One of the things my wife had when we met was a large collection of Vietnamese posters like these, which she framed and hung around the perimeter of our powder room. It’s so cool to see more of it.
I love some of the colour palettes. In particular, the green/orange or green/pink ones. They aren’t entirely unique on their own, but combined with the art style it feels very distinct.
My favourite is one of a woman with a basket of watermelons on her back. The colours are like an intense fiery orange with deep greens and almost blue tones on the melons. I really need to translate the messages on them.
The anti-Nixon one, where his face is plastered on a falling bombshell and he's shooting lightning bolts out of his eyes at women and children, I think that's my favorite.
Wow, this is terrific. I love it. Lots of art online is curated with "traditional" art. This takes cultural movements and finds art associated with those moments. So fascinating!
I love these types of posters. A couple months ago someone posted prints from Canada's Department of Agriculture. Lots of fun ones there too. Anyone have other examples?
Hi there! Thank you for expressing your concerns, I will make it more clear when people visit the site to be cautious about the translations, next time I am able to update the website.
Hi everyone! Thank you for posting this site. I started this project while I was (and still am) a full-time student.
As another user mentioned, please be take EXTRA CAUTION when it comes to the translations! The "translations" typically come from the website where I found the artwork from, since I do not speak Vietnamese (am of Vietnamese heritage). The source of each image can be found with the source button. I try my best to fact-check, but since there aren't as many resources for Vietnamese design, I may unknowingly post inaccurate information. I will be more cautious in the future and next time I can update the website. I will double check the translations as well, if possible. I am really sorry in advance for spreading any misinformation.
I hope to dedicate more time to this project in the future. Currently, I am a full-time student and work part-time outside of school as well, so it's become challenging to keep it updated and do thorough research.
For some of the 'undated' book covers it is possible to at least assert the year of print because they seem to be limited prints certified with a handwritten note in French.
Fore example on the Khôn Sống Dại Chết book cover it is handwritten "tirage 1000 Saigon le 27/1/34". So it is a 1,000 copy print certified as such on the 27th January 1934.
Such a wild take after looking at, for example, a propaganda poster captioned “Work together to develop pig breeding and new varieties of rice” where the artist has decided to make the pigs in question bright purple with yin-yang signs on their backs.
That caption is a state mandated edict. It is compulsory and at the service of government goals. Making the pigs purple is not exactly a strong manifestation of individuality.
I wouldn't say it like that, but it represents basic communist-style propaganda until the 80s where they replaced everything with half-naked ladies. It's still interesting from a historical point of view.
What a ridiculously narrow perspective. Of course the art is massively influenced by a) Soviet propaganda, and b) communist hegemony, but at the same time every stroke of the pen is a decision by a conscious, thinking individual.
And several of the items—"Love Poems of Hue"—aren't overly propagandistic. So really, you're just dehumanizing an entire people, which is disgusting.
This collection is dehumanizing, not my comment. There is much much more to Vietnamese design and art than what is shown here. There is also a modern design culture from the diaspora that is not reflected here. This is an overwhelmingly political body of work, dominated by state control. By definition it is not from individual creative expression. I completely stand by my original statement.
Also a lot of these are stamps and explicit propaganda posters, right? Like what do people expect. Stamps are… I mean, it is cool when a nice picture is used but it isn’t high art right? Some flora or fauna is pretty standard postage stamp fare. And they are well drawn.
Propaganda posters, of course, lean into propagandistic tropes as a language. For propaganda posters they are pretty creative and well drawn. Better than a dozen pictures of Uncle Sam rolling up his sleeves.
Yes it does cover more time, but did you look at what's available in non-communist time periods? Did you click through the site? Not much else is there.
One of the things my wife had when we met was a large collection of Vietnamese posters like these, which she framed and hung around the perimeter of our powder room. It’s so cool to see more of it.
I love some of the colour palettes. In particular, the green/orange or green/pink ones. They aren’t entirely unique on their own, but combined with the art style it feels very distinct.
My favourite is one of a woman with a basket of watermelons on her back. The colours are like an intense fiery orange with deep greens and almost blue tones on the melons. I really need to translate the messages on them.
The anti-Nixon one, where his face is plastered on a falling bombshell and he's shooting lightning bolts out of his eyes at women and children, I think that's my favorite.
Wow, this is terrific. I love it. Lots of art online is curated with "traditional" art. This takes cultural movements and finds art associated with those moments. So fascinating!
