On the occasion of the 70th Anniversary of the historic victory of Dien Bien Phu, Viet Art View have researched about the “plan to create a great painting on the theme of Dien Bien Phu by a group of artists from the Indochina Fine Arts College, including members of the Soviet Nghe Tinh painting group”. Artist Nguyen Binh Minh, daughter of artist Nguyen Van Ty, shared with Viet Art View a handwritten manuscript (1978) by artist Nguyen Van Ty about the process of “building a great painting of Dien Bien Phu” with valuable information. Due to many subjective and objective reasons, after many discussions and even field trips to Dien Bien, in the end the “great painting” was not built as the group’s initial wishes. But the artists in the group had created their own works such as “On the way to Dien Bien Phu campaign” by artist Nguyen Van Ty; “Going with the spirit of Dien Bien” by artist Luong Xuan Nhi; “Singing of the campaign season” by artist Mai Van Hien…
Viet Art View respectfully introduce to art lovers.
TO CREAT A GREAT PAINTING – ĐIỆN BIÊN PHỦ
In August 1974, the Nghe Tinh Xo Viet painting group celebrated the 20th anniversary of their first collective work in lacquer on the theme of revolutionary history. The group meeting at the College of Fine Arts included: Pham Van Don, Nguyen Duc Nung, Sy Ngoc, Tran Dinh Tho, Huynh Van Thuan and Nguyen Van Ty. The group also invited Mai Van Hien, a representative of the Fine Arts Association. The artists recalled the period of the first painting at 48 Hai Ba Trung, which had to be completed in September and October 1957 in time to send to Moscow to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution. The second painting “Soviet – Nghe Tinh” was made in the spring of 1958 at the Yet Kieu School of Fine Arts, and is currently displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts. After that, books and newspapers reprinted this work many times when they wanted to illustrate the Soviet – Nghe Tinh movement.
The group of artists from Indochina Fine Arts College going on a field trip in Điện Biên Phủ in June 1978
From the left (the upper line): Artist Lương Xuân Nhị (the third), artist Trần Đình Thọ (the fourth, with a hat),
sculptor Nguyễn Thị Kim (with the cross-body bag), artist Sỹ Ngọc (next to sculptor Nguyễn Thị Kim)
The other line, artist Nguyễn Văn Tỵ with a hat, holding drawing papers
Before presenting the second painting, the artists researched and drew characters in Nam Dan district, a Soviet homeland district, drawing the terrain of the old district, portraits and movements of the soldiers.
The artists were all happy to have presented a meaningfull painting of revolutionary history and wanted to contribute in the near future a new collective project: A large-scale painting of the Dien Bien Phu campaign over several months.
We divided our time to prepare documents and making sketches to present to the group once a month at the end of the month.
From September, October, November 1977 to January and February 1978, the artists made many sketches one after another. Documents in sketches, photos, books and newspapers were quite abundant. We had spent time researching and sketching regularly for a worthy topic.
Tran Dinh Tho sketched a panorama, from the meeting of the Political Bureau and the decision on the campaign to the final moment of victory on May 7. Pham Van Don also sketched the panorama but from a further perspective with a larger number of characters. Nguyen Duc Nung arranged a drawing based on monumental reliefs depicting different stages of the campaign. Sy Ngoc sketched a scene of Northwest civil with their duty, Nguyen Van Ty sketched many alternating stages: Going for labor duty, crossing streams, pulling artillery, digging tunnels…
LƯƠNG XUÂN NHỊ (1914-2006). Going on with the spirit of Điện Biên. Silk. The collection of artist Lương Xuân Nhị’s family.
The images created were quite rich, the main events of the campaign stages were quite complete. Each time we met, we gave each other practical additional ideas for the sketches. Every artist actively expressed his or her own intentions and also faced common difficulties in composition. Drawing a single stage and event about Dien Bien Phu was easy, but combining all the stages and events of the campaign in one composition and one painting is difficult. Arranging scenes and figures of people in different terrains on the same ground, with the same perspective, is very difficult to express and difficult to agree on a general overview for a composition. I thought it is necessary to make one long consecutive painting to describe the consecutive events of a great campaign with many stages, or separating each event to make separate paintings and then combining many separate paintings into a complete theme about a historical campaign.
NGUYỄN VĂN TỴ (1917-1992). On the road of Điện Biên Phủ campaign. 1980-1983. Lacquer. 80×120 cm. Private collection abroad.
At the end of June 1978, a number of artists sketching paintings of Dien Bien Phu were taken to Dien Bien by the Department of Arts under the General Political Department of the Army to draw and study some terrain and soldiers who participated in the historic campaign. Initially, studying the actu al battlefield would help artists solve difficulties in painting composition.
Currently, the entire group is continuing to think about building a good composition. One day soon, the group will put the sketch on display to get public opinions. Another difficulty of the Dien Bien Phu Painting Group is the lack of materials and especially the specific working time dedicated to this great composition.
* The article was completed on June 17, 1978, pseudonym Hoa Tranh – artist Nguyen Van Ty.
(Handwritten manuscript kept by artist Nguyen Van Ty’s family)
