[HN Gopher] Vietnamese Graphic Design
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Vietnamese Graphic Design
Author : keiferski
Score : 177 points
Date : 2025-02-23 14:00 UTC (8 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (vietgd.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (vietgd.com)
| mytailorisrich wrote:
| For some of the 'undated' book covers it is possible to at least
| assert the year of print because they seem to be limited prints
| certified with a handwritten note in French.
|
| Fore example on the Khon Song Dai Chet book cover it is
| handwritten "tirage 1000 Saigon le 27/1/34". So it is a 1,000
| copy print certified as such on the 27th January 1934.
| vietgd wrote:
| I think you are right! I am realizing that many of the other
| book covers can be dated as well
| xrd wrote:
| Wow, this is terrific. I love it. Lots of art online is curated
| with "traditional" art. This takes cultural movements and finds
| art associated with those moments. So fascinating!
| ogou wrote:
| An interesting showcase of a complete absence of individual
| expression or creative freedom. A pure collection of state
| managed culture.
| thwg wrote:
| Rude.
| agumonkey wrote:
| makes me wanna find pre ww2 visual art from there
| ogou wrote:
| Same here. I looked it up after I saw this. This collection
| is only from approved art by the communist regime formed
| after WW II.
| JTyQZSnP3cQGa8B wrote:
| I wouldn't say it like that, but it represents basic communist-
| style propaganda until the 80s where they replaced everything
| with half-naked ladies. It's still interesting from a
| historical point of view.
| rexpop wrote:
| What a ridiculously narrow perspective. Of course the art is
| massively influenced by a) Soviet propaganda, and b) communist
| hegemony, but at the same time every stroke of the pen is a
| decision by a conscious, thinking individual.
|
| And several of the items--"Love Poems of Hue"--aren't overly
| propagandistic. So really, you're just dehumanizing an entire
| people, which is disgusting.
| JusticeJuice wrote:
| +1
|
| Also, this collection spans much more time than communist
| Vietnam? 1900-2020s? Weird take.
| ogou wrote:
| Yes it does cover more time, but did you look at what's
| available in non-communist time periods? Did you click
| through the site? Not much else is there.
| bee_rider wrote:
| Also a lot of these are stamps and explicit propaganda
| posters, right? Like what do people expect. Stamps are... I
| mean, it is cool when a nice picture is used but it isn't
| high art right? Some flora or fauna is pretty standard
| postage stamp fare. And they are well drawn.
|
| Propaganda posters, of course, lean into propagandistic
| tropes as a language. For propaganda posters they are pretty
| creative and well drawn. Better than a dozen pictures of
| Uncle Sam rolling up his sleeves.
| ogou wrote:
| This collection is dehumanizing, not my comment. There is
| much much more to Vietnamese design and art than what is
| shown here. There is also a modern design culture from the
| diaspora that is not reflected here. This is an
| overwhelmingly political body of work, dominated by state
| control. By definition it is not from individual creative
| expression. I completely stand by my original statement.
| TomWhitwell wrote:
| Such a wild take after looking at, for example, a propaganda
| poster captioned "Work together to develop pig breeding and new
| varieties of rice" where the artist has decided to make the
| pigs in question bright purple with yin-yang signs on their
| backs.
| ogou wrote:
| That caption is a state mandated edict. It is compulsory and
| at the service of government goals. Making the pigs purple is
| not exactly a strong manifestation of individuality.
| steve_adams_86 wrote:
| One of the things my wife had when we met was a large collection
| of Vietnamese posters like these, which she framed and hung
| around the perimeter of our powder room. It's so cool to see more
| of it.
|
| I love some of the colour palettes. In particular, the
| green/orange or green/pink ones. They aren't entirely unique on
| their own, but combined with the art style it feels very
| distinct.
|
| My favourite is one of a woman with a basket of watermelons on
| her back. The colours are like an intense fiery orange with deep
| greens and almost blue tones on the melons. I really need to
| translate the messages on them.
| tyre wrote:
| I love these types of posters. A couple months ago someone posted
| prints from Canada's Department of Agriculture. Lots of fun ones
| there too. Anyone have other examples?
|
| https://www.fifteen.ca/collections/agricultural-arts
| creer wrote:
| See also, India hand painted movie posters.
| IncreasePosts wrote:
| You can really see the early 20th c French influence here
| thanhhaimai wrote:
| This is such a great collection!
|
| However, many of the translations are incorrect. For example:
|
| This text:
|
| > Duoi ngon co quang vinh cua dang, nhan dan Nghe-An Xo Viet anh
| hung
|
| Is incorrectly translated as:
|
| > Under the glorious flag of the Vietnamese Communist Party, the
| people of Nghe An will crush their American enemies.
|
| But it should be:
|
| > Under the glorious flag of the [Vietnamese Communist] Party,
| the people of Nghe An are Soviet heroes.
|
| There was no mention of "crush their American enemies" at all.
|
| I would exercise caution and encourage the readers to double
| check the translation.
|
| Edit: after reading more of the page, I changed my post from
| "some incorrect" to "many incorrect"
| vietgd wrote:
| Hi there! Thank you for expressing your concerns, I will make
| it more clear when people visit the site to be cautious about
| the translations, next time I am able to update the website.
|
| I unfortunately do not speak Vietnamese (am of Viet heritage)
| so the "translations" usually come from the articles where I
| found the poster since I am not able to translate it myself:
| https://saigoneer.com/saigon-music-art/4360-vietnamese-women...
| thanhhaimai wrote:
| No worries at all! If the site is open sourced, I can help
| update the translation text.
|
| Thanks for the site, and keep up the great work!
| vietgd wrote:
| Hi everyone! Thank you for posting this site. I started this
| project while I was (and still am) a full-time student.
|
| As another user mentioned, please be take EXTRA CAUTION when it
| comes to the translations! The "translations" typically come from
| the website where I found the artwork from, since I do not speak
| Vietnamese (am of Vietnamese heritage). The source of each image
| can be found with the source button. I try my best to fact-check,
| but since there aren't as many resources for Vietnamese design, I
| may unknowingly post inaccurate information. I will be more
| cautious in the future and next time I can update the website. I
| will double check the translations as well, if possible. I am
| really sorry in advance for spreading any misinformation.
|
| I hope to dedicate more time to this project in the future.
| Currently, I am a full-time student and work part-time outside of
| school as well, so it's become challenging to keep it updated and
| do thorough research.
| cod1r wrote:
| I'm glad more aspects of Vietnamese culture/history is being
| looked at and showcased, being a vietnamese-american myself.
| twinkjock wrote:
| Can you help verify some of the translations? I'm getting
| different results using GTranslate.
| sonorous_sub wrote:
| The anti-Nixon one, where his face is plastered on a falling
| bombshell and he's shooting lightning bolts out of his eyes at
| women and children, I think that's my favorite.
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(page generated 2025-02-23 23:00 UTC)