Danh họa Tô Ngọc Vân

Tô Ngọc Vân Biography

First Generation Artist: École des Beaux Arts de l’Indochine French Influenced

“War can be waged through painting.”[1]

Tô Ngọc Vân was born in Hanoi, on Hàng Quạt Street on 15 December 1906. His father was Tô Văn Phú and his mother Nguyễn Thị Nhớn. His paternal family was urban bourgeoisie, while his poor maternal family came from Confucian scholars who lived from small trade. Being from a poor family, he had to start working at a young age. From age six onwards, he had to live as an adopted child in the family of his grandmother and aunt, because of his parents’ poverty. He was poorly treated and only permitted to meet his parents a few times a year.

After finishing his third school year at Bưởi secondary school, he quit and began painting in preparation for his entrance exam to fine art school. After several months training in the preparatory class, he passed the official entrance exam to École Supérieure des Beaux Arts de l’Indochine, entering the second course of 1926-1931. He received the highest score in his final exams.

To begin with, Vân had a difficult time surviving as an artist and had to give private drawing lessons as well as working for magazines and newspapers such as Nhân loại newspaper, Phong hóa, Ngày Nay and Thanh Nghị. He wrote under the pen name Ái Mỹ. Other pseudonyms that he used were To Van Xuan and To Tu.

In 1931, he won the silver medal at the colonial exhibition in Paris for his oil painting “A letter”. In 1932, he received an honorary award at the French painters exhibition. When his skills were finally recognized in the early 30s, he was finally able to make a sustainable living as a painter.

On January 1, 1932 he married Nguyễn Thị Hoàn – his first model – with whom he had five children. His wife finished the second year at a teacher training school. In 1933 he became a member of the French artists association. In the same year, he was invited by the emperor Bao Dai to the palace in Hue to paint. In 1935 he won an award at SADEAI. During those years, armed with folding easel and paint tubes, he walked all over the countryside near Hanoi trying to render its beauty and variety.

Between 1935 and 1938 he taught at Sisowath School in Cambodia, and painted in Phnom Penh. From 1938 to 1939 he taught at Bưởi school – the school of his childhood. From 1939 he taught drawing at École Supérieure des Beaux Arts de l’Indochine, then became an official teacher and professor at the art college.

In 1943 he took part in FARTA and also wrote about art for Hanoi newspapers. In 1945, after the revolution, he made two large posters. In 1946 he made a portrait of Ho Chi Minh and was appointed director of the new Vietnam Fine Arts College. In 1944, when college school moved to Son Tay after heavy fighting, he organized an exhibition of students’ work together with Joseph Inguimberty at the House of Information on Trang Tien Street. A year later, he left Hanoi for Bat Trang.

In 1946 he participated in the Viet Bac Propaganda Group, making posters and slogans on walls. He then took part in the August theatrical group, doing make up and playing minor parts on stage. In 1947 he became leader of the Cultural Group for the National Good in the 10th zone.

In 1948 Vân worked as chief of resistance in the culture group in Vĩnh Chânh. He then became director of the lacquer-painting workshop and founded the literature and arts newspaper, writing many articles. In the same year, Vân took part in National Convention on Art and Literature, having heated arguments with the Party General Secretary, Truong Chinh, on the topic of whether propaganda paintings could be considered works of art. These debates highlighted Vân’s lukewarm acceptance of the principles of revolutionary ideals and social realism in art.

In 1949, Vân followed the Capital Regiment in order to paint its fighter’s activities for three months. He also decorated the governmental relation salon with paintings. Upon his return in 1950, he was made director of the Central Fine Arts College in Phú Thọ Province. A year later, Vân was reinstated as director of the Fine Arts College of Vietnam.

Vân participated in the Biên Giới border campaign and the liberation of Lào Cai in 1950. In 1952 he joined the campaign to boost production and economization by drawing further portraits of Ho Chi Minh and made use of a new subject – renowned French impressionist painter, Henri-Jean Guillaume Martin.

In 1953 he went on a re-educational pilgrimage to live in the village Ninh Dân in Phu Tho province. He lived with the villagers and painted pictures of their struggle against landlords. In 1954, he made a series of sketches of peasants’ life.

In April 1954 he was ordered to go to Ðiện Biên Phủ to make sketches of military activities at the front, depicting soldiers and people’s lives in Tây Bắc and Ðiện Biên Phủ. On June 17, 1954 he died at the 14th kilometre of Ba Khe beyond the Lũng Lô pass, while on a live sketch assignment. His death so close to battle, one that would mark a turning point in the war, made him a national hero.

In November of that year, his paintings made at that time were awarded at the national fine arts exhibition.

In 1985 a street in Hồ Chí Minh City was named after him and, in 1995, a street in Hanoi was named after him.



References[2]

GALLERY


Publications

Corinne de Ménonville, Vietnamese Painting: From Tradition to Modernity, ARHIS: Les Editions d’Art et d’Histoire, Paris

Il drago e la Farfalla, Arte Contemporanea in Vietnam, 2006, Gangemi Editore, Rome



Collections

Vietnam Fine Art Museum, Hà Nội

Private international collections



Exhibitions

1931 – Exposition Coloniale, Paris, France

1932 – Exhibition of French Painters’ Association, Paris, France

1954 – awarded at the National Fine Arts Exhibition

1996 – Paris – Hanoi – Saigon: L’aventure de l’art moderne au Viêt Nam, Pavillon des Arts, Paris, France

2006 – Il drago e la Farfalla, Complesso del Vittoriano, Rome, Italy

2013 – Du Fleuve Rouge au Mékong, Musée Cernuschi, Paris, France



Official Roles

1935-1938 – Taught at Sisowath School in Cambodia

1939 – Began teaching at École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine

1946 – Appointed director of the new Vietnam Fine Arts College

1947 – Leader of the Cultural Group for the National Good in the 10th zone

1950 – Director of the Central Fine Arts College in Nghĩa Quân, Yên Phú

1951 – Reinstated as director of the Fine Arts College of Vietnam



Awards

1931 – Won the silver medal at the Exposition Coloniale for his oil painting “A letter”, Paris, France

1932 – Received an honorary award at the French painters’ exhibition

1985 – A street in Ho Chi Minh City was named after him

1995 – A street in Hanoi was named after him.

References and footnotes:
[1] A favourite quote of Vân’s taken from a speech Picasso made to Vietnamese artists, despite his cool acceptance of extreme revolutionary ideals. Taken from Corinne de Ménonville, Vietnamese Painting: From Tradition to Modernity, ARHIS: Les Editions d’Art et d’Histoire, Paris.

[2] Tô Ngọc Vân biography compiled by independent research


Nguồn: Vietnam: The Art of War -