In comparison with the splendour of sculpture in the preceding centuries, the 20th century may perhaps be deemed as an uprooted, waning and desolate interruption with the past. Apart from a few handicraft statuettes on sale, several ancient-pattern decorative statues at some religious buildings (depending on which regions and villages the gangs of workmen had come from), and a number of portrait and park statues imported from France to serve as models in the hastily developing. Vietnamese sculpture lacked vital force and had no ground to prosper. At the Ecole des Beaus Arts de Indochina (French Indochina’s Fine Arts school), throughout its 20 years of existence (1925 – 1945) only a few students majored in sculpture with fewer graduation works. No question of style could be mentioned here since this was only the first lessons learnt from the French. A few names yet are worth memorising. The most prominent sculptor probably was Vu Cao §am with a few portrait statues. Others, such as Nguyen Thi Kim, Pham Gia Giang, Diep Minh Chau … left only some simple realistic works. There after came a period of unceasing wars. That was the first generation of sculptors, if it acceptable to call them so. However, after having been docile pupils of the French teachers this class of graduates became the teachers and predecessors of the new generation, much more numerous than its seniors. many other students received training in Europe and socialist countries as well. Most successful was their group of portrait and patriotism – inspired statues. Nevertheless, late academic style and the lack of national identity deprived them of the sound vigour inherent in traditional Vietnamese sculpture.
In the 1970’s, a new generation of sculptors appeared with the search of modern national styles advocated as their motto. Their inspiration was based on the bas – reliefs in communal house and pagoda statues of the 16th – 18th centuries in the Northern provinces and the art of the ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands (T©y Nguyªn). Their “new-fashioned primitive – like” wooden statues were imbued with South – East Asian character. Patriotism now did not find its expression in the subject but also in the personal style of the authors who wanted to rediscover the nation’s valuable legacy though the tendency was only confined to the level of expressive language. On the other hand, despite the lack of information, several artists were fully aware that they should learn from the world’s contemporary sculpture, including Soviet and Eastern European authors who had created complexes of monumental statues with propagandistic and commemorative content or the extraordinary and vigorous findings of a H. Moore, a Brancusi, a Giacometti or a Calder. The pioneers and senior sculptors of this second generation, the real first authors of present – day Vietnamese sculpture are Nguyen Hai, Le Cong Thanh, Pham Muoi and later on Dinh Ru, Mai Chung, Ta Quang Bao, Phan Gia Huong … Most successful were several monuments on the topic of the Resistance Wars and the national heroes’ statues sculpted by the above authors. Due to difficult working conditions, the volume of sculptural work was limited and no one could afford money and spiritual force to encourage their renovation designs on to the ultimate goal. As a result after them, up till the 1990’s there evolved only an electric sculpture with an outward national and state-of-the-art character but devoid of internal force. Now it is curiosity – seeking and ethnographic, now groundlessly modernistic and awkward. Subjectively, sculpture comes to a deadlock although the number of sculptors amounts to several hundreds out of the 1,400 Vietnam Fine Arts Association members.
It may be said that, since its initial stage, in the 19202 – 1930s, Vietnamese sculpture has undergone three changes.
The first one happened with the French and their colonial “realistic and classical” plastic art. Later, under the influence of the socialist revolution and war, its content and function varied, rather than its language.
The second one occurred in the 1970s with an electric approach. There was a combination of certain traditional formal elements with an exotic language which, favoured by a very long process, was implanted in the body of the national culture and mistaken for the academic, orthodox artistic language since it was not rejected by the said body although it did not develop healthily. The number of sculptors grew larger but no impression was left in terms of quality and the road to sculpture apparently was getting more and more desolate and far away. Commissioned art – whether subsidised or non – subsidised – raised an encouraging breeze at first but soon created a stagnant, stifling atmosphere instead of promoting and development.
The third change is still in the process of evolution, starting perhaps in the early 1990s. This transformation sprang up from the despair and disappointment of artist with the true state of sculpture, the exhaustion of collectivism in art and an aspiration for a language which ought to be accessible to the whole nation and everybody but capable of occupying a very high position. This is an obvious illusion, a frivolous but heartfelt desire. many a sculptor said: let’s “begin at the beginning” i.e. We should redefine sculpture and in depth return to the nature of our national aesthetics and not superficially base our work on a few techniques or excerpts of artistic expression. It is quite impossible to successfully combine oriental and western medicines in a practical way similar to the medical science. And more profoundly, sculptors are now conscious of an author’s individuality and originality. Overall, they conduct experiments in all directions, combining true, original expressiveness with their efforts to look for the plastic power of the language of mass and space. They learnt from our tradition and Western generalisations throughout the past century thanks to the exchange and integration of Vietnamese Fine Art into the region and the world which are getting broader and wider. Social realities, historical and current events reflected through an author’s individual prism must undergo a process of “reawakening” which are tormenting, critical rather than being fully explicit, understandable and pleasing to the eyes as before. Better material conditions enable an author to exploit real material such as stone, bronze, metals, ceramics, fine wood, etc …, free from fake media like plaster and cement as previously. Hence, the third change, thought being difficult, was much deeper.
The present book give a rather clear description of this decade of “renovation” “restructuring” and “taking over by the new generation”.
Nguyen Hai is the main representative of the 1970s. He has succeeded in sculpting huge monuments and still maintain his robust, simple style with a touch of legendary as in epics. Ta Quang Bao and Phan Gia Huong continue the figured variations, surrealistic or solemn and mystical observed in the sculpture of Tay Nguyen ethnic nationalities.
Dao Chau Hai has got the purest language of sculpture which is vigorous and elegant with sculptural mass structure both complex and comprehensive extracted from the Viets’ simple aesthetics and Western transparent rationalism. Hai Nguyen’s sculpture is richly sensual and hefty, exploiting the beautiful and primitive features of materials, figures and shapes. Tran Hoang Co, Pham Van Dinh, Dinh Cong Dat and Van Thuyet have personal colours with their own, peculiar search, mixing up various sources of impriration, ranging from religious surrealism to expressive romanticism. Phan Phuong Dong surprises us by his coherent simplicity inspired from people’s philosophies and accident architectural blocks while Nguyen Minh Luan is gentle and innocent in his plastic art which seems to tune with folk toys and games and recollections from childhood. Thus, the road of sculpture will certainly look less desolate of we see it with a more concrete and general view, father than the scope of this exhibition.
Sensitive to the positive movements above mentioned, recently a number of activities have been started with a few group and solo exhibitions, several international artists’ camps within the country.
Still, being an optimist, I do believe that in the future further reassessment will be made and people will see that the present book plus two exhibitions are truly an event, a genuine turning point of Vietnam’s contemporary sculpture.
From the book “New Space” – Vietnamese contemporary Sculptures
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