I am not an artist, nor a critic, nor a connoisseur, But I am a visual person, and a lover of anything lovely, beautiful or of good report. Over time, I have come to appreciate the effort, the skill, and the aesthetic sense of the many Vietnamese artists whose work now stands in galleries and homes, in public and private, across the globe. It is true that one may not find many works produced in Vietnam in either the current or recent centuries in major European or American museums. But that is more for historical and economic reasons than for issues of merit. Moreover, I have come to appreciate that the visual sense of Vietnamese art can inform one tremendously about the history, the values, the emotions and the heart of Vietnam.
The art that is created here uses a variety of media relatively unique to the region, such as lacquer, but also incorporates a tremendous amount of foreign influences as well. Hence the influx of European ideas, styles, and techniques from the period of foreign trade beginning in the 1600s, and on through the period of French Colonial rule in the 19th and 20th centuries, is evident in both mimicry and adaptation. Other local materials like silk, have been adapted with watercolors or other means to produce both unique and beautiful results. And students of then current movements, such as cubism, have brought Vietnamese stories and subjects into those styles as well.
Political purposes have also been served, not surprisingly, by artists seeking a commission, and by the powerful seeking to impress others with their position, rightful heritage, or whatever, as in this lacquer on the wall behind the presidential receiving room for foreign ambassadors at the "Reunification" Palace in Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon. It depicts the peoples from across the world coming to assemble before the throne of the Viet leaders.
Influences from the "west" might also include south Asian influences, which have both a historic origin from the Champa culture that was a Hindi-based culture active in parts of Vietnam until the 13th century, and also more recent renditions of their stories as in this depiction of three female figures, and a type of "tree of life" behind them.
Modern depictions of daily life, the activity on the streets, are common, and found in both fine art, and "tourist art" renditions using media as diverse as colored gemstones to coconut wood. There is a sense of reverence in these more modern works for the mundane things of life, selling flowers or fruit, and an awareness of the beauty that can be found in such things as a scarf or a flowered blouse, and the connection we have with one another, either as family or in the case of these two, as friends in the market.
Though clearly set in Vietnam, I think Picasso might be proud of this cubist piece, although the subject seems to evoke some sadness, and the loss of fathers, sons, lovers or husbands, and the premature enlistment of boys into the workforce.
We have a number of Minerva Tiechert prints in the mission office, and the "tell the story and be done" approach in this young dancer in front of a black horse, seems reminiscent of that approach. It evokes our emotions but does not dwell on the small details.
Life living on the water is common for many here. Indeed, as in many cultures, one does not understand the culture until one knows their relationship to the core elements of water, and the land. In Vietnam the waterways have been dredged and expanded to create long straight canals in areas, bringing water to lands that previously were inaccessible for agriculture. But they have also just been where some chose to live- on their boat, going where the food or work was, trading where there was a market, and doing the laundry wherever in between was handy.
After visiting the mountains, and seeing the terraced paddies, interspersed with sloping fields planted with corn or other less water-demanding crops, I am amazed at the work of both planting, care and harvest in such a region. But one also sees moments when the young animal-tenders, sent to watch the buffalo that they wander not into someone's paddy at the wrong time, also find joy and play in their work.
Among the many techniques that can be applied to lacquer (we saw above paint, gilt, eggshell and others) it can also be engraved, or cut out, and if different colors have been applied beneath the finishing layer of black, the effects of such engraving can be quite stunning and nuanced. This large and complex lacquer woodcut, is mostly monochromatic, but the coloration and texture is still very nuanced. I think it reminds me that beauty sometimes lies beneath the surface, and is shaped by our desires to bring out the likeness of good from others.
The three portraits below of young women don't show much emotion, even the second one of the young woman with a letter from her boyfriend/husband. Yet that restraint is not because there are not emotions present. We have found that often the cultural tendency is to suppress emotion, to deny it, or to displace it elsewhere, which in at least a few cases, can have rather tragic results in terms of meaningful communication and relationships. Whether it comes out later as anger mis-directed, abuse of others, self or substances, or in just a scarred emotional sensitivity, helping create a healthy connection to one's spiritual self, one's emotional sensitivity, has been something we have found to be highly helpful, and needful. We're not highly adept at it, but we know He who heals all hearts that come to him.
This painted lacquer isn't depicting the flight into Egypt or much less the journey to Bethlehem, but I imagined that if one were telling either of those stories, this medium would fit it well. The whites in this piece are bits of eggshell embedded in the lacquer.
I was trying to think of which of these masks my grandkids would want to try on. I think the lion face might fit some of them well.
This massive multi-panel lacquer depiction of events in Vietnamese history has been designated a "national treasure." I like that kind of thinking, but I think it might be more widely applied, even in our families. There are pieces of our heritage, personality traits, trademark smiles, moments of expression, choices that determined the fate of coming generations, which should be designated "treasures of our heritage." And as such, they deserve study, consideration, preservation. I think really that is part of what family history is about. My Hassell cousins will be reuniting in a few weeks, and I hope they will pause to think a bit about the decisions that have shaped that heritage. For example, I think of my grandfather Hassell's decisions, both to leave Norway the first time, and then later after he had returned with his wife and a few children, to leave again. He didn't write much of anything about those two decisions, and yet they have proven monumental to the hundreds of people now counted among his posterity.
This wall-size tryptich lacquer does not rise to the level of national treasure, but it might well manifest the national experience of so many in the decades between the 1930s and 1975 or later, when wars and strife struck almost every family, with loss- loss of sons, loss of functions, loss of property and posterity. It is one reason that now the country continues to strive to teach peace, and perhaps one reason they are now ready to accept the true Prince of Peace.
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| Watercolor on silk- Fleeing in the night, amid the smoke |
I think, though I do not know for certain, the artists of the following three paintings, drawn from sales at the Green Palm Gallery (which continues to hope that I will be a consumer of their art, if not a conneseour) probably are doing pretty well financially. But I think also the brightness and optimism of their styles reflects the fact that a new day has dawned in Vietnam. It is a day of economic opportunity, when they can sell more widely to a broader audience, their works. But it is also a day when the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ is spreading across Southeast Asia in a more full and broad manner than for many years previous. A temple unto the most high God is planned for Bangkok; missionaries walk the streets of Hanoi and Phnom Penh at liberty. Stakes are planted firmly in Thailand, and in that Buddhist nation, the baptism rate of new converts is among the highest in Asia. The flowers are in bloom, and the fruits of the Tree of Life are being enjoyed by an ever increasing throng of those pressing forward clinging to the iron rod, and fleeing the night of darkness.
