It’s not been long since Vietnamese art established its ground in the past century. With the Ecole De Beaux Arts opening its doors to local students some 70 years back, began the slow diffusion of Vietnamese art into the local scenario. However, the cultural inception of Vietnamese art
goes back much further. When the first lessons in line drawing, anatomy, and landscape painting were offered in the first half of the 20th century, art students began to make use of the rich cultural and religious background to bring new flavor to their work. Village huts, farmers, and daily life formed the themes of the paintings. The tradition of lacquer and silk paintings had already begun very early and were used in temple decorations. The French colonial period saw a rise in the number of students taking to painting. These upcoming artists possessed sufficient skill but lacked the means to display them to perfection. However, the scenario has undergone a sea change today with modern artists executing their abilities combining traditional and innovative styles. Art connoisseurs outside Vietnam
often point out some striking resemblance of Vietnamese painting to European painting. But it would be absolutely wrong to assume that Vietnamese art is a mere replica of its European counterpart. An important justification of this is the desire of Vietnam artists to make them acceptable throughout the world. The resemblance to European painting is often deliberate, expressing their wish to be treated seriously by art lovers worldwide. Most Vietnam artists borrow Western art techniques, but the content always pertains to the intricacies and complexities of past Vietnamese cultural life. The Vietnam artists too, like others, are moved by their surroundings and have opted for a sensitive medium to put their identities into canvas using colors and poetic imagery.

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.

Ever since the inception of mankind, wars have dominated the interaction between groups of people on account of different backgrounds. These violent conflicts have been recorded in the respective forms of art practiced by the different groups or tribes. However, art does more than simply record events; it comments on events, influences the way of perception, and most importantly, plays a vital role in the political world.

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.