An exhibition entitled “Vietnamese Folk Painting – Trio Painting Sets”was held recently in Ho Chi Minh City that featured Henri Oger’swidely published folk paintings and the first-time publication ofMaurice Durand and Luc Van Tien’s paintings.
It is one of the events within the cultural programme celebrating the 40th anniversary of the France-Vietnam cooperation.
The exhibition displayed 15 pictures on folk themes, including imagesculled from “Technical Encyclopedia” of Henri Oger and “Folk Paintings”of Maurice Durand together with unpublished wood carvings of Luc VanTien coloured paintings. These valuable documents are now preserved atthe French Academy of the Far East (EFEO).
According to Prof. Phillippe Papin, a former expert of EFEO, all thesepaintings were created on hand-made wood carvings which were laterfilled with colours so they are all considered folk paintings.
MauriceDurand, the former head of EFEO in Hanoi, loved collectingVietnamese folk paintings. In 1956, when he left his office in Vietnam,he took his entire collection back to France. After he passed away,his wife handed it over to the EFEO. Durand’s collection was firstpublished in a book in France in 1960. Then, Prof. Papin clarifiedand revised some details in four languages, including Vietnamese,French, Han (ancient Chinese characters) and Nom (a demotic script basedon Chinese characters formerly used to write Vietnamese). Thecollection of Maurice Durand varied in themes, such as daily life andnature, religion and beliefs and Vietnamese and Chinese literature.
The drafts of the Luc Van Tien coloured paintings werecarved at the end of the 19th century, illustrating Luc Van Tien, apopular work of the blind poet Nguyen Dinh Chieu. During the Frenchcolonial period, Eugene Gibert, a Frenchman who was fascinated with thework, assigned a Hue artist called Le Duy to draw illustrations forthe entire story. In 1899, Gibert presented the EFEO the picture-book,which was kept in the institute’s archives and went unnoticed fordecades.
The exhibition reflected the love and great contributionof French experts to the preservation and promotion of Vietnamese folkheritage.-VNA
It is one of the events within the cultural programme celebrating the 40th anniversary of the France-Vietnam cooperation.
The exhibition displayed 15 pictures on folk themes, including imagesculled from “Technical Encyclopedia” of Henri Oger and “Folk Paintings”of Maurice Durand together with unpublished wood carvings of Luc VanTien coloured paintings. These valuable documents are now preserved atthe French Academy of the Far East (EFEO).
According to Prof. Phillippe Papin, a former expert of EFEO, all thesepaintings were created on hand-made wood carvings which were laterfilled with colours so they are all considered folk paintings.
MauriceDurand, the former head of EFEO in Hanoi, loved collectingVietnamese folk paintings. In 1956, when he left his office in Vietnam,he took his entire collection back to France. After he passed away,his wife handed it over to the EFEO. Durand’s collection was firstpublished in a book in France in 1960. Then, Prof. Papin clarifiedand revised some details in four languages, including Vietnamese,French, Han (ancient Chinese characters) and Nom (a demotic script basedon Chinese characters formerly used to write Vietnamese). Thecollection of Maurice Durand varied in themes, such as daily life andnature, religion and beliefs and Vietnamese and Chinese literature.
The drafts of the Luc Van Tien coloured paintings werecarved at the end of the 19th century, illustrating Luc Van Tien, apopular work of the blind poet Nguyen Dinh Chieu. During the Frenchcolonial period, Eugene Gibert, a Frenchman who was fascinated with thework, assigned a Hue artist called Le Duy to draw illustrations forthe entire story. In 1899, Gibert presented the EFEO the picture-book,which was kept in the institute’s archives and went unnoticed fordecades.
The exhibition reflected the love and great contributionof French experts to the preservation and promotion of Vietnamese folkheritage.-VNA
