The Art of Vietnam

Tô Ngọc Vân, who also used the name "To Tu" (1908-1954), corresponded with the Spanish Cubist and exiled communist Pablo Picasso. In one of his most famous paintings Ha Noi's Standing Up (1946), completed shortly after the August Revolution and President Ho Chi Minh's official declaration of independence, he referenced the well-known song The People of Ha Noi by Nguyen Dinh Thi.

Girl with Lotus Flower by Tô Ngọc Vân

If you are a westerner reading this you may be forgiven for not being aware of this artist or his work. The art of the decolonising world is rarely a focus, if it is even mentioned at all, in western art history. Western art history books, of which I own several, will more commonly focus on the products of ancient cultures that have found there way into western museums and galleries. There is also a studied indifference to the art of cultures allied with official enemies of the west during the Cold War period. This is our loss.

The book Marxism and Vietnamese Culture by Truong Chinh, who was at that time the Minister of Culture, had a big influence on the development of a uniquely Vietnamese form of Socialist Realism in the years immediately after independence.

Ta Ty (1922-2004) experimented with more Modernist and Cubist forms, often bordering on caricature, during the years of the independence war against France. Working from some of the "resistance zones" in the north of the country was an experience that informed paintings like Longing for Ha Noi (1947).

Other artists who lived in the resistance zones were Bùi Xuân Phái (1920-1988) and Nguyen Tu Nghiem (b.1922), the former bringing a more Impressionist influence in contrast to Ta Ty's modernism. A major exhibition that took place in 1948 also saw the participation of Van Cao (1923-1995). A veritable Renaissance man of post-colonial Vietnamese culture, he would also become a noted composer.

Support from the Soviet Union was critical at this time, and extended to the cultural sphere following the French defeat at the battle of Dien Bien Phu. The mid-1950s saw a total of 91 Vietnamese students allowed to travel to the USSR to develop their craft, with Bui Xuan Phai even awarded the Leipzig Graphics Award from the government of the GDR, a country that also provided critical assistance in the rebuilding of heavily bombed cities like Vinh following the American War.

I hope this short overview will inspire people to research more deeply into a world so often ignored by mainstream western art history.

The 20th Century Art History of the East

Bolshevik by Boris Kustodiev

 One of the interesting things about looking at the Socialist Realist artists of the former Soviet Union, in contrast to the art being promoted in the "free world" during the same period (be it Surrealism or Abstract Expressionism all the way down to Conceptualism) is both the high level of technical skill and the unambiguous meaning imbued into every canvas, which needs no priestly caste of art critics to interpret "what the artist may be trying to say" for the benefit of us, the great unwashed masses.
    In fact, such a comparison is rarely (if ever) made by establishment art critics or historians in the west. Even the most revolutionary elements contained within the art of those working outside the socialist world (such as Picasso, Rivera, Kahlo or Siquieros), artists who were openly sympathetic to the cause, are often either explained away or passed over in conspicuous silence.

    Consider the clear and obvious meaning of such revolutionary works as Bolshevik by Boris Kustodiev (1878-1927) (above) or New Planet by Konstantin Yuon (1875-1958), both of which powerfully convey the world-changing excitement that came in the wake of the October Revolution of 1917 for so many people in Russia and the labour movement beyond. We can only imagine, over a century later, how it must have felt to witness the creation of the first worker's and peasant's state in history. 

    Contrast works like these with much of the work produced in Europe or North America since then (collectively described as "the west"), from the paint splatters of Pollock, to the endless soup tins of Warhol, to Hirst's dead animals, what we are left with is a western vision which to the average eye often appears so vapid and hollow that I am reminded of that line from Shakespeare's Hamlet:

    "It is a tale told by a madman, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

A better description of the profit-obsessed individualism of late capitalism that brought about such sterile art movements as conceptualism would be difficult to find.

New Planet by Konstantin Yuon

    This is not to say that there is no value in leaving viewers to draw their own conclusions from a piece of abstract or conceptual art. Of course there is. The Australian artist Brett Whiteley is notable for working with both abstract and representational forms, while utilizing a stylistic approach that blends expressionism with Chinese landscape art.

