Viet Nam News
HA NOI — About 40 Kim Hoang folk paintings will be shown at the Exhibition House on 93 Dinh Tien Hoang as a part of a series of cultural activities taking place at the weekend walking street around Hoan Kiem Lake from June 15.
The event is co-held by the Viet Nam Ceramic Museum, Kim Hoang Village and the Viet Nam University of Fine Arts. It is aims to offer local people and foreign tourists a chance to get to know more about Kim Hoang’s folk paintings.
Kim Hoang is a famous genre of folk paintings in the northern Red River delta provinces dating back to the 18th century. Along with Hang Trong and Dong Ho, Kim Hoang paintings were well received in the 19th century, but the tradition of making the paintings gradually declined and was ultimately lost in the middle of the 20th century.
"Visitors will have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of activities such as making Kim Hoang paintings and masks with artisans from Kim Hoang Village and students and lecturers from the fine arts university," said Nguyen Thi Thu Hoa, director of Viet Nam Ceramic Museum. "We are aiming the event towards children, and want to show them some of the restored paintings."
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| Preservation: Artisan Dao Duc Trung, the only artist in Kim Hoang Village to successfully restore ancient paintings. — Photo Ha Tung Long |
Hoa began the folk painting project in 2015. She invited Dao Duc Trung from Kim Hoang Village to restore the ancient paintings. But it was difficult to carry out the project because a flood in 1915 swept away most of the wood blocks there, and Kim Hoang paintings were not made from 1945 - 1975.
Hoa had to ask for help from museums and the collectors in Viet Nam and abroad.
"We had to ask about 30 artisans from Dong Ho Village; Hang Trong Street and Sinh in central province of Thua Thien Hue to help restore the wood blocks," Hoa said. "We have restored about 30 per cent of the ancient Kim Hoang paintings."
A few ancient models featuring pigs, chickens and Han script are copied from wood blocks which are stored in Viet Nam Fine Arts Museum. The other models are about daily life, business activities and farming. They were made based on paintings printed in Imagerie Populaire Vietnamienne by French artist Maurice Durand.
The Kim Hoang folk paintings exhibition will open at 4.30pm on June 16 and run until June 18. The exhibition will introduce the history and techniques of Kim Hoang paintings through a documentary. About 100 exhibits related to Kim Hoang paintings will be displayed at the exhibition.
A painting contest will be also launched to encourage children inspired by Kim Hoang folk paintings to create their own artworks. The best artworks will be announced on the Full Moon Festival in September. — VNS