th e two f i r s t V ietnamese who went to s tu d y ab road , l e a r n e d p a i n t i n g in P a r i s and he p a i n t e d i n o i l i n c l a s s i c a l s t y l e a l a Rembrandt. In 1925, V.C. T a rd ie u , a c la s sm a te o f R ouau lt and M a tis se , c r e a t e d i n Hanoi t h e Ecole S u n e r ieu re d e s Beaux A r ts d ’In d o c h in e . Prom th e n to 1945, th e schoo l t r a i n e d more than 140 a r t i s t s , ivost of them were in f lu e n c e d by th e r e a l i s t and im p r e s s i o n i s t s t y l e s . I t was Tard ieu h im s e l f who recommended h i s s t u d e n t s to e x p l o i t t r a d i t i o n a l m a t e r i a l s b e s id e s th e te c h n iq u e s o f o i l and gouache a s w e l l as l i n e a r p e r s p e c t iv e and anatomy which he ta u g h t them. And th e two most s u c c e s s f u l a t t h i s p e r io d were Hguyen Gia I r i (1909-1993) and Hguyen Phan Chanh (1982 -1984 ) , th e fo rm e r w i th pumice la c q u e r and th e l a t t e r w ith s i l k . They c r e a t e d works i n th e s e media q u i t e d i f f e r e n t from t r a d i t i o n a l p a i n ­ t i n g s i n Vietnam and t h e n e ig h b o u r in g c o u n t r i e s . In th e m id - 7 0 's , many s t u d e n t s were s e n t to a r t schoo ls in China, th e ( fo rm e r ) S ov ie t Union and E a s t European c o u n t r ie s They p roduced r e a l i s t i c and im p r e s s i o n i s t i c works i n th e s p i r i t