Cầu Kiều Collective’s banner

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It is a collage of artwork depicting Vietnamese women in many different roles and art styles. The background is a pattern found on Đông Sơn drums, depicting scenes of people, animals, and daily life activities. — The leftmost image in our banner is Thiếu nữ bên hoa huệ by Tô Ngọc Vân. The painting is of a Vietnamese girl next to a lily was created by artist Tô Ngọc Vân in 1943. It is considered his most famous work and most representative of 20th century Vietnamese Fine arts. The painting depicts a portrait of a young woman wearing áo dài, a traditional Vietnamese dress, next to a vase of white lilies. Tilting her head down to smell the flowers, the colors of the shirt and flowers blend together to depict lingering sadness and gentleness. From 1935 to 1939, Tô Ngọc Vân taught at Phnom Penh High School, then teaching at Indochina Fine Arts College until 1945. After the August Revolution, Tô Ngọc Vân participated in the resistance war against the French. In 1950, he was in charge of the Viet Bac Fine Arts School. The artist is considered to be the first person to have merit in using oil paints in Vietnam. Cầu Kiều have chosen to replace the lilies with the hammer and sickle, a symbol that represents proletarian solidarity – a union between the peasantry and the working class. It was first adopted during the Russian Revolution; the hammer represents industrial workers and the sickle represents farmers as the workers that make up the foundation of our society. It now represents international proletariat international solidarity and has been adopted by many socialist nations such as Vietnam, China and Cuba.

Cầu Kiều Collective is excited to share the newest art piece for our social medias. Thank you to @kuynkank for collaborating with us and creating this beautiful piece that encapsulates our strong revolutionary heritage and traditions, as well as one that illustrates the importance of Vietnamese women throughout our history and onward.

It is a collage of artwork depicting Vietnamese women in many different roles and art styles. The background is a pattern found on Đông Sơn drums, depicting scenes of people, animals, and daily life activities.

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The rightmost image in our banner is Nữ dân quân vùng biển – sơn dầu, Trần Văn Cẩn.

Trần Văn Cẩn is widely regconized as one of the most important painters of modern Vietnam. This painting – his second most successful work – depicts a Vietnamese female militia guarding the sea. Trần Văn Cẩn was born on August 13, 1910. After graduating at the Indochina College of Fine Arts, he rosed to fame with the iconic “Em Thúy” oil painting, a regconized national treasure. Later, Trần Văn Cẩn became headmaster at Vietnam College of Fine Arts from 1954 to 1969. He was also Vice President of the Vietnam Union of Literature & Arts, and Chairman of the Art Appraisal Council for the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum.

Nữ dân quân vùng biển, composed in 1960, is an example of Trần Văn Cẩn’s signature artstyle. Using the rules of classical painting, with a centralized composition & color scheme, the painting is an expression of the artist’s dream to preserve the sea and sky of Vietnam. The maritime militia in the painting is a strong, sun-kissed skin woman, ready to overcome difficulties and sacrifice herself for her homeland. Moreover, she also possesses the unique beauty of Vietnamese women: one that is simple, discreet but patient and persistent.

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