Biggest personal collection of folk paintings opens in Hanoi

Collector Pham Duc Si will introduce his collection of Hang Trong folk paintings at an exhibition at the Viet Art Centre, 42 Yet Kieu, Hanoi from September 9. Si’s collection is praised as the largest personal collection of Hang Trong paintings in Vietnam, with 149 paintings.
Si used to be a carpenter who made painting frames and statue platforms for students and exhibitions at the Vietnam Arts University. This carpenter surprised people when he introduced his unique collection of Vietnamese worshiping paintings last October, also at the Viet Art Centre.
Unlike Dong Ho folk paintings, which are very popular, the number of Hang Trong paintings is limited. At present, there is no family on Hang Trong Street producing paintings. The last artisan – Mr. Le Dinh Nghien, an employee of the Vietnam Arts Museum – now resides in Ly Nam De street.
Si has collected Hang Trong paintings for nearly ten years, including a dozen paintings based on Chinese legends and paintings for hanging on the altar.
Si currently has four collections: the collection of Dong Son and China’s Han dynasty potteries; the collection of propaganda paintings during the war; a collection of worshipping paintings of some ethnic groups in Vietnam; and the collection of Hang Trong paintings.
Last October, he opened the exhibition and published a photo book of worshipping paintings.
Hang Trong painting is a genre of Vietnamese woodcut painting that originated from the area of Hang Trong and Hang Non streets in Hanoi. In the past, Hang Trong painting was an essential element of the Tet holiday in Hanoi, but today this tradition almost has disappeared and authentic Hang Trong paintings are found only in museums or fine art galleries.
The common themes in Hang Trong paintings are spiritual and cultural symbols such as the white tiger or carp, which indicate a stronger influence of Buddhism and Taoism than in Dong Ho painting. However, besides the pictures of worshipping themes, Hang Trong craftsmen also made paintings with folk themes like Dong Ho such as blind-man’s buff, following the leade) or the toad scholar for the decoration of families during the Tet holiday. Some popular pictures of Hang Trong painting are Five Tigers, Carp Looking at the Moon, Four female musicians and Virgin Girl.
In making a Hang Trong painting, the craftsman starts with woodblocks to print black outlines, then draws the details and finally colours the picture in by hand. Because the main part of the process is made by the craftsman’s hands, Hang Trong pictures are slightly different from one to another, thus they becomes more valuable for the fastidious customers in Hanoi.
The paper used in making Hang Trong painting is called Xuyen chi paper, which differs from the natural colour paper of Dong Ho painting. Hang Trong craftsmen colourize pictures with pigments, and therefore the tone of Hang Trong paintings is usually bright and attractive with principal colours being pink, blue, green, red and yellow.
The origin of Hang Trong painting dates back to the 17th century during the reign of the Le Dynasty. In the past, Hang Trong craftsmen often began to make pictures in the eleventh and twelfth months of the Lunar calendar so that they could meet with the high demand during the Tet holiday when a Hang Trong painting was indispensable for each Hanoi family. For this reason Hang Trong painting was also called Tet painting. Hang Trong craftsmen also produced worshipping pictures for Taoist temples and Buddhist pagodas in Hanoi.