Nguyen Phan Chanh
| Nguyễn Phan Chánh | |
|---|---|
Nguyễn Phan Chánh
|
|
| Born |
July 21, 1892 Ha Tinh |
| Died | November 22, 1984 (aged 92) Ha Noi |
| Nationality |
 Việt Nam
|
| Alma mater | École Supérieure des Beaux Arts de l’Indochine |
| Known for | Silk painting |
| Awards |
Labor Order Order of Independence Ho Chi Minh Prize |
Nguyen Phan Chanh (July 21, 1892 - November 22, 1984) was born in a rural Vietnamese village, in Ha Tinh (now Nghe Tinh) province. His early education was in Chinese (as was common in pre-colonial times), and he studied Chinese calligraphy so as to pass the qualifying exams for the title of Mandarin. However, the exams were abolished before he was old enough to sit them. With his first ambition thwarted, it was decided that he should continue studying painting at the l’Ecole des Beaux-arts d’Indochine ("the Indochinese College of Fine Arts") in Hanoi.
The pamphlets describing the goals for l’Ecole des Beaux-arts d’Indochine used the phrase “to transform the indigenous craftsmen into professional artists” which reflects the colonial mind-set of civilizing and educating ‘the natives’ (Taylor, 2004: 36). However, despite these rather condescending aims, Victor Tardieu, and his co-founder, Nam Son Nguyen Van Tho, and their colleague Joseph Imguimberty, in addition to introducing observation-based drawing classes, composition and oil painting, did not simply impose European art techniques, theories and media, they also included the study of oriental media such as woodblock printing, silk and lacquer painting in the curriculum, which demonstrates their interest in and openness to local culture and traditions. It seems that despite the inevitable resentment of colonialism at that time, the individual people involved in establishing l’Ecole des Beaux-arts d’Indochine had a genuine interest in, and recognition of, the potential of Vietnamese art (especially painting), and a rapport with the students that helped to build an artistic community.
Chanh was one of the early entrants to the newly opened French-established l’Ecole des Beaux-arts d’Indochine in 1925, 33 years of age, older than many of his classmates, and from a different and more rural geographical region. According to Huynh (2005:125-6) ‘Chanh was considered a rather awkward student, who insisted on maintaining tradition’ and it has been suggested that his peers and French tutors considered his focus on representing village life rather unsophisticated and old-fashioned. Whilst Chanh had struggled with oil painting, he ‘established himself as a master’ at silk painting.
Painting on silk is considered to be a traditionally Chinese art form, although Chanh argued it ‘expressed the national (Vietnamese) character to the highest degree’ and goes on to talk about the enthusiastic reception given to his and other artists in their exhibition in Hanoi, 1954-1955, where opinion stated that the paintings were ‘neither Chinese, Japanese or French.‘ (i.e. that they were distinctively Vietnamese). The emphasis given to silk painting being an art form which effectively expresses Vietnam’s national identity reflects the political context of the times, and the directives from Truong Chinh (Marxism and Vietnamese Culture) and Ho Chi Minh, that art should follow the socialist agenda and be a form of propaganda, glorifying the peasants and soldiers of Vietnam.
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