    The primary point to remember is that there is little value (or freedom, for that matter) in routinely dismissing an entire genre of art that influenced millions of people around the world simply for ideological reasons. 

    

The Surrealists posed as madmen and women by taking their inspiration from the chaotic of dreams and children's games. The exception perhaps being artists such as the Mexican muralists, who by virtue of being based in what is now called the global south created a kind of cultural bridge between east and west, by blending the personal, dreamlike imagery of surrealism with the clear yearning for human progress embodied by socialism.

    By the 1940s and 50s the free form chaos of Abstract Expressionism was very much in vogue, covertly funded or promoted by the CIA through cut-outs like the Congress for Cultural Freedom (whose freedom?), seemingly as a representation of the apparent artistic freedom to be found for any emigres in the west. 

    It would be disingenuous to dismiss some of the restrictions that affected artists working in the USSR at this time. These ideological constraints within the socialist countries can only partially be explained by the mass mobilization for WW2, as the attempt to build a new world had a big influence in what themes are deemed acceptable, as it is in most cultures. To dismiss the entirely of the work being produced in Eurasia as propaganda however causes us to miss a great deal of talented and fascinating work. From the influence of Constructivism and Impressionism on the Socialist Realists, there was often more stylistic and thematic diversity than we are led to believe by western art historians.

    

Collective Farm Festival by Sergey Gerasimov

Sometimes those who had trouble fitting in with the party line of Moscow were simply sent to the outer reaches of the Soviet Union, such as the painter and teacher Sergey Gerasimov (1885-1964), who found himself sent to the ancient trading town of Samarkand in the Uzbek SSR. Here he would produce some of his most famous paintings of the old city, while artists native to Central Asia displayed their own unique colour palette inspired by the landscapes and the quality of light that illuminated them.

The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas

 A revolutionary in the true sense of the word, the American graphic artist Emory Douglas created strong, eye-catching imagery for the Black Power movement in the United States during the late 1960s and into the 70s, mostly for the BPP's newspaper The Black Panther. He wasn't just an artist who served the cause of Black Liberation through his art, but also served as Minister for Culture in the party from 1967 until the 1980s when the party was dissolved within a new climate of reaction.

Born in Michigan in 1943, Douglas was politicised at a young age after being caught up in the juvenile detention system, but found opportunities to explore his talent for print-making, and later more formal arts education, a skill he brought with him when he joined the Black Panther Party for Self Defence in 1967.

I cannot help but reflect upon how, growing up years later across the Atlantic, all the books I could find on the comix and art of the 1960s counter culture, including all of the reprints, would tend to focus on sex, drugs, music and mysticism. Growing up in the 1990s the comix of Robert Crumb and Gilbert Shelton were still very popular, including with teenagers my own age. The political satire discussed in both reprints of classic underground comix and histories of the period and the form however tended to focus on the anti-war movement or women's liberation, with the artists and journalists associated with the openly socialist Black Liberation movement barely mentioned.

This oversight is a shame, as there is a power to this imagery which should not be forgotten. I am encouraged that at the time of writing I understand Emory Douglas is still alive and some books and websites are certainly available about his fierce, revolutionary work.

For now, bathe your eyes in the revolutionary art of another time.

These savage cartoons make the editors of Private Eye look like the Cambridge-educated toffs they were (and, as much as I enjoy their work, Shelton and Crumb look like bourgeois liberals):

A  common theme in Douglas' work is the desire to link civil rights struggles within the USA to the wider anti-colonial struggle taking place at that time in Africa and Asia:

The title of this piece reminds me of a quote attributed to Ahmed Sekou Toure, the revolutionary socialist who was the first President of independent Guinea-Conakry:

In this powerful image Douglas brings together the imagery of Black Power with Women's Liberation. This woman is clearly not about to be forced to choose between motherhood or the revolutionary, anti-colonial, anti-imperialist struggle, as capitalism today tries to make women feel guilty for having to prioritise motherhood/career:

Here is a traditional newspaper-style cartoon that pulls no punches in its depiction of the cops:

It's always important for a new generations, especially those of today whose own struggles may have been shaped by the Black Lives Matter movement, to be able to see and draw inspiration from the language and imagery of past struggles. 

