Artist Đỗ Đuc. — Photo coutersy of artist

Veteran artist Đỗ Đuc is displaying his lacquer paintings on ethnic clothes for the first time at his house at Thong Dong Ville at 15B, 656 Lane, Lạc Long Quan Street, Ha Noi.

The display opens to the public every Sunday. Please call 84 9133823489 or 0913283307 before coming.

Viet Nam News reporter Nguyễn Bình spoke with him about the paintings.

Could you introduce your paintings?

Simply, it is my idea to show the traditional clothes of ethnic women. I estimated that I would have to paint about 25 paintings featuring the clothes of our 54 nationalities.

But I made 11 paintings. In this collection, I also featured the clothes of a Mong man and a Tay thay mo (shaman). These costumes have beautiful patterns.

I drew these paintings in 2018 with lacquer from the old painting on dó (poonah) paper which I made in 1994 – 1996.

Traditional costumes of Ha Nhì, La Hủ, Cống and Si La groups.

How long did it take you to create these paintings?

Factually, I first drew more than ten watercolour paintings a long time ago. At that time my family was in a difficult situation. It made my mood suffer and I stopped painting.

In the 1990s, I drew 13 paintings with five costumes in one painting. I was once again interrupted. And I sold two paintings.

I think my paintings help to keep the traditional clothes of ethnic groups which have faded.

Mong Hoa clothes in my painting cannot be seen anymore. Now in Bắc Ha weekly market in Sa Pa town, Lao Cai Province, Mong Hoa women wear clothes which are not original.

My dó painting collection was displayed at the Viet Nam Culture Centre in France in 2009 with the participation of Vietnamese Vice President Nguyễn Thị Bình and ambassador Le Kinh Tai at the opening ceremony.

I make lacquer paintings because they are more durable than dó paintings.

Traditional clothes of Lo Lo, Xa Phó and Phu La ethnic groups.

Your first solo exhibition in 1986 and the one in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang were about ethnic culture. Is this the only topic you draw?

It’s like fate. I was born in the northern province of Thai Nguyen and studied painting in Viet Bắc School. I worked for the Ethnic Culture Publishing House for the mountainous provinces.

My career was related to the mountainous until I retired. So I learned a lot about ethnic culture.

I paint only about the mountainous topic and ethnic culture because I know them well.

When did you begin to draw ethnic clothes?

In 1978, I first saw the clothes of the Pa Dí, Xa Phó, Lo Lo and Khơ Mu at an art festival in my homeland. They were so beautiful and unique and unlike Tay, Nung, Mong, Dao or Thai which I knew before.

I wanted to make a photobook of the 54 Vietnamese nationalities. But my idea was ignored by senior staff at the publishing house.

I thought I have to do this by myself. At that time, cameras were very rare and I had to manually record.

I sketched ethnic clothes when I went on field trips to mountainous provinces. I met people there and asked them about the clothes.

I researched more to learn about the significance of the white scarf or tua chồ (dog) pattern of Dao Tiền people.

I learned why the clothes of the Pu Peo woman are made from hundreds of small cloth pieces. Or the clothes of Dao people in Quảng Ninh Province are different from this ethnic group in other provinces.

I’m not an ethnologist so I don’t take long field trips for researching. Behind each costume, there is a story. This is the culture of an ethnic group which has been formed through generations.

Only the Dao ethnicity has 12 branches meaning that they have 12 different costumes. In Cao Bằng, Dao Tiền women wear white scarves but in Hòa Bình the scarves are indigo.

Traditional costumes of Mong ethnic group.

Will you draw costumes of ethnic groups in central and south Viet Nam?

I have a desire to systematise all the ethnic groups of Viet Nam by drawings. I have done half of the work. It is difficult for me to continue because of my health. But the most important thing is that I’m not in the mood.

Anyway, I still get inspiration to continue.

I don’t have material enough to draw the ethnic clothes in the Central Highlands and in the south. I have not had the chance to learn about the culture in these areas.

I will try my best to draw all the costumes of ethnic groups in the north. VNS