The portrait of a Korean girl by painter Mong Bich. — Photo courtesy of the organisers

Đi Giữa Hai Thế Kỷ (Between Two Centuries) is the first solo exhibition of the veteran painter who has spent more than 60 years creating art.

Visitors to the exhibition can see silk paintings with watercolour, sketches that have established Bich’s reputation and original style and listen to the stories behind each artwork recorded in voice recordings made by the painter.

Some highlights include the portraits of an old beggar Bich encountered on the street, her late respectable teacher, master painter Tran Van Can, and the scenery of a Cham ethnic village in the sunset.

“My paintings are not favoured by many customers. I paint portraits of rural old ladies or old lady beggars, who would like them? But that might have been fortunate. If I had kept chasing after money or high living standards, I might have forgotten art,” Bich said.

In addition, a documentary showcasing Bich’s life in a peaceful village will be shown in the exhibition space.

Bich was born in Hanoi in 1931. She graduated from Hanoi College of Fine Arts (now the Vietnam University of Fine Arts) in 1970 and was a student of many celebrated Vietnamese painters like Tran Van Can, Nguyen Do Cung and Hoang Lap Ngon who inspired her with not only knowledge but also love for painting.

Bich is among the few female artists of her time who have won major painting awards, including the painting Mẹ và Con (Mother and Child) that won the first prize of the exhibition of Viet Bac Interzone Department of Culture in 1961, and Bà Già (The Old Lady) that won the top prize of the exhibition of the Vietnam Fine Arts Association in 1993.

Painter Can once commented that Bich’s paintings were created with instinct and emotions. Meanwhile, Prof Nora A Taylor from the Chicago Fine Arts Academy said Bich was the embodiment of changes of Vietnam’s art and history in the past century.

Between Two Centuries will run at L’Espace, 24 Trang Tien Street, Hanoi, till November 22. VNS

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