Artist donates sketches to Hue

Fantastic cat: Four of 12 cat sketches that artist Le Ba Dang has donated to Hue. .

HUE — Paris-based Vietnamese artist Le Ba Dang has donated his unique collection of 12 cat sketches to the city of Hue on the occasion of Viet Nam's Year of the Cat.

The collection will be displayed at Le Ba Dang Arts Centre, 15 Le Loi Street.

The paintings, many dating back to the 1950's, are typical of the first works Dang sold in Paris. Drawn in a Chinese calligraphy style, the ink portraits depict inquisitive, agile cats.

Dang decided he'd try drawing small sketches of cats to sell. He sold over 160 paintings in the first month and after expanding his work to ceramic plates, the business provided his family with a steady income for the next five years.

Dang, who was born in the central province of Quang Tri in 1921, immigrated to Paris in 1939. He joined resistance forces to fight fascism in France but was captured by the Germans and held as a prisoner of war.

After the war, he studied at the Toulouse Arts Institute and became famous across Europe.

He held his first exhibition in Paris in 1950 and in 1989, he was honoured by the International Institute of Saint-Louis, USA. He was also awarded the Culture and Arts Medal by the French government in 1994. — VNS

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Noted artist gives Hue sketches of cat

Two cat sketches by Le Ba Dang.

HUE - Paris-based Vietnamese artist Le Ba Dang has donated his unique collection of 12 cat sketches to the city of Hue on the occasion of Viet Nam's Year of the Cat.

The collection will be displayed at Le Ba Dang Arts Centre, 15 Le Loi Street.

The paintings, many dating back to the 1950's, are typical of the first works Dang sold in Paris. Drawn in a Chinese calligraphy style, the ink portraits depict inquisitive, agile cats.

Hue writer Hoang Phu Ngoc Tuong recalled a story about the artist's early days in Paris, when he struggled to make ends meet.

Dang decided he'd try drawing small sketches of cats to sell. He sold over 160 paintings in the first month and after expanding his work to ceramic plates, the business provided his family with a steady income for the next five years.

Dang, who was born in the central province of Quang Tri in 1921, immigrated to Paris in 1939. He joined revolutionary army troops to fight fascism in France but was captured by the Germans and held as a prisoner of war.

After the war, he studied at the Toulouse Arts Institute and became famous across Europe. He held his first exhibition in Paris in 1950 and in 1989, he was honoured by the International Institute of Saint-Louis, USA. He was also awarded the Culture and Arts Medal by the French government in 1994. - VNS

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Local movie director to be honored in Hollywood

Director Dang Nhat Minh (L) delivers a speech after receiving Best director for 2009’s Don’t Burn (Dung dot) - Photo: TTXVN

A ceremony to honor People’s Artist/director Dang Nhat Minh and a Vietnam Film Week featuring movies by  young Vietnamese directors will be held on Wednesday in Hollywood, reports Sai Gon Giai Phong newspaper.

“Mua oi” (Guava season) will be screened after the ceremony and the director will have a roundtable with audiences and people in the movie industry, the organizers, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), said.

AMPAS will also introduce all the movies directed by Dang Nhat Minh to American audiences to honor the talented director.

People’s Artist Dang Nhat Minh is one the leading directors in Vietnam. His works including Co gai tren song (A girl on a river), Ha Noi mua dong nam 46 (Hanoi - Winter of 1946), Thuong nho dong que (Nostalgia for Countryside) and Dung dot (Don’t Burn) have left a deep impression on local and international audiences and awarded at national and international film festivals. Among them, the 2009 movie “Don’t Burn” received audience choice award at Fukuoka International Film Festival in Japan and took three Golden Lotus awards for best movie, best script-writer and journalists’ choice at the 16th Vietnam Film Festival in 2009 and six Golden Kite awards in 2010.

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Dang Thuy Tram’s diary published in French

Photo: VNA

The French version of “The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram” was published by French publisher Philippe Picquier last Friday with the title “Dang Thuy Tram – Notebooks found during 1968-1970.”

In an article announcing the publication in France’s Le Nouvel Observateur (New Observer magazine), the author, Didier Jacob, talked about the journey of martyr Dr Dang Thuy Tram’s handbooks, which were discovered by a US secret agent after he survived a battle during the war in Vietnam.

The author described Dang Thuy Tram as an enthusiastic girl who was willing to sacrifice herself for her motherland.

He said that the French version provides more information about the US war in Vietnam, which is usually presented in a one-sided manner by the American media.

The diary was translated by Jean-Claude Garcias, who previously lived in Vietnam for two years. It took him 2-3 years to read and translate it into French.

Currently, Jean-Claude Garcias is translating another Vietnamese book into French which tells the story of a child who lives in the Mekong Delta, which is expected to become available to French readers next year.

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