Bac Ninh: Inauguration of the first private Dong Ho folk painting exhibition house

On April 16, Nguyen Dang Che Dong Ho Folk Painting Private Enterprise (Song Ho Ward, Thuan Thanh Town, Bac Ninh Province) held the inauguration ceremony of the Dong Ho Folk Painting Exhibition House.

This is the first private Dong Ho folk painting gallery in the area, contributing to preserving and promoting the value of the Dong Ho folk painting craft.

The exhibition area is arranged according to 7 main themes. Theme 1: Homeland and family contribute to sketching the imprint of Dong Ho Painting Temple, which used to be a place for exchanging and buying paintings during Tet; The Nguyen Dang family's Cham, the ancestral tomb, and the stone stele briefly recording the history of the family's painting profession since the 16th century.

Theme 2 displays the life and career of Meritorious Artisan Nguyen Dang Che from his studies and work in cultural units, his passion for the profession and his dedication to preserving and developing Dong Ho folk paintings.

Topic 3 displays the colors and color production process of Dong Ho folk paintings.

Topic 4 shows the pattern drawing process.

Topic 5 displays the process of woodblock printing.

Topic 6 displays the steps of printing process.

Theme 7 is "Forever with Time" is an exhibition of images showing the Party, State and sectors recognizing the contributions of Meritorious Artisan Nguyen Dang Che for more than 60 years of dedication to preserving and developing Dong Ho folk paintings.

The exhibition helps visitors gain a full and interesting understanding of the drawing, coloring, and printing processes of a folk painting genre that has existed for centuries in Vietnam.

This is also a space to preserve memories, documents, images, and typical relics about the passionate life and career of preserving the cultural heritage of Dong Ho village of the Vietnamese people and of the family of Meritorious Artisan Nguyen Dang Che.

Ms. Ngo Hong Thuy, Director of the Center for Culture, Sports and Communications of Thuan Thanh town, affirmed that the protection and development of Dong Ho folk painting is necessary and is of interest to management agencies and the community; especially the family of Meritorious Artisan Nguyen Dang Che.

This not only has great significance in protecting and restoring a unique traditional craft and promoting a line of paintings bearing the "national soul" of the Vietnamese people, but also contributes to raising awareness of protecting the heritage treasure of ethnic communities in Vietnam as well as of humanity.

Dong Ho Folk Painting Gallery of Meritorious Artisan Nguyen Dang Che is a red address, the only private museum of folk paintings in Vietnam.

The craft of making Dong Ho folk paintings has existed for a long time. According to the genealogy of the Nguyen Dang family in Dong Ho village, the craft of making paintings has existed since the 16th century and flourished in the 40s of the 20th century.

After 1945, under the domination and oppression of French colonialism, the craft of making Dong Ho folk paintings was in danger of disappearing, with no one coming to buy the paintings. Therefore, families switched to making votive offerings.

Currently, Dong Ho village has only two families making paintings: Nguyen Huu and Nguyen Dang, with two dedicated families still sticking with the profession: the families of artisans Nguyen Huu Sam and Nguyen Huu Qua and the family of Meritorious Artisan Nguyen Dang Che.

According to Meritorious Artisan Nguyen Dang Che, facing the risk of the decline of Dong Ho folk painting, in 1992, after he was allowed to retire by the State under the regime, with his passion and understanding of his hometown painting craft, he bought back the engravings from families who had left the profession to repair and restore them.

To date, the artist has collected hundreds of ancient engravings; some of which are over 200 years old.

In 2006, the family of Meritorious Artisan Nguyen Dang Che established the Nguyen Dang Che Dong Ho Folk Painting Private Enterprise.

Up to now, the enterprise has built a spacious facility with a production area, product showroom, research area, museum and traditional painting market, affirming its brand.

Thanks to that, it attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists to visit and learn about Dong Ho folk paintings every year. This is also a place for students of all levels to experience traditional crafts.

In 2013, Dong Ho folk painting was recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage.

In 2017, Dong Ho painting began to be nationally profiled and proposed to UNESCO for inclusion in the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in need of urgent protection.

Currently, Vietnam is submitting to UNESCO the dossier "Dong Ho folk painting craft" to be considered for inclusion in the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in need of urgent protection.