Indeed, there is no looking back for Vietnam now. It is moving forward. However, it is not just looking forward towards the future. There is an element of retrospection involved also. Thus, the modern Vietnamese perspective comprises not just looking ahead, but also looking back, in an effort to sort out the past.

Till recent times, Vietnamese modern art has been facing a peculiar identity crisis. Questions about the extent of Western influence on Vietnam’s modern art, and how deep its traditional moorings actually go, have plagued the artists of Vietnam for long. It has not been long since they seem to have finally come to terms with the origin of their modern art.

Modern paintings in Vietnam took roots in the amalgam of two very different forces – French liberalism and Vietnamese traditionalism. Two of the strongest influences that molded Vietnamese modern art were that of brutal French colonialism on one hand, and a relentless current of Vietnamese patriotism. Before ‘Doi Moi’, or Vietnam’s Perestroika (renovation) began in 1986, the origin of Vietnamese modern art was little discussed in Vietnam because such a discussion would necessarily touch upon the role of the Ecole Superieure des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine (Indochina Fine Arts College) founded by the liberal-minded French artist Victor Tardieu. During its 20 years of operation between 1925 and 1945, the Ecole trained more than 100 Vietnamese painters, sculptors and architects who formed the core group of pioneers in Vietnamese modem art. Even though the Vietnamese pioneers were primarily inspired and driven in their artistic creation by Vietnamese tradition, the Ecole was thought to be too closely associated with French colonialism to deserve mention. It was almost a taboo.

Recent events, however, have pointed to a conscious effort to put things in balance, recognizing both the catalyst role of the Ecole and the crucial contribution of the Vietnamese pioneer artists in the development of Vietnamese modern art. The year 1996 saw the Government awarding the prestigious Ho Chi Minh Prize to 7 Vietnamese artists, all of whom graduated from the Ecole Superieure des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine. In 2000, the Hanoi College of Fine Arts and other local art institutions sponsored a large reunion of former students of the Ecole and their relatives to mark the Ecole’s 75th anniversary.

So how does one interpret the modern art scenario in Vietnam today? It will be perhaps apt to say that it has a strange duality. While Western trends continue to make their presence felt in style and techniques, there is an overwhelming local essence to be noticed in themes. Vietnamese modern paintings today draw heavily upon local themes and Vietnamese culture and tradition.

This duality is strange feature of Vietnamese modern paintings today. It may be a base so that Vietnamese can introduce the international to their paintings that express Vietnamese’ lifestyle.

Generations of Vietnam artists have executed their work brilliantly. No two artists display similar characteristics. Rather, each one has his unique style. Among the artists of the older generation, Bui Xuan Phai earned a name for having traded paintings for food during the period of serious economic hardship. The younger generation of artists aims to make a mark for themselves in the widening intellectual and business arena. This generation of young artists also reflects to move away from the past and create an indelible mark on the future. Use of motifs, symbols, emblems form the chief weapons by which these artists try to convey the multiple emotions and feelings. For long, Vietnam artists lacked the opportunities to exhibit their skill in other parts of the world. Their imagination, however, did not wane away. Rather, it gave way to fresher ideas leading to experimentation. Vietnamese fine art has thus new dimension and is being widely acclaimed by art connoisseurs worldwide.

Taking into account the political power of art, it comes as no surprise that the 20th century, so noticeably imprinted by the two World Wars and other armed conflicts, also led to the affluence of an incredible amount of art. Much of it was propaganda art, so as to unite the people under the pretext of a common cause. However, protest art and probably nonpolitical art were also abundant. The political significance of pieces of art produced during different wars becomes especially clear in the contrast between the art produced by American artists during World War II and that of the Vietnam War, as artists gave free expression to their political beliefs during the wars of their times.

While the differences in political systems and cultures are easily identifiable in any comparison of American and Vietnamese art pieces about the war, the recurring similarity is that the Vietnam War changed both countries forever and still influences the nations’ societies. Vietnam had to face these changes openly and marched ahead, but the United States has not yet found complete closure. The Vietnamese art about the war shows that the artists were united behind the war; American artists were deeply affected by the division in the United States and the insecurities that came with it.

To comprehend the portrayal of people, and women in particular, in Vietnamese pieces of art, it is advisable to know that in Vietnamese culture, the individual is important only as a member of a group, a characteristic that Communist leaders were able to build on. In this system, the male family members were the central power heads; therefore paternal relatives were also more important. Thus, Ho Chi Minh was able to reap the benefits of his image of “Uncle Ho.” This minuscule role of women in Vietnamese society explains why men have created most of the Vietnamese art. Even though men were seen as possessing the power in families and women were seen as having to be obedient, “women were not regarded as the weaker sex but as resilient and strong-willed”.

The overthrow of the French colonial government brought many political changes. But the French influence was not obliterated totally as France had played an influential role in the establishment of the first Vietnamese art school, the École des Beaux Arts d’Indochine (EBAI). In 1957, the Vietnamese Artists’ Association (Hoi Nghe Si Tao Hinh) was established; it was supposed to give rise to “a national artistic workforce to serve the propaganda needs of the government.”

Following socialist principles, the government appealed to the Vietnamese artists to observe closely the lives of the common man-farmers, miners and industrial workers. This would allow the artists to depict the lives of the common men on their canvas and in turn, enlighten and influence them. Thus the prevailing motives in the art works were workers on farms, soldiers or factory workers, and “historical figures, war heroes, and legendary independence fighters”. Children are also often depicted in the work of American and Vietnamese artists of this era.

changed due to the war against France. The war led to the separation of the nation into the North and South Vietnam, and then there was a war between the North and South. This divided the style and techniques of Vietnam arts. The artists from the North (under influence of the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China) turned in the direction of the social-realistic stream, while the southern artists embraced western trends, influenced by the presence of the Americans. However, neither the influence of the Soviet Union nor of the western countries was decisive in the development of Vietnamese Modern Art; it was rather their concern to survive the war that influenced the development. It was definitely not the time for experimentation.
In recent times, the contemporary Vietnamese artist is free to represent his or her inner self in his or her work. In spite of this new liberal climate, Vietnamese art is not ‘innovating’ in a European sense. Vietnamese painting does not demand philosophical questions about the definition of painting itself. This springs from the undeniable link between Vietnamese art and the political and social history of its country.
However, the recent years have been exceptionally well for the Vietnamese contemporary artists. Many of them received invitations from different parts of the world to exhibit their arts and have been recognized. The change in the Vietnamese contemporary art can be observed in the arts itself. It can surely be said that Vietnamese contemporary art has moved forward towards a progressive realism and has thus allowed its patrons to identify the work of art with their lives.