The Bloody History of the City of Love

 

The perception of Paris as a city of romance and high fashion may be little more than the result of a sustained and very successful PR campaign. The reality is that, from the Place du Concorde (where the guillotine was raised during the revolution of 1789) to the south-west wall of Pere Lachaise cemetery (against which many of the communards of 1871 were executed by firing squad), the streets of Paris are not just tinged with the rosy red glow of romance, but are also drenched with the blood of countless generations of rebels.
The number of buildings you see dotted around the city that now carry memorial plaques listing every resident arrested and sent to concentration camps during the collaborationist Vichy regime of WW2 is indeed a sobering sight for any visitor to the city. 

Most people alive today will recall the recent ISIS-inspired atrocities carried out at the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and music venues like the one close to the Place du Bastille that shocked the world in 2015.

In 2018 and into 2019 the streets of Paris, especially around the Place de la Republique, as well as many other towns and cities around the country, exploded in popular protest organised by the "gilets jaunes" (yellow vests), essentially fuel protests which saw some extreme instances of police brutality. The streets were drenched in tear gas and some protestors were partially blinded by rubber bullets.

The French are good at preserving their heritage. The Cafe du Croissant, at 146 rue Montmartre in northern Paris, is where the socialist politician and anti-war activist Jean Jaures was assassinated on July 31 1914 by a nationalist. Both the cafe where he was murdered and the newspaper he founded (l'humanite) still exist to this day.

Paris is also the city where one of the leading Moroccan opposition politicians, an anti-colonial activist named Mehdi Ben Barka, was disappeared after speaking to a couple of gendarmes outside Brasserie Lipp (still there) and murdered on 29 October 1965 for his key role in the anti-colonial struggle both in Morocco and the wider Arab world. Details of his murder remain largely classified, and speculation about the involvement of Moroccan, Israeli and US intelligence in his murder is still rife.

Another atrocity of the same period that is rarely discussed in the west, and has only recently been subjected to more rigorous historical analysis, occurred towards the end of the Algerian war of independence. It is an event that will make you look at the waters of the Seine in a whole new light, and may also provide a deeper insight into contemporary Islamophobia in France.

Documentaries about the 17 October 1961 atrocity

17 octobre 1961, un crime d'Etat (dir. Ramdane Rahmouni; 2021)

This is a recent 51 minute documentary (in French with Arabic subtitles) in which historians, activists and witnesses describe the massacre of Algerian protestors that took place in Paris, France. Conservative estimates suggest at least 200 people were thrown from the Pont Saint-Michel into the Seine. For Algerians it is regarded as a “colonial crime”, which was carried out by French police in order to silence Algerian voices during the final stages of the liberation war. It can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HquI833DNCk

Octobre à Paris (October in Paris) (dir. Jacques Panijel; France; 1962)

One of the first detailed accounts of the atrocity, the distribution of this film was suppressed by the French authorities until 1973, when it was granted a limited “visa d'exploitation”, and it would have to wait until 2011 to receive a full theatrical release. Other films have been made about this dark and bloody phase of modern French history, including:

Le silence du fleuve (The silence of the river) (dir. Mehdi Lallaoui; 1991), and

Ici on noie les Algeriens (Here we drown the Algerians) (dir. Yasmina Adi; France; 2011).

Books

Jean-Luc Einaudi was a French historian and socialist activist. He remains largely unknown in the English-speaking world (try searching for an English translation of any of his books). Much of his work was devoted to extensively researching the events of 17 October, as well as other crimes and abuses committed by the French authorities in their efforts to put down local support for the Algerian independence struggle. A couple of his books are cited below:

Einaudi, Jean-Luc La bataille de Paris, 17 octobre 1961 (Seuil, 1991)

Einaudi, Jean-Luc Le dossier Younsi. 1962 : procès secret d'un chef FLN en France (Tirésias, 2013)

This article is a draft. Let me know in the comments below how much of the history mentioned above you were aware of. Personally, I only became aware of the events of October 1961 from Arab commentators and Arabic (specifically Algerian) media, so I would be very interested to hear other peoples' experiences.

