When it comes to paintings about Hà Nội’s old quarter, the first name that pops into the mind of art lovers will be Bùi Xuân Phái. His name has become an icon of the life of “Hà Nội Old Quarter” of Hà Nội people.
The painting that Viet Art View introduce here is currently owned by one of the children of Collector Nguyễn Văn Lâm – the person we still know by the familiar name “Mr Lâm café.”
BÙI XUÂN PHÁI (1920-1988), Hà Nội old quarter, 1963, Oil, Collection of Mr Nguyễn Văn Lâm’s family, Hà Nội
The painting Hà Nội’s Old Quarter is probably one of Bùi Xuân Phái’s typical works. Created in 1963 of oil, Hà Nội’s Old Quarter was shaped on the basis of careful research on the street structure and characteristics of Hà Nội’s old houses. If you stand on the balcony, window, or terrace of a house, looking from a distance you will see the roofs tilted, one in front and the other in the back, not aligned. During this period, he used a color scheme of yellow, reddish brown, gray, the contours were made of large, solid, succinct black borders with the technique of overlapping layers of paint. Therefore, the space in the painting is very deep in a calm and contemplation harmony.
After the restoration of peace, from 1954 it was the blooming period of building the Socialist North with classic paintings, which have entered the history of Vietnamese Fine Arts as one of the peak periods with famous paintings. Remembering an afternoon in the Northwest (Phan Kế An, 1955, lacquer); New Year’s Eve at Sword Lake (Nguyễn Tư Nghiêm, 1957, lacquer); Soviet Nghệ Tĩnh (Nguyễn Đức Nùng, Phạm Văn Đôn, Huỳnh Văn Thuận, Trần Đình Thọ, Nguyễn Sỹ Ngọc, Nguyễn Văn Tỵ, 1958, lacquer); Irrigation in summer crop (Trần Văn Cẩn, 1958, lacquer); Dawn on the farm (Nguyễn Đức Nùng, 1958, lacquer); Knitting (Trần Văn Cẩn, 1959, lacquer)…
Portrait of the famous painter Bùi Xuân Phái (1920-1988)
The 1960s also witnessed the birth of classic paintings with profound artistic value such as: Marching across the stream (Nguyễn Khang, 1960, lacquer); Ms Liên (Huỳnh Văn Gấm, 1962, lacquer); Phổ Minh Pagoda (Nguyễn Sáng, 1966, lacquer); Hà Nội Resistance (Bùi Xuân Phái, oil painting 1966) and especially Party Admission at Điện Biên Phủ by Nguyễn Sáng, created in 1963, at the same time as Hà Nội Old Quarter by Bùi Xuân Phái has created new, typical and diverse nuances for the appearance of Vietnamese painting with subjects.
If Nguyễn Sáng’s Party Admission at Điện Biên Phủ is a great epic about the spirit of fighting for freedom and independence of the country, then Hà Nội Old Quarter by Bùi Xuân Phái is quiet and gentle, like a silent note depicting a cultural symbol of Hà Nội. But all of them reflect Việt Nam spirit of that time.
Each work created in a different period is the story of the artist who wants to record his thoughts. In 1966, Bùi Xuân Phái created the oil painting Hà Nội fighting with the image of a street still filled with smoke from bombs and bullets; “death-braving” soldiers lied and fired on the battlefield right in the heart of the old quarter. That atmosphere of the heroic and indomitable Hà Nội will certainly be forever imprinted.
On the occasion of the 103rd birth anniversary of Bùi Xuân Phái, on the occasion of National Day September 2, Viet Art View share a few lines about him, an artist who created unique values for Vietnamese painting.
And Hà Nội people will certainly always be grateful to Bùi Xuân Phái—the artist who created for Hà Nội’s Old Quarter a simple, rustic, profound, quiet character with an elegant personality and a soul full of humanity…
Written by Viet Art View
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