Founded on the
3rd of February 1930, the Communist Party of Vietnam celebrated its
70 year anniversary at the turn of the Millennium. A quarter-century after the fall of Saigon,
this graphic poster unapologetically reflects Soviet iconic symbolism with the hammer and sickle raised victoriously.
In 1957 Trung Chin, the Minister of Information for the
Northern Democratic Republic of Vietnam, paraphrased the well-known
Leninist dogma, declaring, 'Art is only real art if it becomes propaganda'.
Over the ...
Read More
In 1957 Trung Chin, the Minister of Information for the
Northern Democratic Republic of Vietnam, paraphrased the well-known
Leninist dogma, declaring, 'Art is only real art if it becomes propaganda'.
Over the next three decades, as the country fought against the French, the Americans
and the Cambodian Khmer Rouge, the Vietnamese ‘art force’ played an essential
part in relaying the government’s message to a difficult to reach population.
Amid bombing campaigns and land battles, the artists cycled their posters to
villages across Vietnam. Despite these brutal conditions they created works of
striking originality, pieces that combined 1960s Soviet art with Vietnam’s own
folk art traditions.
Read Less
