Vietnam University of Fine Arts

Vietnam University of Fine Arts (formerly Hanoi College of Fine Arts) is an art school in Hanoi, Vietnam. It was established under the French rule in 1925.[1] The university has trained many of Vietnam’s leading artists and each year it participates in many cultural exchanges with sister institutions overseas.

Vietnam University of Fine Arts

Trường Đại học Mỹ thuật Việt Nam
Former names	Hanoi College of Fine Arts
Established	1925 (1925)
Location	Hanoi , Vietnam
Website	http://mythuatvietnam.edu.vn

History

The long and distinguished history of the Hanoi University of Fine Art may be traced back to the colonial École Supérieure des Beaux Arts de l’Indochine (1925–45) (the Indochina College of Fine Arts) which trained successive generations of Vietnamese students — and a smaller number of students from Cambodia and Laos — in the western art tradition, laying the essential groundwork for the development of a distinctive Vietnamese style of modern art. The École des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine in Hanoi was the predecessor of the Hanoi College of Fine Arts (vi:Trường Đại học Mỹ thuật Việt Nam).

The école was established by the French colonial government, along similar lines to the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts d’Alger, established 1843, and École des Beaux-Arts de Tunis, established 1923. The school was for all students who were then known to the French as Indochinese — including Tonkinese (Bắc Kỳ), Annamese (Trung Kỳ), Cochin Chinese (i.e., not ethnic Chinese but inhabitants of Nam Kỳ), Khmer, and Lao — although inevitably most students were drawn from Hanoi itself.[2][3]

The co-founders are usually credited as the first director Victor Tardieu and the Vietnamese artist Nam Sơn.[4][nb 1] Tardieu was succeeded by the sculptor Évariste Jonchère who was director from 1938 to 1945.[5][nb 2]

French artists who were teachers at school and other art schools in the south of Vietnam include several winners of the Prix d'Indochine, since from 1925 winning the prize included a year teaching at the school. Teachers included Joseph Inguimberty,[6] and Alix Aymé, wife of the deputy commander of the French forces.

Alumni of the École Supérieure des Beaux Arts de l’Indochine (1925-45)

Students included Lê Phổ, Tô Ngọc Vân, Nguyễn Phan Chánh, the first to exhibit silk paintings in Paris in 1931, Nguyễn Gia Trí, known for his lacquer painting, the Roman Catholic painter Lê Văn Đệ, Nguyễn Tường Lân, the painter Lê Thị Lựu who emigrated to Paris, Nguyễn Sáng, Nguyễn Khang (painter), Huỳnh Văn Gấm, Phan Kế An, Dương Bích Liên and Tạ Tỵ.[7]

After 1945

The college was taken over by the provisional government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam after the August Revolution of 1945. When the struggle against the French intensified in 1950, the college was moved to Đại Từ, Thai Nguyen in the Viet Bac Resistance Zone, under the direction of painter Tô Ngọc Vân.

In 1954 professors and students returned to Hanoi where, in 1957, a new Hanoi College of Fine Art was established under the direction of painter Tran Van Can.

In 1981 this institution became the Hanoi University of Fine Art. The university offers five-year Bachelor of Fine Art programmes and two-year full-time or three-year part-time Master of Arts programmes in Painting, Graphic Art and Sculpture, and four-year Bachelor of Fine Art Education programmes.[8][9]

Alumni of Tô Ngọc Vân's Resistance Class

Graduates who studied in the resistance zone under Tô Ngọc Vân included Trần Lưu Hậu.

Alumni of Hanoi College of Fine Arts (1957-1975)

Graduates included Phạm Thanh Tâm,[10][11] Phạm Đỗ Đồng[12] and Bùi Quang Ánh.[13]

References

1. Art Articles - Vietnamese Modern Paintings - The Pioneers
2. Nora A. Taylor Painters in Hanoi: an ethnography of Vietnamese art, page 13, 2009: "More importantly, it was during the initial years of l'Ecole des beaux-arts d'Indochine that what were known then as Indochinese — which included Annamese, Tonkinese, Khmer, and Lao — students began ..."
3. The Country of Memory: Remaking the Past in Late Socialist Vietnam, page 111 Hue-Tam Ho Tai, 2001 "In 1925, the Ecole des Beaux Arts d'Indochine (EBAI) was founded, and some twenty students enrolled. Most of the students were from local upper-class educated Hanoi families. A couple of students came from Cambodia and Laos, along with a few colonial residents. Classes in composition, anatomy, perspective, painting, and drawing were held in conjunction with a few classes in "indigenous" arts, painting on ..."
4. Arts of Asia: Volume 39. 2-3. p. need page number. Arts of Asia Publications, 2009.
5. Joubert, Lindy . (2008). 'Educating in the Arts: The Asian Experience: Twenty-Four Essays.' Volume 11 of Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects. Springer. p. 43. ISBN 1402063865
6. Arts of Asia: Volume 39. :2-3. p. 94. Arts of Asia Publications, 2009.
7. Nora A. Taylor, Painters in Hanoi: an ethnography of Vietnamese art, 2009
8. Việt Nam: Hà Nội University of Fine Art Archived September 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
9. Bui Xuan Phai Archived August 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
10. "Phạm Thanh Tâm Biography". Vietnam: The Art of War.
11. "Phạm Thanh Tâm (1932-2019)". Witness Collection.
12. "Phạm Đỗ Đồng Biography". Vietnam: The Art of War.
13. "Bùi Quang Ánh Biography". Vietnam: The Art of War.

1. Nguyen Binh Minh. Deputy Director, Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, photographs by Nguyen Kim Long ... from 1909, but those that did, such as Le Van Mien (1873-1943), Nguyen Van Tho (Nam Son) (1890 1973) and Thang 'Iran Phenh (1895 ?) ... FASI was established bv the French administration in 1925 under the directorship of French artist Victor Tardieu"[4]
2. From the source: "A rare example was in Vietnam in 1937, when sculptor Evariste Jonchère (1892–1956) came from France and took over the Directorship of the École until 1945. While his own work was more modernist than that of Tardieu."[5]

[1]

1. Paliard Pierre, Un art vietnamien: penser d'autres modernités Le projet de Victor Tardieu pour l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts de l'Indochine à Hanoï en 1924, Paris, L'Hamattan, 2014