To Ngoc Van, a Famous Artist
Vietnam Insight
To Ngoc Van, a Famous Artist
Young Girl by Lillies.
Two Young Girls and a Baby.
To Ngoc Van was one of the great teachers and predecessors of the
artistic circle of Vietnam. He creatively apprehended the Western arts
and, at the same time, developed the national artistic traditions. He
left behind a number of works of high artistic value, representing the
first modern paintings of the country.
To Ngoc Van was born in Hanoi in 1906 into a poor family. His childhood
was spent in poverty, both material and emotional. as his mother, “a
poor stork”, kept moving from one marketplace to another all year round
to earn a living. Life became more difficult at the age of six when both
his father and mother had to go back to their homeland in the
countryside, leaving him with his grandmother and aunt who looked after
him during his studies in Hanoi. Van was very fond of studying, however
he had to save every penny given by his mother when she dropped in to
see him, to spend on books. The life of a poor schoolboy silently
passed by until he was out of his teens.
In 1925, the Indochinese Fine Arts College was established in Hanoi. In
Tran Van Can’s words, after contacting a number of students on the first
course, “Van became acquainted with painting and was entirely attracted
by it”. One year later, when Van finished his third year of studies at
the Protectorate secondary school, he left to pursue an artistic career.
Passing exams for the second course of the College, his talent soon drew
a lot of attention. Dynamic and keen to learn, he was compelled by his
love to art to read every book, magazine or newspaper article related to
arts that he was able to get his hands on. Each picture, be it a folk
print of Dong Ho or Hang Trong, a Japanese wood carving, a Chinese
watercolour, an Ajanta fresco, a modern Western painting by Manet,
Gaugin, Van Gogh or Matisse, filled the soul of the art-loving young
man. He studied oil painting, but he also tried other mediums such as
silk painting, wood carving and frescoes.
Graduating from the Indochinese Fine Arts College in 1931, To Ngoc Van
was passionate about the beauty of the diverse spectrum of colours. His
skills had been perfected, his later style was basically established.
There was a keen sculptor in him who was very sensitive to full, round
and graceful figures, especially to the beauty of the female form.
He graduated in the year of economic crisis and began doing a new job in
the contemporary society, To Ngoc Van, life was not easy. He had to
teach painting at a private school and even did advertisement designs
for some business firms, although his techniques for fresco acquired
during the academic years had a chance to be tested.
In 1935, To Ngoc Van was assigned to teach at the Sisovath secondary
school in Phnom Penh (Cambodia). Out of teaching hours, he was very
keen on painting the landscapes, the pagodas and the people there. In
1939, he returned in Hanoi and taught painting at the Indochinese Fine
Arts College. The years between 1939 - 1942 marked a productive period
of artistic creation prior to the August 1945 Revolution. It was also
the period in which he most specialised in oil paintings.
His paintings were put on show even in the early days of his career.
Whilst studying at the College, his paintings were exhibited at an art
gallery in Saigon in August 1930 by the artists of the Indochinese Fine
Arts College. Besides work by Le Pho, Mai Trung Thu, Vu Cao Dam and
others, were To Ngoc Van’s paintings which were greatly admired owing to
his beautiful style.
Later, To Ngoc Van had his paintings displayed at the art exhibition
organised by the Society for Arts and Industrial Development (SADEAL) in
Hanoi in 1935. At the SADEAL arts exhibition in Hanoi in 1936, the
public had an opportunity to enjoy his work, showing a real talent for
making use of colour.
In his article “New Hopes for Paintings at this Year’s Exhibition”
(1937), the artist Nguyen Do Cung remarked: “Besides the new painters,
again we see the faces we met last year with changes, big or small. But
every one of them has brought new hope for the future to do away with
the notion that we can never be able create inspired artwork. However,
To Ngoc Van has already let us enjoy a mature, influential and vigorous
art”.
The exhibition in 1937 could be seen as the last show of To Ngoc Van’s
landscape paintings.
In 1944, he joined the FARTA group to exhibit his paintings. This was
his last show before he went to Son Tay and taught painting there. At
this exhibition, the public of Hanoi were given a chance to enjoy his
new oil paintings that had just been completed such as “Young Girl by
Lilies” (1943), “Young Girl by Lotus” (1944); “Two Young Girls and a
Baby” (1944). These works marked the height of his oil paintings which
worthily represented Vietnamese oil painting before the August 1945
Revolution.
After the revolution, the elite artist of Hanoi and the first of the
great modern Vietnamese painters set off at the request of the
revolutionary resistance.
In 1945, after the success of the revolution, the new government
assigned To Ngoc Van an important task, to restore the Fine Arts
College. There were numerous difficulties in those early days since he
had to take over a base that was heavily ravaged by the occupations of
the French, Japanese and Chinese Nationalist troops. But no sooner had
the students began their study, than they were forced to stop
temporarily by the outbreak of the War of Resistance against France.