London Music History Walks

This is part of a series of walking videos I have been making in which I visit significant locations in the musical history of London.

First up, I visited Eel Pie Island in Twickenham.

Britain's role in Vietnam

Vietnamese propaganda poster c.1960s

(translator unknown)

When we think of countries that have interfered aggressively against the people of Vietnam over the previous century the Americans are probably the first country that comes to most people's minds, with the French a close second, perhaps followed by Japan, and then China. 

What is less well known is Britain's role in trying to restore French colonialism on the Indochinese peninsula after World War 2 which, like British diplomatic support for US sanctions after the Vietnamese military victory of 1975, is rarely mentioned in official histories.

Most historians, and consequently even some peace activists, tend to look favourably on the stance that Prime Minister Wilson took to the American War, refusing to send British troops to kill and be killed, but preserving the "special relationship" by providing diplomatic support for the US war of aggression. Its image of a cautious approach to foreign policy is as comforting as it is misleading.

This much I was aware of. 

I also knew about the diplomatic support that Prime Minister Thatcher later offered the US during the post-war economic embargo it imposed on the Vietnamese as punishment for their victory. This is less discussed on television documentaries than the period of the war itself and Wilson's stance, and I only know about it because of the work of independent journalists like John Pilger. 

Pilger has also drawn attention to Thatcher's role in lobbying the UN on behalf of the USA to cut shipments of powdered milk to the war-ravaged nation, which Vietnam had been receiving through the UN's food aid programme. (I still wonder why this woman had such a callous disregard for children's nutrition, be they Vietnamese or British.)

On the other hand, I had been far less aware of Britain's role in trying to restore French colonialism to the Indochinese peninsula following the Japanese defeat in WW2. I owe much to the work of historian John Newsinger for bringing this history to light.

The key events happened in the autumn of 1945. 

On September 2, President Ho Chi Minh read his famous speech to a large crowd in Hanoi, proclaiming the independence of the new Democratic Republic of Vietnam and reading from their Declaration of Independence. So grateful were the Vietnamese for the material support the Viet Minh national liberation army had received from the US in order to defeat the Japanese military occupation that large sections of the newly drafted Declaration are modelled after the US Declaration. US intelligence officials have been identified applauding in the crowd, presumably hopeful that the new nation of Vietnam would be a useful client state in the region.

On September 6 however we see the first British troops, commanded by General Douglas Gracey, begin arriving in the southern city of Saigon. Viet Minh control is weakest here in the south of the country, and the British seek to exploit this weakness by proceeding to introduce a form of martial law, disarming the nationalists and arming newly released POWs.

By September 23, with Gracey's support, the French were able to seize power in Saigon by taking over the city hall and arresting any Vietnamese they thought were connected to or sympathetic to the new government in Hanoi. 

The historian George Rosie records one clash that took place between 80 members of the British Indian Infantry Brigade (Gracey, like the author George Orwell, came from that tier of British society born to parents living in British India, but educated at private schools back in the UK) that resulted in the deaths of at least 60 Vietnamese.

It was only due to considerable pressure that General Gracey was forced to open negotiations with the Viet Minh, who he had refused to recognise up until this point. However, this was merely a ploy to buy time for reinforcements to arrive.

English language film poster for Memories of Dien Bien

(source: IMDB)

The rest is pretty well known history. The French continued their attempts to restore their colonial domination of Indochina until they were finally defeated at the battle of Điện Biên Phủ in 1954 (a period depicted in the 2004 film Memories of Dien Bien). By this time the Cold War was underway, and the USA was fully in the grip of its anti-communist fervour, so was more inclined to view the new socialist government in Hanoi far more negatively than when it was fighting against Axis-aligned Japan.