A View of Vietnam art
"If you have difficulties in life, you need to step forward, don't step backward." So says Madame Nguyen Thi Xuan Phuong, sharing the wisdom of a long, colourful life.
And she should know. Phuong is a 2011 recipient of the French Legion of Honour for her services to culture and art. She has lived to tell the tale of several wars, having fought for Vietnam's independence in the jungle as a 16-year-old, and later working as a war correspondent for Vietnam Television. On her retirement in 1991, she became owner of Lotus Gallery, one of the first private galleries in Vietnam.
The extraordinary 84-year-old was in Perth recently as the driving force behind the first major showing of contemporary art from Vietnam in WA. Featuring nine artists and one photographer, Vietnam - Four Seasons, celebrated the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Australia.
Also behind this mini-festival of Vietnamese culture is one of the newest consulates in Perth. Spend any time with Le Viet Duyen, the Consul-General of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, whose office opened in St Georges Terrace last October, and his enthusiasm will have you eyeing off flight details.
He says Vietnam, with its 4000-year history of civilisation, has a deep and diversified culture to share with Australian people.
"These series of exhibitions are the very first introduction to contemporary art from Vietnam for West Australians, and include several famous Vietnamese artists. I hope through these works, people can discover the beautiful country, people and culture of Vietnam."
He says travelling to Vietnam is a home away from home for Australians. "Both Viet and Aussie people are very friendly, sincere and straightforward. We both love the outdoors, and having parties with family and friends.
"With just $1 per litre of beer, Vietnam is one of the biggest beer-consuming countries in South-East Asia, and interestingly, most of the beer produced in Vietnam is made from WA wheat."
Although this was the first exhibition in Perth from Lotus Gallery in Ho Chi Minh City, it appears it won't be the last. Through an interpreter, Madame Phuong says her first impressions of Perth are of people living in harmony with nature.
The venture was mostly funded by Phuong, who regularly pays airfares, accommodation and living expenses for four to five artists to attend the many shows outside Vietnam spearheaded by Lotus Gallery. The exhibition in Perth is a mix of styles from a broad range of age groups, including one of the most famous Impressionist painters in Vietnam, Do Xuan Doan, born in 1937.
She explains the origins of a wide range of styles in Vietnam from contemporary to delicate ink paintings on silk. "In 1921 the French opened the first art university in Vietnam in the capital of Hanoi. All the teachers came from France and had graduated from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts (school of fine art) in Paris. There were exponents of Impressionism, expressionists, neo-realists, and abstract artists. In turn the students became masters to their students, and continued the style."
After leaving home at 16 to join the revolutionary army, spending nine years in the jungle, she returned to Hanoi. During the Vietnam War she worked taking visiting journalists to war sites, helping the outside world understand the war.
Bombs exploding in close proximity left her buried under flung soil on many occasions, but she says "they just dug me out and we kept going". She lived through the war against China and went on to serve a stint as a war correspondent in Cambodia during the Pol Pot regime. Phuong says by this time she was ready for a new life.
When she first decided to open a gallery, she went into poor and remote areas to find unknown artists and promote them.
"I found one artist living under a staircase, " she says. "Everyone thought I was crazy. But I have patience. After three to five years with me, artists sell well internationally. I would buy all their works, often selling my jewellery and furniture.
"When my husband, who taught physics at university, would ask how much they cost, I would only tell him one-tenth of the cost. He was the long-suffering one! But before he died two years ago, I took him to several exhibitions in different countries, and he finally understood my work.
"At the ceremony when I was awarded the Legion of Honour for creating a cultural bridge between France and Vietnam and other countries, he was proud, and looked happier than I did."
When I ask Phuong how long she can continue running Lotus Gallery, she says she follows the path of 17th century French comic playwright Moliere, who became ill during a performance and died hours later.
Is she planning to die at an exhibition opening? "Why not, " she says. "To die in bed is still dying. Why not die between paintings?"
