Place | Asia: Vietnam, North Vietnam |
---|---|
Accession Number | ARTV10376 |
Collection type | Art |
Measurement | Sheet: 74 x 53 cm |
Object type | Poster |
Physical description | gouache on paper |
Maker |
Unknown |
Place made | Vietnam, Vietnam |
Date made | post-1970 |
Conflict |
Vietnam, 1962-1975 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: Unlicensed copyright |
Giu lay nuong ray, ban lang [Hold onto the highland villages]
Bright and colourful, this North-Vietnamese propaganda poster depicts a highland mother with a young child on her back, holding a large rifle and ready to defend the surrounding farming landscape and nearby village. Her style of clothing and the housing in the background suggest that she is part of a North-Vietnamese cultural minority group. While depictions of peasants, workers and soldiers were deemed important patriotic subject matter in posters, minorities were considered especially important to encourage all Vietnamese citizens to unify, and take equal part in the efforts for independence. Painted with bright block colour and decisive brush strokes, the poster's style is reminiscent of both Social Realism and Post-Impressionism.
This poster shows some evidence that it may have been produced after the conclusion of the Vietnam War for the tourist market. As such it represents the broader social and economic movement in contemporary Vietnam of the commodification of propaganda imagery and war 'souvenirs' for a commercial and tourist market.