Abstract

This paper offers a brief introduction to Vietnamese folk paintings. The discussion compares Vietnamese folk paintings with the Korean folk painting tradition. Among the main purposes of this paper is the exploration of directions for future research on Vietnamese folk paintings. Vietnamese folk paintings, although extensively influenced by their Chinese tradition of minjian nianhua (folk New Year pictures), form an independent tradition, reflecting the local lifestyle and religious practices of Vietnam. However, compared to Korea or Japan, China remains the dominant source of influence for Vietnamese folk paintings. They were either created using a combination of painting and woodblock printing techniques, which was also the case with minjian nianhua, or using multicolor woodblock printing techniques. In cities like Hang Chong, the combination of painting and woodblock printing techniques was used mainly, following the customary practice in Yangliuqing in Tianjin, China, in which colors were added to the drawing printed from the woodblock. Meanwhile, folk paintings produced in rural areas such as Dong Ho are wholly color woodblock prints, similar to minjian nianhua from Yangjiabu in Weifang. In Lang Sinh, simple drawings, intended for casual purposes, were also created using the combination of woodblock printing and painting techniques. Folk paintings produced in cities and rural areas were distinct from each other, not just in techniques, but also in terms of style and theme. Vietnamese folk paintings show a certain degree of thematic similarity with Joseon folk paintings. This is mainly due to the fact that the two countries’ folk paintings developed and evolved in parallel with their Chinese counterparts, minjian nianhua. Also noteworthy is the fact that Vietnamese folk paintings, while they share the simplicity and candidness of Joseon folk paintings, are at the same time somewhat more decorative than the latter. For best results, future research on Vietnamese folk paintings should be conducted together with research on minjian nianhua. Traditional pigments constitute an important area of research in this field. Attention should be also paid to the religious paintings of ethnic minorities in Vietnam, as they are discovered in the future.