According to scholars specializing in portraying art, lacquer plays the first role in traditional materials in Vietnam's painting background. Opening to the world, Vietnam's lacquer paintings have got special attention because of its distinct nuance that strongly expresses national characters. ??Yes, lacquer art has a centuries-old tradition in Vietnam, having first been introduced by the Chinese in the making of handicrafts and decorative items. In previous centuries, wooden statues in village's communal houses, temples, pagodas were red-lacquered and trimmed with gold. Altars, parallel sentences panels, and horizontal lacquered boards were handled by lacquering with sparkling colors. Why was lacquer painting considered as an original art of Vietnam? After the establishment of the Ecole des Beaux Arts de l???Indochine by the French in 1925, however, that anonymous craft performance became a new art form and was applied to paintings for the first time. At that time, the founders of the Ecole, Victor Tardieu and Joseph Inguimberty, recognized the beauty of the Vietnamese artistic traditions and wanted to help their students make the most of their heritage as well as teaching them Western painting. During the 20 years of its operation, the Ecole trained more than 100 Vietnamese artists who would become the pioneers of Vietnamese modern art, combining indigenous art forms with the art of Manet, Degas, Monet, Pissarro and Renoir. The 1930s was the time when lacquer paintings and other works of fine arts confronted a great renaissance. It confirmed that the ability to express ideas and feelings of lacquer paintings is unlimited. Read more >>