During my recent trip to Dien Bien Phu (Dien Bien province) with the delegation of the Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations, in my luggage, in addition to the collection of songs about Dien Bien by musician Do Nhuan and the novel The Last High Point by writer Huu Mai, I also brought beautiful sketches by Dien Bien front artist Ngo Manh Lan...
1. In 1953, after graduating from the first course of the Vietnam Fine Arts School in the Viet Bac resistance zone, directed by painter To Ngoc Van, painter - People's Artist Ngo Manh Lan, along with other painters such as The Vy, Le Huy Hoa... volunteered to join the army and was honored to join the regiments to go to the Tran Dinh campaign (code name of the Dien Bien Phu campaign). Later, painter - People's Artist Ngo Manh Lan confided: "At the end of 1953, the unit was ordered to march to the campaign. During the day, we rested at the edge of the forest, at night, and it took almost a month to reach Dien Bien Phu. For me, these were the most difficult days: climbing over one mountain after another, wading through streams to get water to drink, hungry, thirsty, exhausted... But looking back, for me, these were also the most memorable days."
Painter - People's Artist Ngo Manh Lan participated in the Dien Bien Phu campaign as a painter but with the mentality of a soldier. He ate and lived with the soldiers, also dug mountains, slept in tunnels, endured the rain, and ate rice balls. Perhaps this was the period of time that brought him the most emotions, accumulating the most battlefield realities. And in the flood of things he saw with his own eyes, he picked up a pen to draw. Due to battlefield conditions, he did not have much time to complete his works, only focusing on sketching more than 100 pictures. Some of them became independent works, some were just quick sketches. However, through the works he left behind, viewers can feel the Dien Bien Phu spirit throughout, almost flowing through his veins.
“My father said he was still indebted to Dien Bien because he had not had the opportunity to turn his sketches into finished works. After the campaign ended in 1955, my father was sent to study in the Soviet Union and returned to Vietnam to become one of the leading figures in the children's animation film industry in Vietnam. A new job attracted his passion and love, causing him to devote all his time and effort to it,” Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan (daughter of painter - People's Artist Ngo Manh Lan) recalled.
2. In fact, with more than 100 sketches of "56 days and nights of digging mountains, sleeping in tunnels, pouring rain, and rice balls" by artist - People's Artist Ngo Manh Lan, the works themselves contain great meanings and artistic values.
His sketches realistically recorded the heroic battle of our soldiers in Dien Bien Phu, the images of the porters overcoming bombs and mud to bring food and ammunition to the battlefield. Those sketches were also a valuable source of information for the day of total victory, contributing to the creation of magnificent artistic paintings about one of the greatest military campaigns of the nation.
“The sketches of artist - People's Artist Ngo Manh Lan are very special, his ability to create images captures the beauty of the Dien Bien soldiers, of Uncle Ho's soldiers in different circumstances. His eye for beauty creates sketches that today our generation still feels moved when looking back on, because these are moments that cannot happen a second time. The sketches of resistance, especially on the Dien Bien Phu battlefield by artist Ngo Manh Lan will always have a special value not only at this time but also forever,” noted artist Luong Xuan Doan, General Secretary of the Vietnam Fine Arts Association.
One of his sons-in-law - General Secretary and President To Lam once confided: “I am a generation after the liberation of Dien Bien, so I did not witness what happened here. Fortunately, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory, I was able to take my father back to the old battlefield, where he participated in the campaign as a painter and listened to him recount the images, the truths and what happened in Dien Bien Phu at that time. The sketches and works clearly show the optimistic spirit of the soldiers, the people and the author himself. That is the strength of the nation, the strength of victory and we can also feel that spirit. Through my father's sketches, I can somewhat feel the moods and concerns when he said: "I still owe a debt to Dien Bien". I understand the debt that my father spoke of, because he had many intentions, that when he won, he would have works to describe the scale and greatness of the Dien Bien Phu Victory, but he had not been able to do it yet.
3. I write these lines on the third anniversary of the death of the painter - People's Artist Ngo Manh Lan (September 15, 2021). It has been three years since he passed away, but his warmth remains intact in the great affection of his family, of his wife People's Artist Ngoc Lan, also a famous film artist, of his children, grandchildren, of his daughters-in-law and sons-in-law, and of his beloved grandchildren.
To the country, he was not only a brave and talented Dien Bien Phu painter, a great artist of the revolutionary fine arts, but also a person with the leading merit in creating the country's animation career with works "... imbued with the spirit of the East, beautiful in both form and color. Can be ranked among the classics of the Vietnamese animation genre".
As an art lover, I love his paintings, sketches, and Russian paintings he drew during his days studying in the Soviet Union, which made some people compare him to “the Levitan of Vietnam” (Isaac Levitan, a Russian painter famous for his ability to realistically depict the beauty of nature). His typical works from this period include: On the Edge of the Forest (1957), Tarutxa Village Scene (1957), Late Summer Sun (1959), Saint Isaac’s Cathedral (1959), Old Farmer Woman in Traditional Russian Costume (1960)…
As a soldier who fought for many years on the front, I especially appreciate the sketches of the artist - People's Artist Ngo Manh Lan drawn in the Dien Bien Phu trenches. In our forever childlike souls, the children who grew up on the streets of Hanoi, he is always with us in the image of the adventurous Cricket, Saint Giong, Thach Sanh, Puss in Boots, Kitten or the talking starling... He is forever in our love...
CHAU LA VIET
Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/len-dien-bien-nho-hoa-si-nsnd-ngo-manh-lan-post758970.html
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