Exhibition "Figuring a Shape": To Ngoc Van in dialogue with the contemporary
WVR - The exhibition “Figuring a Shape” presents to the public 71 sketches by the late renowned painter To Ngoc Van – a glimpse into his vast legacy, alongside a hypotherical dialogue with seven contemporary artists: Kim Bach, Dang Xuan Hoa, Phan Cam Thuong, Duy Hoa, Trieu Phuong, Le Thuy, and Xuan Lam – representing the successive generations of the Indochina College of Fine Arts.
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The event is organized by the Phu Sa Art Foundation and the Lan Tinh Foundation at the Exhibition House, 67 To Hien Thanh (Hanoi), commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Indochina College of Fine Arts, now the Vietnam University of Fine Arts.
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| Collector Le Quang Khai (fourth from left) with event delegates. (Source: Organizers) |
The exhibition's opening attracted significant attention from art enthusiasts in the capital, including Dr. Nguyen Si Dung, former Deputy Director of the National Assembly Office; Ambassador Vu Quang Minh, former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, and former Vietnamese Ambassador to Germany.
Painter To Ngoc Van (1906–1954) is a monumental figure, both as an artist, thinker, and educator, with a legacy that has profoundly influenced the history of Vietnamese fine arts.
Graduating top of his class in the second cohort (1926–1931) of the Indochina College of Fine Arts, he became a highly regarded name with solid technique and sharp concepts, exploring the contemporary essence of Hanoi's urban populace.
He also represented a generation of artists who engaged with the nation, actively participating in the resistance for national independence and sacrificing his life during the Dien Bien Phu campaign.
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| Books on the life and works of painter To Ngoc Van are on display at the exhibition. (Source: Organizers) |
At the exhibition, attendees were deeply impressed by the efforts of collector Le Quang Khai. With a love for national art, he repurchased To Ngoc Van's collection from a renowned Thai collector to bring it back to Vietnam, donating it to the Phu Sa Art Foundation to preserve the cultural and artistic heritage of the nation and introduce it to the domestic public.
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| Exhibition "Figuring a Shape": Collector Le Quang Khai speaks at the Opening ceremony of the Exhibition. (Photo: Organizers) |
During Do Moi (Renewal), the wave of integration and globalization has ushered contemporary art into a new era. Many generations of artists began moving away from traditional canvases to embrace diverse and innovative visual art forms such as installation, performance, and motion graphics.
In this context, a question that troubles art lovers: Does academic fine art still have a place in modern life? How should the contemporary relevance of To Ngoc Van's legacy and the Indochina College of Fine Arts be perceived?
The exhibition “Figuring a Shape” can be seen as a modest effort by the curatorial team to seek answers to these era-defining questions, presented in the form of an exhibition.
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| The exhibition will be open until November 2. (Source: Organizers) |
The curatorial team aims to experiment and design a hypotherical cross-generational dialogue between artist To Ngoc Van and contemporary artists, all of whom are descendants of the Yet Kieu School, through a cross-section of their practice slices.
Whether in oil, lacquer, silk, paper, or mixed media, these artists share commonalities (or inherit from) To Ngoc Van's approach, clearly evidenced in his own sketches. These shared points are connected across four exhibition spaces affirming the close relationship between form (hinh) and idea (y) in fine arts.
The Exhibition will be open until November 2, 2025.
| Phu Sa Art Foundation is a private art foundation established in 2023, aiming to preserve and spread Vietnamese fine art works from the Indochina period to the post-resistance era. With nearly two decades of art collection, the team aims to contribute to strengthening the position of Vietnamese art in the regional and international art history, providing a significant voice from local collectors and practitioners. Lan Tinh Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 2021, with a mission to support curatorial, research, and archival activities of modern and contemporary Vietnamese art. Main projects include research consulting for private and public collections, curatorial and educational support for exhibitions, and the Lan Tinh Fellows program for artists and art researchers. |
More highlights from the Exhibition
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| Exhibition "Figuring a Shape": Painter To Ngoc Van and the dialogue with the contemporary |
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| Exhibition "Figuring a Shape": Overview of the opening. |
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| Exhibition "Figuring a Shape": Painter To Ngoc Van and the dialogue with the contemporary |
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| Exhibition "Figuring a Shape": Painter To Ngoc Van and the dialogue with the contemporary |
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| Exhibition "Figuring a Shape": Foreign visitors tour the exhibition |
