Performed by: Nam Nguyen | April 16, 2024
(Fatherland) - Dong Ho Folk Painting Exhibition House in Bac Ninh is the only private museum of folk paintings in Vietnam, contributing to preserving and promoting the value of the famous ancient painting craft.
On April 16, Nguyen Dang Che Dong Ho Folk Painting Private Enterprise (Song Ho Ward, Thuan Thanh Town, Bac Ninh Province) held the inauguration ceremony of the Dong Ho Folk Painting Exhibition House.
This is the first private Dong Ho folk painting gallery in the area, contributing to preserving and promoting the value of the Dong Ho folk painting craft.
The exhibition area is arranged according to 7 main themes. The themes are arranged into separate areas to introduce the homeland and family, contributing to sketching the mark of Dong Ho Painting Temple, which used to be a place for exchanging and buying paintings during Tet; the Nguyen Dang family's Cham painting, the ancestral tomb, and the stone stele recording a summary of the family's history of making paintings since the 16th century.
This is also a space to preserve memories, documents, images, and typical relics about the passionate life and career of preserving the cultural heritage of Dong Ho village of the Vietnamese people and of the family of Meritorious Artisan Nguyen Dang Che.
One of the 200-year-old sets of printed woodblock prints of ancestral worship is introduced to the public.
The set of worship paintings was introduced to the public by Meritorious Artisan Nguyen Dang Che.
The exhibition helps visitors gain a full and interesting understanding of the drawing, coloring, and printing processes of a folk painting genre that has existed for centuries in Vietnam.
Ms. Ngo Hong Thuy, Director of the Center for Culture, Sports and Communications of Thuan Thanh town, affirmed that the protection and development of Dong Ho folk painting is necessary and is of interest to management agencies and the community; especially the family of Meritorious Artisan Nguyen Dang Che. This is not only of great significance in protecting and restoring a unique traditional craft and promoting a line of paintings bearing the "national soul" of the Vietnamese people, but also contributes to raising awareness of protecting the heritage treasure of ethnic communities in Vietnam as well as of humanity.
Dong Ho Folk Painting Gallery of Meritorious Artisan Nguyen Dang Che is the only private museum of folk paintings in Vietnam.
The craft of making Dong Ho folk paintings has existed for a long time. According to the genealogy of the Nguyen Dang family in Dong Ho village, the craft of making paintings has existed since the 16th century and flourished in the 40s of the 20th century. After 1945, under the domination and oppression of French colonialism, the craft of making Dong Ho folk paintings was in danger of disappearing, with no one coming to buy the paintings. Therefore, families switched to making votive offerings.
Currently, Dong Ho village has only two families making paintings: Nguyen Huu and Nguyen Dang, with two dedicated families still sticking with the profession: the families of artisans Nguyen Huu Sam and Nguyen Huu Qua and the family of Meritorious Artisan Nguyen Dang Che.
According to Meritorious Artisan Nguyen Dang Che, in the face of the risk of the Dong Ho folk painting profession being lost, in 1992, after he was allowed to retire by the State under the regime, with his passion and understanding of his hometown painting profession, he bought back the engravings from families who had abandoned the profession to repair and restore them. To date, the artisan has collected hundreds of ancient engravings; some of which are over 200 years old.
Thanks to that, it attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists to visit and learn about Dong Ho folk paintings every year. This is also a place for students of all levels to experience traditional crafts.
In 2013, Dong Ho folk painting was recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Tourists enjoy visiting the exhibition area as well as experiencing making Dong Ho folk paintings.
Dong Ho folk painting exhibition house will become a connecting point, promoting heritage types not only of Bac Ninh but also of other local and national heritage types to tourists.
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