Unknown stories about the sleepless nights of painter To Ngoc Van and the painting that became a treasure

Art critic Nguyen Hai Yen (left) and painter Luong Xuan Doan share about painter To Ngoc Van - Photo: T.DIEU

Within the framework of the exhibition Road to Dien Bien currently taking place at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, there was a talk about painter To Ngoc Van on the morning of May 11. The name of the painter attracted a large number of attendees.

Fossils of Vietnamese beauty

Watercolor sketch Roadside Shop by To Ngoc Van belongs to Vietnam Fine Arts Museum

As one of the first employees at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum (established in 1966), art critic Nguyen Hai Yen said that painter To Ngoc Van studied in the second class of the Indochina College of Fine Arts.

Exposure to Western schools taught by French professors greatly influenced To Ngoc Van in his paintings before 1945, especially in his classical, impressionist and post-impressionist Western art trends.

During this creative period, To Ngoc Van left behind many works filled with light, painting landscapes and very beautiful women.

The work Two young women and a baby by painter To Ngoc Van, a national treasure - Photo: Vietnam Fine Arts Museum

Among them is the painting Two young women and a baby, currently in the collection of the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum and recognized as a national treasure.

Talking about this painting, artist Luong Xuan Doan - president of the Vietnam Fine Arts Association - affirmed that To Ngoc Van had fossilized the beauty of Vietnamese women in a peaceful space with hibiscus flowers on the porch.

He fossilized the beauty of urban girls of the past, an eternal beauty that never gets old and is very hard to find today.

According to Mr. Doan, To Ngoc Van's oil paintings are greatly influenced by modern European art, but his works are very purely Vietnamese, with soft lines and a very sophisticated way of handling color plates imbued with Vietnamese soul.

In the period 1945-1954, there was another To Ngoc Van, a brave soldier on the campaign roads.

Ms. Hai Yen said that in 1944 the situation was very tense, the Indochina Fine Arts School temporarily closed and divided into two groups.

A group of sculpture and architecture students followed the principal to Da Lat. A group of painting students followed painter Nam Son, To Ngoc Van and a French professor to Duong Lam, Son Tay.

Watercolor sketch Feeding the horse by To Ngoc Van on the way to the Dien Bien Phu front - Photo: T.DIEU

From Son Tay, these artists moved to Viet Bac, forming two organizations: the Vietnam Fine Arts School with painter To Ngoc Van as principal and the Viet Bac Literature and Arts Association with painter Tran Van Can as president.

From these two organizations opened a new period of Vietnamese fine arts, ending the modern period with Indochina fine arts painters.

During the resistance war, although he was very busy teaching students at the Vietnam Fine Arts School (still called the resistance course), as soon as the school finished at the end of 1953, painter To Ngoc Van immediately went with his brothers and students to Dien Bien Phu to sketch the battlefield.

And on this very journey, in June 1954, To Ngoc Van sacrificed himself near Lung Lo Pass when the Dien Bien Phu battle had just ended.

Mr. Doan said the battlefield sketches To Ngoc Van left behind show the artist's shift from academic painting to the most realistic drawings to depict the faces and personalities of Vietnamese people during the resistance war against the French, from grandmothers to country girls.

"To Ngoc Van was the soul of the resistance class. He discovered talented students like Luu Cong Nhan, Tran Luu Hau, Trong Kiem, Le Huy Hoa..., quietly inspiring them without imposing any of his own ideas on them," said Mr. Luong Xuan Doan.

Two young girls and a baby by To Ngoc Van at the museum

According to Ms. Nguyen Hai Yen, the fact that this precious painting by artist To Ngoc Van was brought to the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum is a great fortune for the museum and also a great fortune for the work.

Graduating from the University of Culture in 1964, Ms. Yen worked for the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, which was established in 1962.

Before the museum was officially established in 1966, painter Nguyen Do Cung - founder of the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum - sent his students and staff to families in Hanoi to collect modern art works. Fortunately, at that time, photographer Le Vuong was invited by Mr. Nguyen Do Cung to work at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum.

Painter To Ngoc Thanh shares stories about his father - famous painter To Ngoc Van - Photo: T.DIEU

Mr. Le Vuong knows many people in the art world, among them he is very close friends with photographer Do Huan at 30 Nguyen Thai Hoc, Hanoi.

Seeing his friend working at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, Mr. Do Huan once told Mr. Le Vuong that his family had a painting by artist Tran Van Can, which the Vietnam Fine Arts Association often borrowed for exhibitions, so Mr. Huan told Mr. Vuong to bring the painting back to the museum.

Thanks to that, the painting Em Thuy has appeared in the collection of the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum.

Then Mr. Huan also showed Mr. Vuong that there was a family in Hanoi that was keeping the painting Two young women and a baby by artist To Ngoc Van.

That was the family of Dr. Nguyen Tan Gi Trong. Mr. Vuong came to persuade this famous doctor and he agreed to transfer the painting to the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum. Now the painting has become a national treasure.

Ink painting "Making a Shirt" by artist To Ngoc Van drawn on the way to the Dien Bien Phu front - Photo: T.DIEU

To Ngoc Van's sleepless nights

At the talk, painter To Ngoc Thanh - son of famous painter To Ngoc Van - told about his father's two sleepless nights when he came to paint Uncle Ho at Bac Bo Palace.

Woodcut painting of Uncle Ho working in the Northern Palace, painted by artist To Ngoc Van in 1946, currently in the collection of the Ho Chi Minh Museum - Photo: T.DIEU

Mr. Thanh said that in 1946, his father and some artists went to the Northern Palace to paint a portrait of Uncle Ho.

Painter To Ngoc Van asked Uncle Ho for permission to paint in three days and complete it in three weeks. Uncle Ho replied that painting in three months was reasonable, let alone three weeks.

Listening to Uncle Ho speak, painter To Ngoc Van realized that Uncle Ho understood that art needs time to be created well.

The artist was so moved that he couldn't sleep all night because he saw that the leader could understand art so thoroughly.

The second sleepless night of painter To Ngoc Van was the day he finished painting Uncle Ho, and Uncle Ho asked painter To Ngoc Van how many children he had.

When the artist answered that he had four, Uncle Ho took out four pieces of candy wrapped in newspaper from the drawer and gave them to To Ngoc Van to bring home for his son, without taking the delicious imported candies on the table.

Once again the artist received a valuable message from the nation’s leader: Art must have national character. To Ngoc Van had another sleepless night because of that lesson.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/chuyen-chua-biet-ve-nhung-dem-mat-ngu-cua-hoa-si-to-ngoc-van-va-buc-tranh-thanh-bao-vat-20240512085042175.htm