Vietnamese Art Through the Ages

A study of the roots of Vietnamese art reveals a long and rich history. The earliest forms of the Vietnamese art could be traced to the Stone Age, almost 8,000 years before Christ. Though Vietnamese art has been influenced by different civilizations, it has always had its own style and identity. In spite of the cross-culture influence, Vietnamese art has never lost its significant distinction.

The earliest influence was probably made by the Chinese domination of Vietnam in the 2nd century B.C. The local art of Vietnam heavily absorbed the Chinese influence and this style continued over a long period of time even after their independence from China in the 10th century A.D.

During the Stone Age and Bronze Age, Vietnamese art in the form of pottery and bronze casting reached new heights. The Stone Age potteries were more basic and lacked artistic decors but their Dong Son drums which went back to the Dong Son civilization from about 1,000 B.C. to the 4th century B.C., depicts advanced bronze-casting skills and clearly shows remarkable advancements of their art.

The important developments of art in Vietnam probably took place during the ten century long Chinese rule on the nation from 111 B.C. to 939 A.D. Even after their independence, impressions of Chinese-influenced philosophies adopted by Vietnam such as Confucianism, Mahayana Buddhism and Taoism were remarkably visible in their arts. However, the Golden Age of Vietnamese Art began during the 11th century under the Ly Dynasty. During this time the arts of Vietnam grew more and more popular and were even recognized across the East and Southeast parts of Asia.

In spite of the fact that Vietnamese art had begun to find fame and popularity during the Chinese domination, the real development of fine arts started with the French colonization in the 19th century. In the 20th century, French colonialists established the "Fine Arts College of Indochine" (FACI), which exclusively opened for the three Indochine countries Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia following an all around European training method.

However, in 1954, with the Dien Bien Phu Victory, Vietnam was divided into two separate regions, North Vietnam and South Vietnam according to the Geneva Agreement. The two regions grew different styles of arts under the influence of different cultures for the next few years. In 1975, when the war ended and Vietnam was unified as one nation again, the unavoidable cross-culture conflicts between the North and South region did not leave much impact on art.

Due to the influence of various civilizations and their cultures, the war torn nation could not develop any new trends or thoughts except those coming from the outside world that have been changed in accordance to Vietnamese life. It’s not that contemporary or modern art do not exist but there are not many impressive or monumental works showing any philosophical traits. Representing their cultural history, Vietnamese art mainly represents a quiet beauty or even simplicity of Vietnamese people and their history of struggle against invasions.