A celebration of the 110th birthday anniversary of To Ngoc Van (1906-1954), one of Vietnam’s most influential painters in the first half of the 20th century, has just been organised by the Vietnam Fine Arts Association.
Two ladies and Child (1944), oil and canvas, by To Ngoc Van. (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) - A celebration of the 110th birthdayanniversary of To Ngoc Van (1906-1954), one of Vietnam’s most influentialpainters in the first half of the 20th century, has just been organised by theVietnam Fine Arts Association.
“Painter To Ngoc Van’s imprint is an outlook that no other painters have, whichis integrating his personal feelings, thoughts and trends into his work insteadof just representing contemporary matters of life”, says art critic Nguyen HaiYen at the celebration.
“His motto is: A painting is not only beautiful in real life but also in themanifestation of its creator’s inner feelings. Van can be seen embarking onexpressing the role of an artist, not an inscriber of facts, in his works,” sheadded. Graduating fromthe Indochina Fine Arts College, To Ngoc Van influenced many Vietnamesepainters of later generations and has been greatly appreciated by the artcircle abroad. He was a talented painter and became famous before the AugustRevolution in 1945, with his oil, lacquer and silk paintings.
He was one of the pioneering painters to assimilate Westernmethods in a creative way, and combined them with his inheritance of nationalartistic traditions. He left us a number of works of high artistic valueincluding Thieu Nu Ben Hoa Hue (Young Woman with Lilly) in 1943, Thuyen TrenSong Huong (Boats on the Perfume River) in 1935 or Thieu Nu Ben Hoa Sen (Womanby a Lotus) in 1944.
Following the National Resistance by President Ho Chi Minh, To Ngoc Van andother renowned Vietnamese artists left Hanoi 🐬for the liberated area and joinedthe artistic circle where he devoted all his talent and experience to make hiscontribution to the long war. Also during that period, he created many lacquerpaintings and sketches portraying the landscapes and lives of northwesternVietnam as well as watercolour paintings depicting the land reform in 1953.
Together with painter Nguyen Do Cung(1912-1977), To Ngoc Van was one of the artists that laid the foundation forVietnam’s Theory and Criticism of Arts, contributing to the many talented painters of thefirst generation of Vietnam’s Arts.
He was unfortunately killed on his way to Dien Bien Phu at the age of 48.
He was one of eight top-notch Vietnamese painters to be awarded the Ho Chi MinhPrize for Literature and Art and the Independent Order, 1st class in 1996. —VNA
Vietnam Fine Arts Museum is showing a collection of watercolour sketches to mark the 105th birth anniversary of master artist Tran Van Can (1910-2015).
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Two ladies and Child (1944), oil and canvas, by To Ngoc Van. (Photo: VNA) 