I love these types of posters. A couple months ago someone posted prints from Canada's Department of Agriculture. Lots of fun ones there too. Anyone have other examples?
https://www.fifteen.ca/collections/agricultural-arts
This is such a great collection!
However, many of the translations are incorrect. For example:
This text:
> Dưới ngọn cờ quang vinh của đảng, nhân dân Nghệ-An Xô Viết anh hùng
Is incorrectly translated as:
> Under the glorious flag of the Vietnamese Communist Party, the people of Nghe An will crush their American enemies.
But it should be:
> Under the glorious flag of the [Vietnamese Communist] Party, the people of Nghe An are Soviet heroes.
There was no mention of "crush their American enemies" at all.
I would exercise caution and encourage the readers to double check the translation.
Edit: after reading more of the page, I changed my post from "some incorrect" to "many incorrect"
Hi there! Thank you for expressing your concerns, I will make it more clear when people visit the site to be cautious about the translations, next time I am able to update the website.
I unfortunately do not speak Vietnamese (am of Viet heritage) so the "translations" usually come from the articles where I found the poster since I am not able to translate it myself: https://saigoneer.com/saigon-music-art/4360-vietnamese-women...
No worries at all! If the site is open sourced, I can help update the translation text.
Thanks for the site, and keep up the great work!
I'm glad more aspects of Vietnamese culture/history is being looked at and showcased, being a vietnamese-american myself.
Can you help verify some of the translations? I’m getting different results using GTranslate.
Hi everyone! Thank you for posting this site. I started this project while I was (and still am) a full-time student.
As another user mentioned, please be take EXTRA CAUTION when it comes to the translations! The "translations" typically come from the website where I found the artwork from, since I do not speak Vietnamese (am of Vietnamese heritage). The source of each image can be found with the source button. I try my best to fact-check, but since there aren't as many resources for Vietnamese design, I may unknowingly post inaccurate information. I will be more cautious in the future and next time I can update the website. I will double check the translations as well, if possible. I am really sorry in advance for spreading any misinformation.
I hope to dedicate more time to this project in the future. Currently, I am a full-time student and work part-time outside of school as well, so it's become challenging to keep it updated and do thorough research.
You can really see the early 20th c French influence here
For some of the 'undated' book covers it is possible to at least assert the year of print because they seem to be limited prints certified with a handwritten note in French.
Fore example on the Khôn Sống Dại Chết book cover it is handwritten "tirage 1000 Saigon le 27/1/34". So it is a 1,000 copy print certified as such on the 27th January 1934.
I think you are right! I am realizing that many of the other book covers can be dated as well
See also, India hand painted movie posters.
An interesting showcase of a complete absence of individual expression or creative freedom. A pure collection of state managed culture.
Such a wild take after looking at, for example, a propaganda poster captioned “Work together to develop pig breeding and new varieties of rice” where the artist has decided to make the pigs in question bright purple with yin-yang signs on their backs.
That caption is a state mandated edict. It is compulsory and at the service of government goals. Making the pigs purple is not exactly a strong manifestation of individuality.
Rude.
makes me wanna find pre ww2 visual art from there
Same here. I looked it up after I saw this. This collection is only from approved art by the communist regime formed after WW II.
I wouldn't say it like that, but it represents basic communist-style propaganda until the 80s where they replaced everything with half-naked ladies. It's still interesting from a historical point of view.
What a ridiculously narrow perspective. Of course the art is massively influenced by a) Soviet propaganda, and b) communist hegemony, but at the same time every stroke of the pen is a decision by a conscious, thinking individual.
And several of the items—"Love Poems of Hue"—aren't overly propagandistic. So really, you're just dehumanizing an entire people, which is disgusting.
This collection is dehumanizing, not my comment. There is much much more to Vietnamese design and art than what is shown here. There is also a modern design culture from the diaspora that is not reflected here. This is an overwhelmingly political body of work, dominated by state control. By definition it is not from individual creative expression. I completely stand by my original statement.
Also a lot of these are stamps and explicit propaganda posters, right? Like what do people expect. Stamps are… I mean, it is cool when a nice picture is used but it isn’t high art right? Some flora or fauna is pretty standard postage stamp fare. And they are well drawn.
Propaganda posters, of course, lean into propagandistic tropes as a language. For propaganda posters they are pretty creative and well drawn. Better than a dozen pictures of Uncle Sam rolling up his sleeves.
+1
Also, this collection spans much more time than communist Vietnam? 1900-2020s? Weird take.
Yes it does cover more time, but did you look at what's available in non-communist time periods? Did you click through the site? Not much else is there.