War-time posters find new life as art

Vietnamese wartime posters featuring President Ho Chi Minh or heroic images of liberation fighters have become popular souvenirs for tourists.
The posters are common items alongside jewellery, clothing and more routine memorabilia like elephant figurines and keychains in the narrow, congested streets of Ha Noi's Old Quarter tourist district.
"It is a souvenir with a style element, at a reasonable price, more interesting than a cheap ‘fashion' bag that you can find in all these shops," said a German tourist, who gave his name only as Fritz.
He had stopped at an Old Quarter shop where his eyes feasted on poster portraits of Ho, the country's revolutionary leader who died in 1969 at the height of the war against the US.
The sale of posters began in the 1990s when Viet Nam's economy opened to the world and the number of tourists started to explode.
"Foreign tourists wanted to buy things linked to the war," said Nora Taylor, a specialist in the history of Vietnamese art, at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).
She said from Chicago that while many buyers think they have found a treasured, authentic historical object, a unique item from the war era is extremely rare.
An authentic poster dating from the conflict against French colonisers about 60 years ago, or from the later war against the Americans, sells for between US$300 and $2,000, according to owners of galleries which display the originals as well as cheaper copies that sell for as little as $5.
Pham Ngoc Manh, 33, who owns two Ha Noi shops, said he owns about 100 original posters obtained from their creators or from people close to them.
"I sell very few originals, mostly reproductions," said Manh, who estimates that only between 2,000 and 3,000 authentic posters survive.
"When Uncle Ho says ‘Victory', then we will win," declares one poster under a portrait of Ho Chi Minh, the founder of the republic, on a red background.
"Nixon must pay the blood debt," shouts another, which shows the former northern Viet Nam being targeted by a bomb carrying a picture of Richard Nixon, the late US president.
Some posters, newly reprinted, include slogans translated into English to please the visitors.
"For many tourists, it's a souvenir of the war rather than an object of art," Taylor said.
Among Vietnamese, though, there is little interest.
"Without tourists there wouldn't be any business," said Nguyen Bach Tuyet, 48, a gallery owner.
Manh, the other retailer, also has few Vietnamese customers. "They see enough of those things in the street," he said.
The authorities still hangs their slogans throughout the country. Billboards featuring Ho Chi Minh or war-era fighters do not dominate the landscape but they can be seen in some places. Key political and social events are heralded with red banners strung across main streets.
"Vietnamese suffered incessant wars for generations. Maybe by the time the fighting finally ceased, they did not want to be reminded too much," said Richard di San Marziano, curator of the private "Dogma Collection" of original posters from the 1960s and 70s available for viewing only on the internet.
"Maybe they will become interested" one day, added the Briton who lives in HCM City.
San Marziano said foreign visitors are greatly interested in Vietnamese patriotic posters because it is "vigorous, fresh and interesting compared to other countries, and the work itself is an historical document." — AFP/VNS