A Look at "Realism in Asian Art" & "Avant-Garde in Asian Art"

diaCRITICS occasionally has guest bloggers. Here Boitran Huynh-Beattie—a professor, curator and art historian in Australia—reviews her experience in October in Korea with an exhibition and a symposium.

Phan Ke An, Hanoi Christmas Bombing of 1972 — lacquer, Witness Collection
Phan Ke An, Hanoi Christmas Bombing of 1972 — lacquer, Witness Collection

Realism in Asian Art was a joint exhibition between the National Art Gallery, Singapore (09 April – 04 July, 2010) and the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea (27 July -10 October, 2010), with ten countries represented: China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The exhibition consisted of 104 paintings arranged into five themes: Realism as form of representation, The rural as an attitude and metaphor, ‘Hail the Worker!’, The Impact of War, and Social Commentary and Criticism. I had the opportunity to see Realism in Asian Art in both venues, and with a larger space and budget, the National Museum of Contemporary Art Korea added 25 works to its component.

Vo Xuong, Paying the Party Fee for the Last Time — 1974, Powder paint on cardboard, Witness Collection

The Vietnamese works for the exhibition were organised by National Art Gallery Singapore Senior Curator, Joyce Fan. It included works by well-known first generation graduates from the Fine Arts College of Indochina: Nguyen Gia Tri, Thang Tran Phenh, Vu Cao Dam, Nguyen Phan Chanh; and later graduates Phan Ke An, Nguyen Van Binh; as well as artists of the Vietnam War generation: Le Huy Tiep, Trinh Kim Vinh, Tran Hoang Son and Vo Xuong. Most of the Vietnamese old masters works are from the National Art Gallery of Singapore collection. The majority of war-related works are from the Witness Collection, with a strong focus on revolutionary artists. However, Vietnamese realist art of the former Republic of Vietnam during the period 1954-75 was totally absent.

It is clear through this exhibition that compared with its neighbours, Realism in Vietnamese art is rather young. The oldest work in this show is Partial View of the Town of Angono and Bay of Laguna (c. 1850s) by Juan Senson (Philippines); a number of works were done in the 1870s, such as Puncak Pass (1871) by Raden Saleh (Indonesia), Courtesan (1872) by Takahashi Juichi (Japan) and many other works dated in late 19th century. The earliest Vietnamese work in the exhibition is The Singers in the Countryside (1932) by Nguyen Phan Chanh. Interestingly though, Vietnamese realist artists appear to have utilised a variety of media along with oil painting, in the exhibition there are numerous Vietnamese works on paper, silk and lacquer.

Thang Trần Phềnh, The Card Game — 1950, Gouache and ink on silk, Collection of National Heritage Board, Singapore

This large exhibition Realism in Asian Art, showing works from ten neighbouring countries, was a feast for the imagination. Western techniques were studied and incorporated into the Asian vision to represent Asian reality and ideals. The portrait of Rabindranath Tagore by Deviprasad Roy Chowdhury (India), disclosed a contemplating figure of the renowned Indian poet; Farmer Returning to Home (1887) by Asai Chu (Japan) was done in the tradition of the French Realist Jean-Francois Millet (Asai Chu spent two years in France). The panoramic The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains (1940) by legendary Xu Beihong (China) uses an ancient Chinese fable, to discreetly disclose the artist’s concern for the impossible task that China faced during the second Sino-Japanese war. The concept of ‘realism’ in this exhibition has been stretched to include a few surrealist-like artworks, such as History of Modern Korea 4 (1982) by Shin Hak-chul (Korea), depicting the painful political history and division that currently creates two Korean states, or Farmer 2 – Farmer with Balance (1979-80) by Thammasak Boocherd (Thailand), depicting a farmer being hung from a set of weighing scales, as a metaphor for exploitation.

~

On 09 October 2010 a symposium entitled Avant-Garde in Asian Art was organised by the Association of Korean Modern & Contemporary Art History (KOMA) and the National Museum of Contemporary Art Korea.
KOMA was established in 1993 and boasts more than 240 members, who are leading scholars in the studies of modern and contemporary art history in Korea. KOMA has presented a biannual symposium since 2005, with Avant-Garde in Asian Art, 2010 being their fourth one. The papers in English and Korean of these symposia are published in Journal of Korean Modern & Contemporary Art History.

The 2010 symposium Avant-Garde in Asian Art featured five papers:

“The Avant-Garde and Fashion Strategy in 1920s Japan” by Omuka Toshiharu from Tsukuba University, Japan

“On the Concept of the Avant-Garde in Chinese Art” by Xiaobing Tang from Michigan University, USA

“Korean Avant-Garde Group: Issues and Debates” by Kim Youngna from Seoul National University, Korea

“Avant-Garde Art in Vietnam: New, Young and …” by Boitran Huynh-Beattie from University of Wollongong, Australia

“Amrita Sher-gil and the Split of the Modern Indian Artist” by Ku Hawon from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Korea

It was encouraging to see on Saturday 09 October, the auditorium of the National Museum of Korea filled with an audience of around 200 people. Everyone was given a booklet in English and Korean of the five papers presented. Two professional interpreters worked tirelessly throughout the day, providing simultaneous translation into the headphones of every individual in the audience. Later, in December 2010, the five papers will be published in the Journal of Korean Modern & Contemporary Art History. English and Korean text will be accompanied by images of works associated with the topics. It was a serious collaborative effort between the Association of Korean Modern & Contemporary Art History and the National Museum of Contemporary Art Korea to convene such an international symposium for Korean public interest.

An exhibition of this depth and vision such as Realism in Asian Art should be toured to some, if not all, the other participating Asian countries, perhaps with support from Asian corporations and airlines.

Boitran Huynh-Beattie on 'Avant-Garde Art in Vietnam: New, Young and ...'

Dr. Boitran Huynh-Beattie has worked with the Australian National University, Melbourne University and the University of Wollongong on different projects related to Vietnam’s Diaspora since 2005.

Huynh-Beattie worked with Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Sydney, on several exhibitions. From 2009, Huynh-Beattie became the curator and art historian working with Asiarta Foundation, currently researching Witness Collection, a private collection of Vietnamese art works featuring influential artists from 1921 to the present.

~

Did you like this post? Then please take the time to rate it (above) and share it (below). Ratings for top posts are listed on the sidebar. Sharing (on email, Facebook, etc.) helps spread the word about diaCRITICS. Thanks!

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here