“Vietnam Visual Arts in History Religion and Culture” is the revised and supplemented edition of the work Arts of Vietnam 1009–1945 released earlier in 2013. After 10 years, Kerry Nguyen-Long absorbed the research results and new archaeological excavations, along with color illustrations of up to 300 paintings. Her narrative is general yet specific and concise in orienting readers to Vietnamese history.

ViVisual arts – a new art form in Vietnam

Approaching the study of Vietnamese religious and cultural history from the visual arts is a unique choice of Kerry Nguyen-Long.

Vietnam Visual Arts in History Religion and Culture book cover. Photo: Hanoi's World Publishers

If we consider the visual arts in a dense system of specialized art terms, especially their use in the research text, it is clear that the frequency of this term is less common than other terms such as fine art and folk art.

Visual arts, along with contemporary art, are often applied to new art forms and have only been widely used in Vietnam for about ten years. The visual arts are art forms that create works that are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, photography, video, filmmaking, and architecture. These definitions should not be taken too strictly as many artistic disciplines (performing arts, conceptual art, textile arts) involve aspects of the visual arts as well as arts of other types. Also included within the visual arts are the applied arts such as industrial design, graphic design, fashion design, interior design, and decorative art.

It includes fine arts, plastic art, decorative art, and applied art, in which the distinction between academic art on one side – painting, architecture, sculpture – on the other hand, folk art, craft, and household art, will no longer exist.

This is also Kerry Nguyen-Long’s strength, an expert in ceramics, lacquerware, and silver, as a member of the Oriental Ceramics Association of the Philippines and editor of the International Arts of Asia magazine in Hong Kong.

Point out the problems in art history research

“Vietnam Visual Arts in History Religion and Culture” work reflects existing problems in the study of Vietnamese art and culture history. In order to cover an overwhelming art history of nearly 1,000 years, with a focus on artistic movement in the period 1009-1945, it demands a lot of effort and professional research.

The images inside the book. Photo: Binh Ban Book

The most important factor is the writer's way of putting the problem from the point of view of research and choice. Nguyen-Long’s narrative includes the development of communities, guilds, agricultural techniques, and cultural practices, as well as the wider cultural effects of Chinese and then Western influences.

Kerry-Nguyen Long chose to detail a large body of works in their historical and cultural context. This approach inevitably poses a common problem in art history research, which is the divergence of Vietnamese art.

Between the divergence of universal history and the history of art and culture, there is always an asymmetry between the beginning and the end of a period. The timing of these beginnings and endings is always the subject of controversy in research.

At first glance, Kerry Nguyen-Long's Vietnam Visual Arts in History Religion and Culture has a divisional arrangement of political history, following successive dynasties from the Ly Dynasty in the 11th century, until the last hour of the Nguyen Dynasty in 1945, marking the beginning of modern times in Vietnam.

Photo: Binh Ban Book

At each period, Kerry Nguyen-Long posed a problem of contemporary art based on the mainstream of thought and historical upheavals. As in the Ly - Tran dynasties, the Buddhist element had a great impact on the formation of art, with traces of acculturation influences from the North, the West, and the South.

She delineates influences in paintings and more modern sculptures within their cultural context influenced by French colonization. Equally important, she provides crucial, detailed descriptions of the artistic skills involved in each selection from a vast variety of art.

Indigenous Vietnamese religions and Vietnamese adaptations of religions from China and India play particular significance since đình (Vietnamese village communal house) and Buddhist pagodas house statuary and other significant Vietnamese treasures.

Photo: Binh Ban Book

Australian Scholar's Love for Vietnam

A massive systematic study of Vietnamese art history, performed by an Australian author, makes readers curious. Kerry Nguyen-Long's love affair with Vietnam comes from her husband, Nguyen Kim Long, who is also the translator and photographer who made the images in the book. The love of life led her to a special love for Vietnam and Vietnamese art.

“Vietnam's vivid visual arts are rich and varied, and I still want to bring this to English-speaking readers. In foreign countries, only Dong Son bronze drums and pottery are written in English. I was disappointed to see brief articles on Vietnamese art. But the problem is long-standing and complex," says Kerry.

The author Kerry Nguyen-Long. Photo: Hanoi's World Publishers

Vietnam Visual Arts in History, Religion, and Culture is a stunning, accessible book as comprehensive as an encyclopedia handsomely designed and lavishly printed by Hanoi’s World Publishers.

The pages echo the sorrow of treasure lost to internecine dynastic struggles, while the images delight with the precious works that survive.

Kerry Nguyen-Long, art historian, author, and contributor to art journals and magazines has researched the arts of Vietnam for many decades. She has been a contributing editor of Arts of Asia magazine since 1999.

“Blooming Light, Soaking Light”: The Netherlands Bring Art Masterpieces To Hanoi Nearly 70 masterpieces of Dutch artists from the Golden Age to the end of the 19th century are being showcased at the exhibition “Blooming Light, ...

Italian Ambassador: Vietnam Forever in Our Hearts And Minds In Hanoi, the Italian Embassy on June 2 celebrated the 77th anniversary of Italy's National Day. Deputy Foreign Minister Do Hung Viet attended and spoke ...

Vietnamese Expats-Funded Bridge Starts Construction Up to now, the VK group (Overseas Vietnamese Group) has built and put into use 280 friendship bridges in the southern and central provinces.