“It is time for us to sit down and review our successes and achievements, which we have not done since we left the school,” said Ngo Van Duyen, who was the captain of his class.nguyen art gallery
Duyen said, they – the artists – had planned to hold the exhibition for a long time, but it was not easy since all of them are now grandfathers and grandmothers and some others have died.
The exhibition, entitled 48 Nam – Mot Chang Duong (48 Years – A Stage of a Journey) gathers 48 paintings and 12 statues, some of which were made a long time ago and some just completed recently, but all of which have never before been shown.
All the senior painters have prepared very carefully before coming to the capital bearing their favourite works.
“I travelled to Hoa Binh Province’s Kim Boi area, where I saw a Muong ethnic mother carrying her son sitting near a river. The landscape surrounding them was attractive and I decided to draw them and bring the painting here for this occasion,” said Nguyen Xuan Quang, one of 23 classmates, talking about his oil painting Mother and Son, which took him nearly three months to complete.
“In over ten years doing fine arts, this is one of my happiest days, when I am here with my friends. I have three works here and they [my classmates] will know that I am still strong enough to contribute to art,” said Le Minh Son, whose Vui Ve (Joyfulness) and Luan Hoi (Metempsychosis) received much attention from viewers on the opening day.
The artists, including Pham Luc, Tham Duc Tu, Tran Thi My Nhung and Nguyen Khanh Chuong, are now well known among painting lovers.
They separated to every corner of the country, where they discovered the nation’s beauty and recorded it in their works. Although they sometimes still saw each other and heard about their friends’ private exhibitions, this is the first time most of the classmates have gathered for a joint display.
“We are all elderly people, the youngest are 65 and the oldest are 77, but we are very fervent with the plan and ignored everything to enjoy the first and maybe the last meeting of this kind,” said Duyen who also has two works at the show.
“Apart from a hope to meet each other, the senior artists, who have experienced so much during their lives, especially through war, also want to once more bring their thoughts, emotion and colour to the public,” said Duyen.
At the exhibition, which features the Vietnamese people and landscape, viewers can admire paintings created in the various materials of oil, lacquer and pastel.
Viewers will be surprised by the works of painter Nguyen Van Chinh, who shows off his paintings Hoa and Thieu Nu (Flowers and Young Girl) and Doi Ban (Two Friends), made from pieces of paper.
Chinh cut the paper into pieces and stuck them onto picture frames which look simple but demanded a lot of time and effort by their creator.
Next to his paper works are three copies of Vietnamese currency by Lai Dang Bach, who was the main painter who took responsibility for three patterns of Viet Nam’s currency. At the exhibit, he displays the notes of VND1,000, VND2,000 and VND10,000, of which the first is still in use today.
The display is ongoing at Ha Noi’s 16 Ngo Quyen Street Exhibition House until May 10. — VNS
