· 1938: was born in Ha Nam province, Viet Nam.
· Graduated from Viet Nam Fine – Arts University.
· Member of Vietnam Fine – Arts Association
· Member of Hanoi Fine – Arts Association
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:
He is very well – know with his big lacquer ans oil paintings ( size 10 to 20 m) of great subjects shown at solemn places, such as:
The Meeting Hall, Office of the Party Centre Committee, Office of the National Assembly, Ministry of National Defense.
ABRUSH WITH HANOI:
Van Tho ( His name literally means ‘literary poem’ – his parents were writers and artists ) is one such successful artist. His five-storey house on the outskirts of Hanoi is opulent in its size, yet understarted in its furnishings. It is what you’d expect of a successful painter. The walls are filled with his work, in some of the high-walled rooms it seems as if the ceilings are held up by his paintings. His house also serves as a gallery for some of his select collectors. And there are certain eccentric touches, a dove flies free around the house, resting on my hand while I sit on Van’s sofa sipping tea.
The 66 – year – old painter’s work is big and abstract, almost primitive. Instead of a brush, he uses a trowel to apply paint to his canvases. Influenced by Picasso, his paintings are his renditions of face and people, although he is quick to point out they are portraits of people that he sees in his mind.
Van started his artistic life as one of Vietnam’s Social Realist painters, his work still hangs in many of the government ministry buildings. His murals – a combination of painting and wood carving – are very complex scenes of pagodas, people working and pastoral village’s scenes. Each would take Van and his assistants up to a year to complete.
Kres LeBoutillier.
Photographer and writer
(Singapore Airline Magazine, May 2004)
Have many works in collection of inside and outside in Vietnam.
