On October 1, 2022 at Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, there is the opening ceremony of the exhibition ‘Old song’ by artist Nguyen Dinh Huong.
Artist Nguyen Dinh Huong was born in 1936 in Thai Binh, graduated from Hanoi School of Public Art (College course 1) in 1971, making many contributions to contemporary Vietnamese art. He once won the first prize at the Capital Fine Arts Exhibition in 1973 with the oil painting ‘Construction worker’; Medal for the cause of Vietnam Fine Arts.
‘Old song’ is the artist’s third solo exhibition, he had two exhibitions before: ‘The scent of hometown’ (in 2022) and ‘Back to origin’ (in 2009) with bold personal marks, receiving great impressions from art lovers.
Arrtist Nguyen Dinh Huong speaking at the opening of the exhibition
Sharing at the opening ceremony of the exhibition, he said: “I named the exhibition ‘Old Song’ because of my old age, I want to look back on the old years. Each work is a story, my own story. And I want to display it, as a way to tell memories to friends, the public, especially the younger generation.”
The exhibition ‘Old song’ displays more than 60 works created by the artist during his artistic life; including landscape, still life, portrait… of many materials: oil, lacquer, silk, gouache with various sizes in which gouache is the material he uses the most.
During more than 60 years of working as a professional, Nguyen Dinh Huong has been attached to gouache material, he has painted many pictures of Vietnamese villages and beautiful natural scenes with gouache, such as ‘Old village gate’ 1980, collection of Vietnam Fine Arts Museum; ‘Village Gate’ 1980, 40×60 cm; ‘Village road’ 1995, 78.5×97.5 cm; ‘Autumn colors’ 1979, 44×57 cm; ‘The lake of Dai Lai’ 1987, 35×57 cm… with the basic color system on the palette, he created a very new life for each of his works.
Nguyen Dinh Huong (born 1936). Village road. 1995. Gouache. 78,5×97,5 cm
Nguyen Dinh Huong (born 1936). The lake of Dai Lai. 1987. Gouache. 35×57 cm
Gouache is a material that has been favored by many generations of painters from past to present because of many “advantages”. Gouache is both affordable and easy to carry, the colors are also very bright. Painting with gouache is very easy but also very difficult. It’s easy because this is a very light material, with a shiny, porous quality, which can be mixed unlimitedly to create a lot of different colors. It is difficult in that it requires the artist’s skill, a skill in combining pigments with additives: cold rice water, gelatin, water in the right proportions to blend colors in the painting, not to let it fade or be dull.
Artist Nguyen Dinh Huong is a skillful and sophisticated artist in using gouache. The colors in his paintings are always bright, radiant, but also very loving, filled with the simple feelings that the artist puts into each work. That’s what made his paintings win the hearts of many viewers.
Nguyen Dinh Huong (born 1936). The village of flowers Ngoc Ha. 1992. Gouache. 41×61 cm
Nature, scenery and people in Nguyen Dinh Huong’s paintings are depicted in a very gentle, bright, joyful manner, imbued with Vietnamese spirit. Those are the peaceful village scenes with green bamboos, the very simple daily life of the people: from the ethnic mother carrying her child to work in the fields, to the image of the people in the fishing village with their net, or familiar tourist attractions of the country such as Sapa, Tam Dao, Vung Tau, Huong Tich Pagoda… are all described by him in the language of painting, by strokes, by shapes, to create rhythmic links between things and images; combined with smooth colors to achieve the effect of expressing light and space near and far. Draw the viewer’s eyes into his story through each work.
Nguyen Dinh Huong (born 1936). Happiness. 2013. Oil. 80×100 cm
Nguyen Dinh Huong (born 1936). Fishing. 2007. Oil. 80×100 cm
Fine art critic Quang Phong- teacher of artist Nguyen Dinh Huong once commented about him as follows: “Nguyen Dinh Huong has a gift for capturing nature through a talented brush to immediately release fresh colors spilled onto the surface of paper and canvas.”
Nguyen Dinh Huong (born 1936). Dreamlike Tam Dao. 2006. Oil. 120×120 cm
Looking at the works in the exhibition, especially the green color in Nguyen Dinh Huong’s paintings of natural landscapes, reminds us of the gouache paintings with the dominant green tone by artist Van Giao (1916 – 2018): ‘Sapa morning sun’ 1959, gouache, 51×65 cm, ‘Muong Cha – Dien Bien’ 1962, gouache, 52×65 cm, ‘Spring in the country’ 1963, gouache, 64×51 cm, or the painting ‘Suburban’ 1959, gouache, 64×50 cm… as artist Tran Van Can once remarked about him: “a peculiar forest green color belongs to Van Giao”.
Each scene in Nguyen Dinh Huong’s paintings is a memory, a personal story of his own. It is the love for the homeland, the strong vibration of the charming and loving scenery of the country. The artist conveys the love for our country in his art works.
Nguyen Dinh Huong (born 1936). Autumn colors. 1979. Gouache. 44×57 cm
At the age of 86, artist Nguyen Dinh Huong still works passionately, he still paints. Without a strong love for painting, without an artist’s sensitive soul for beauty, it would be difficult for him at that age to create as much as he did. For him, age does not make the colors in the paintings become sad, but on the contrary, more brilliant and joyful…
Nguyen Dinh Huong (born 1936). Portrait of artist Huy Oanh. 2020. Watercolor. 20×30 cm
Nguyen Dinh Huong (born 1936). Drug quality investigation. 1980. 2020. Silk. 44×54 cm
Nguyen Dinh Huong (born 1936). Bananas by the ditch. 1999. Oil. 60×80 cm
The exhibition will be on display until October 5, 2022 at the 1st floor, building B, Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, 66 Nguyen Thai Hoc, Ba Dinh, Hanoi. Dear art lovers, welcome to watch!
Written by Viet Art View
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