Artist Mai Long was born in 1930 in Hải Phòng. In 1948, his artistic destiny came when he studied at the studio of artist Tô Ngọc Vân. After that, he continued to study in the ‘Resistance Class’ of artist Tô Ngọc Vân from 1950-1953. In 1954, he graduated with 21 other artists, including artists Trần Đông Lương, Lưu Công Nhân, Trần Lưu Hậu. In 1961-1966, he continued to study at Hà Nội Fine Arts University.
After many years of dedication, work and painting, in 1998 he was awarded the Second Class Labor Medal and the First Class Resistance against America Medal by the state. Artist Mai Long’s career is marked by animated films and books with characters coming out of ancient tales: Tấm Cám, Sơn Tinh – Thủy Tinh, Khăm Pạ – Nàng Ngà, Ông Gióng, Âu Cơ – Lạc Long Quân.
When mentioning artist Mai Long, we often immediately remember works filled with soft, poetic, dreamy, gentle, and very touching images. Every subject, from children, women, landscapes, still lifes to legendary characters in ancient tales, are given his affectionate look.
His painting “Mother and child of the highland” on the theme of mothers and children, on poonah paper which was carefully mounted has a strange size, 103×48 cm; not following the usual 60×80, 80×100 framework that he often makes. The painting was created in the 1980s. After more than 40 years, this long-format paper painting has become rare and different from other common-sized works.
