Thanh Chuong

Thanh Chuong

b. 1949, Vietnam

Thanh Chuong (b. 1949, Bac Ninh Province, Vietnam) is a leading Vietnamese artist whose singular artistic language links modern art and the beauty of Vietnamese traditions. Thanh Chuong’s practice has significantly influenced the generation of young artists working in Vietnam’s Doi Moi (renovation) era. He creates colourful oil and lacquer paintings depicting folk scenes, children’s songs, village festivals and  family relationships.

Thanh Chuong began drawing at the age of seven, showing a gift for art when he won the gold prize for the International Children’s Painting Competition organised in London (1956). He was accepted into a programme for gifted students at the Hanoi Fine Arts College in 1960. His first art teachers were leading artists Nguyen Sang, Bui Xuan Phai, and Nguyen Tu Nghiem.

Thanh Chuong served in the Vietnam War for nine years, during which he also taught art to his fellow soldiers. Thereafter he worked as an artist for the Thong Nhat newspaper (1974) and as a lead designer for the Van Nghe Journal (1975 to 2009). During these years he also worked as an independent painter, but only held his first solo exhibition in Hanoi in 1994, after Doi Moi was implemented. Since then, he has exhibited widely in Vietnam and internationally, in Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United States of America. His works were shown at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, Hanoi (1980) and the Royal College of Art, London (1995).

Thanh Chuong’s works are well collected in Vietnam and internationally.

Artwork