Such is a Ha Noi, being featured by street corners of scarlet roofed houses, landscapes and historical relics which are deeply dyed by the colour of time, and even the folks herewith are bearing the foggy and smoked colour of once the past.
Works on “Hang Trong craftsman”,1976
Wooden carved picture is not the only graphic art type that painter Tran Nguyen Dan is following, but it is the sole thing which has made him give his whole mind throughout his art work life. After nearly 50 years at work, he has been able to achieve a great deal of successes in the production of wooden carved picture type.
Carved picture on “Thang Long – Ha Noi”,2003
Carved pictures of painter Tran Nguyen Dan are split into differrent major themes: Scenery, rural life, craft village festival, pagoda or temple architecture, duo love singing,..; Ha Noi, Hue, Hoi An, ethnic minority. Out of about 100 graphic art pieces (mainly woodencut and wooden block) many have been displayed at the exhibition “ Carvings from the past to present” taking place in March 2016, at the Viet Nam Fin Arts Museum– (No. 66 Nguyen Thai Hoc street)., It will be easy for tourists as well as Ha Noi lovers to recognize pictures placed in the thematic display area of Ha Noi due to the familiar characters of the Capital without glancing at the title or carver’s name.Such are the legendary Long Bien bridge – historic witness of Hanoians, historical relics and landscapes like one-pillar pagoda, Ha Noi flag pole, Van Mieu temple, turtle tower, sword restored lake that all have been redepicted in the pictures with various feelings once near and far, or the other clear and dim, and then primary and secondary which have created a Ha Noi aged-old and dreamy, familiar and strange, faraway and lovely. These pictures reminisce about the memories and loves which Tran Nguyen Dan has dedicated to Ha Noi. With just a small thing that make the public know and realize him – the artist draws Ha Noi in a very unique way with an inheritance from folk paintings art of Hang Trong and Dong Ho, shaping a modern beauties of the Vietnamese carved pictures.
Art piece of “Ha Noi in my eyes”, 2011
Painter Tran Nguyen Dan has received the State Prize of Literature and Arts (Phase II, in 2007) for his carved works titled “Craftsman of Hang Trong” and “Thang Long – Dong Do – Ha Noi”.
Quach Huong