Painter Quach Phong: 16 years of painting history

On the afternoon of July 23, during the visit and gift-giving ceremony of Ho Chi Minh City leaders at the private home of painter Quach Phong, everyone heard him talk about his passion for creating the series of paintings "A Thousand Years of Vietnamese History" over the past 16 years.

Painter Quach Phong introduces to Ms. Dinh Thi Thanh Thuy (left cover) and leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City Literature and Arts Association the series of paintings "A Thousand Years of Vietnamese History" - Photo: LINH DOAN

On the afternoon of July 23, the delegation led by Deputy Head of the Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Department of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Dinh Thi Thanh Thuy visited painter Quach Phong, photographer Doan Cong Tinh, photographer Nguyen Trieu Hung and writer Doan Minh Tuan.

Artist Quach Phong sells land to have money to paint Vietnamese history

Artist Quach Phong's real name is Quach Van Phong. He is a painter from the war zone and is considered a veteran artist of our city since the early days after 1975, contributing to the establishment of the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Association. He has had many active activities to promote the development of painting and fine arts in the city.

During the meeting on the afternoon of July 23, artist Quach Phong shared his passion about the series of paintings " A Thousand Years of Vietnamese History" with Ms. Dinh Thi Thanh Thuy.

He started working on this series of paintings in 2009 with the desire to show the history of Vietnam over 4,000 years. The sketches of Vietnamese history through each period (from the Hung Kings period) to the Dien Bien Phu battle, the Southern Resistance War... have been completed.

Now he puts those images on lacquer, creating more than 400m with about 700 mosaic pictures.

Confiding to Tuoi Tre Online, he said: "This Tet I will be 90 years old. Before, I painted every day and hired two painters to help me put the sketches on lacquer paintings. However, now I'm out of money so I don't hire anymore and do it myself. Luckily I have my son and son-in-law to help me!"

The delegation visited photographer Doan Cong Tinh (in blue T-shirt) - Photo: LINH DOAN

The total cost for this 400m painting is about 50-60 billion VND. To realize his dream, Mr. Quach Phong had to sell land to pursue the long painting series. He estimated that to complete this historical painting series, the length would have to be about 1,000m.

Mr. Phong confided to Mrs. Thuy that if the State could grant him a piece of land, he would build an exhibition house, in which to exhibit this series of paintings so that visitors could learn about Vietnamese history. He would give away all the paintings, and as long as he could send a little profit from ticket sales to his children and grandchildren, he would be happy enough.

Ms. Dinh Thi Thanh Thuy visits photographer Nguyen Trieu Hung - Photo: LINH DOAN

Visiting photographer Doan Cong Tinh, Nguyen Trieu Hung and writer Doan Minh Tuan

After visiting painter Quach Phong, the leaders visited and presented gifts to photographer Doan Cong Tinh, photographer Nguyen Trieu Hung and writer Doan Minh Tuan.

Photographer Doan Cong Tinh is nicknamed King of the battlefield because of his aggressiveness, quickness, and sharpness in capturing images during the war.

He joined the army at the age of 19, starting by taking photos to accompany his articles. Recognizing his talent for photography, his superiors created conditions for him to have good cameras to work on the battlefield.

Mr. Tinh used to work at Vietnam News Agency. He has won the State Prize and many awards in the fields of journalism and photography.

Artist Nguyen Trieu Hung is also a veteran photographer. He used to be a photojournalist and editorial secretary for several newspapers. With his positive contributions, he received many noble medals.

City leaders visit writer Doan Minh Tuan (using a cane) - Photo: LINH DOAN

Writer Doan Minh Tuan used to be an editor at Voice of Vietnam Radio . He then went to the South. After 1975, he was assistant director of Ho Chi Minh City Television, director of Information Publishing House (Southern branch), deputy editor-in-chief of Culture newspaper...

He has many valuable works, reprinted many times, in the genres of essays, memoirs, literary portraits... In addition, he is also the author of many documentary film scripts, puppetry art...

At the age of over 90, writer Doan Minh Tuan is still trying to complete his memoirs. He is closely interested in the country's literary and artistic situation and still speaks very clearly. He humorously told Ms. Thuy: "I have gone through the stages of fighting the French and the Americans, and now it is time to... use a cane!"

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/hoa-si-quach-phong-16-nam-ve-lich-su-bang-tranh-20250723194119612.htm