To Ngoc Van left Hanoi for the liberated area and joined the artistic
circle in the new life where he devoted all his talent and experience to
make his contribution to the long war.
In many places, from the Central Highlands to Viet Bac (Northern
Vietnam), an apt and pleasant artist was seen at times painting a poster
on a patch of wall to inspire the resistance; masking and decorating a
folding stage; printing leaflets under a curtain of jungle leaves;
running the Resistance Culture Group; or managing the reorganisation of
the Fine Arts College (1949-1950).
He lived amid his compatriots, sharing every joy and sorrow with the
ordinary people, with the combatants and with hard-working farmers, who
brought him the inspiration to create new works of art such as “Hanoi
Rose up” (1948), “Evacuators in the Forest”, “Enemies Came and Went”
(1949) and “Medical Maid”(1949). These works signalled the initial
changes taking place in him. His themes and characters began to change,
getting more dynamic and lively, and focusing on depicting action.
To Ngoc Van experienced the vivid life of the resistance of the
Vietnamese people and identified the dialectical relationship between
reality, perception and art. The daily realities of the resistance left
deep imprints in his heart and mind. In his article “Propaganda Posters
and Painting” in 1947, he wrote: “ I am now thinking of paintings which
depict the images and colours of the resistance which echo in the mind
of the artist. The form of a militiaman is different from that of an
ordinary man because of the rifle he wears, his earth-coloured
complexion and his sudden appearance and disappearance under the
interwoven leaves of the jungle, full of birds’ twittering. And the
mixture of this image with the mountains and forests brings about so
much passion”
To Ngoc Van was an example of a person with a persistent, striving will.
In his capacity as Rector of the Viet Bac Resistance Fine Arts College,
he reminded his students to “match study with practise” as he himself
always did.
During their fact-finding missions to see the working people, both
teacher and students painted right on the spot, strengthening the
connection between the masses and the artists.
A series of To Ngoc Van’s paintings of landscapes and lives in
north-western Vietnam (Tay Bac) depicting a Thai ethnic girl, a female
teacher by the house on stilts, a horse eating by the stable, pigs and
chickens in a courtyard, mountains and clouds, water springs, ancient
banyan trees, strangely shaped stones, the hilly trails leading columns
of soldiers and people’s labourers with loads on their shoulders or on
bicycles to the battlefield of Dien Bien Phu are unforgettable. His
sketches of the north-western campaign such as “Rest by the Forest”,
“Marching through the Pass” and “Marching across Spring” depicted the
splendour of the people’s soldiers through vivid images and strokes,
full of fine emotion.
In early 1954, To Ngoc Van set out on a new trip. As the artist Tran
Van Can recalled: “Full of confidence and enthusiasm, he suggested we
should hold a farewell party. He wished to be directly involved in the
fierce fighting at Dien Bien Phu. Our troops gained a resounding
victory, however the French bombers launched heavy bombardments along
the roads to the battlefield in an attempt to save their troops trapped
in the Dien Bien Phu valley. Tragically, To Ngoc Van was killed in an
air raid. Upon hearing the sad news, we tried not believe it was true,
hoping he was able to hide somewhere during the bombardment”.
Not until Nguyen Dinh Thi and some other combatants came back from the
battlefield, bringing his rucksack and his painting folder, did we
despair.
The folder was carefully wrapped in a piece of raincoat. It was his!
He was as careful as he had always been. He’d rather get wet than leave
his sketches and folder improperly covered. The folder was opened and
among the sketches he made along the way to the battlefield was one with
stirring strokes dated 15-6-1954. The sketch depicted our troops
marching through Lung Lo pass, the last painting of his life!
To Ngoc Van was unfortunately killed on his way to Dien Bien Phu at the
age of 48. Forty two years have passed since, but when reading through
the pages of his writings, one cannot help being deeply moved by the
simple and sincere words of a clear, honest soul and his deep concern
for the future of the national arts.
To Ngoc Van is no more. However, he remains a bright example of ardent
patriotism, devotion to work and love of life. And especially, the
strong and persistent will to change himself so as to change his
artistic notions. Had his career not been interrupted half-way through,
he would have been able to turn his great volume of documents and
sketches into great paintings of the War of Resistance. His paintings of
Uncle Ho and his collection of sketches of farmers and the resistance
soldiers were breathtaking.
To Ngoc Van was one of the first artists who assimilated Western methods
in a creative way, and combined them with his inheritance of national
artistic traditions. He left us a number of works of high artistic
value.
A profound and talented artist, To Ngoc Van was also an excellent
organiser. His work for the cause of training of a young generation of
artists was a great contribution to the country.
To Ngoc Van was a genuine artist and a fine representative of the modern
painters of Vietnam. He was also a great teacher and an inspiration to
the modern Vietnamese artistic community. He was posthumously given the
highest national award for art and literature - the Ho Chi Minh Prize.
By Trieu Thuc Dan
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