"You are always a source of creative inspiration"

(Baonghean) -The small house nestled behind the soft shade of vines on Nguyen Sy Sach Street (Vinh City) of painter-sculptor Tran Minh Chau has many paintings and statues. I was greeted by an old man with white hair and a gentle smile. His hands were still stained with paint. Following his footsteps, I climbed the narrow stairs to the top floor room, which he introduced as his “studio”. I saw his unfinished painting, which he temporarily named “Uncle Ho’s advice to the doctor”. I saw an artist’s passion: Painting, then watching, painting again… The tireless brushstrokes.

In a slow, soft voice, painter and sculptor Tran Minh Chau said that for many years now, he has been struggling and pursuing but still feels that he has not really succeeded in painting or sculpting Uncle Ho's statue, even though he has nearly 30 paintings and sculptures about Uncle Ho, some of which have won high prizes at national or regional art competitions, many of which are displayed at major museums such as the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, the Vietnam Military Museum, the Ho Chi Minh Museum...

He said that in his life he had met Uncle Ho three times, being close to him was the luckiest and most precious thing, not easy for everyone to have. Remembering those meetings, he still could not stop being moved. The first time, when he was a student at the Hanoi Fine Arts School (now the Hanoi University of Industrial Fine Arts), he had the honor of meeting Uncle Ho when he visited the school in 1957. The second time, in a group of students from the Fine Arts School who went to the airport to welcome the head of state of an African country, he and his friends were surprised to see Uncle Ho welcoming the distinguished guest at the airport. Later, when he returned to be a university student at the school, he was once again close to Uncle Ho. This time, he and more than 30 other students were chosen to decorate Uncle Ho's funeral, decorate the place where Uncle Ho rests...

If the first two times he met him, through the eyes of a painter and a sculptor, he saw Uncle Ho as a beautiful model, from his figure, smile, eyes, beard to demeanor, then the next time, he felt his beauty and greatness with all his heart sobbing in his chest. He remembered his bitter tears melting into the tears of so many compatriots. And he understood, Uncle Ho still lives forever in the hearts of the nation, in the hearts of the children of Vietnam, forever a source of inspiration for creativity.

Artist and sculptor Tran Minh Chau is painting "Uncle Ho's advice to doctors".

Therefore, in his artistic career, the subject he devoted much effort to portraying was the image of Uncle Ho. From the watercolor sketch (Uncle Ho's Countryside), the gouache painting (Uncle Ho Visits Home), the aluminum relief (Words of Vietnam) to the statues and groups of statues made of many materials such as plaster, terracotta, cement... placed in museums, some monumental works such as the statue of Uncle Ho in front of Huong Khe Hospital (Ha Tinh), Uncle Ho Visits the Farm (placed in front of the 19/5 Farm Museum, Nghia Dan), the group of statues "Uncle Ho with Youth" placed at Nguyen Tat Thanh Park (Vinh)..., viewers can feel his great passion and affection in every line.

Recalling his works about Uncle Ho, he mused: “I have never sculpted a statue, never drawn an image of Uncle Ho easily. Even with my eyes closed, I can still imagine him, from his hair, beard, eyes, hands… Even though I have not needed to look at a model photo to draw for a long time.” He added about the first drawing that won the highest prize (Second prize, no First prize) in the art creation campaign for the Ho Chi Minh Museum exhibition, jointly organized by the Ho Chi Minh Museum and the Vietnam Association of Plastic Artists in 1986, the gouache work “The boy Nguyen Sinh Cung listening to the patriotic scholars talk”.

He said his hometown was Nam Dan, and he had visited Uncle Ho's house since he was young. That sacred memory was always in his heart. Cherishing a drawing of Uncle Ho, which contained his hometown, his childhood, his aspirations..., Tran Minh Chau rode his rickety bicycle against the Lao wind, and even in the cold winter wind to find Uncle Ho's hometown Hoang Tru, Kim Lien. He arrived and asked the oldest people, those who still had the most images and memories of the boy Cung in the past. At that time, there were only two people left in the two villages who were born at the same time as Uncle Ho. He connected the memories of the two old people to know that Cung was a good student, intelligent, and loved to fly kites on windy afternoons on Chung mountain. "I heard the story of Cung going fishing, bathing in the pond, and playing dragon and snake, always winning." Then he traveled far and wide to find the places that bore Uncle Ho's footprints in his childhood. Up the hill, down to the pond, to the blacksmith's workshop, Coc well, to the house of the village teacher Vuong Thuc Quy where Nguyen Sinh Cung used to go to study.

Here, he painted the picture “Anh Cung listens to the elders commenting on poems after the village meeting”, and then he continued to paint “Nguyen Sinh Cung listens to the patriotic scholars discussing” right in Nguyen Sinh Sac’s house. This painting, according to him, “is not complete and with that small frame, I have not yet fully described the vastness, the sparkling gem inside the soul of the boy Cung. However, I have given that warm thatched house a suitable, superior space of a beautiful morning, the light from the east like a breeze, a new path shining on the boy’s chest. Looking at the boy’s face, one can see a great desire settling: to find a way to save the country in the future”. In that open space, on the head of the boy Cung, Tran Minh Chau painted the ancestral altar with incense smoke rising, as if implying the souls of the ancestors and the country were reminding, supporting and hoping for this boy with great ambitions.

In his small house, the living room wall is full of paintings. He said he wanted to look at them every day, so he could clearly see the good and the bad. He showed me the paintings he painted of Uncle Ho. The aluminum relief “Happy with Uncle Ho” is quite large, with many embossed and sunken details showing meticulous polishing. The center of the photo is the image of Uncle Ho smiling and affectionately dancing with children holding hands around him. Creating a joyful feeling are the details of birds, flowers, trees, clouds, and leaves inserted into the empty spaces, both as a background and a bridge connecting the subjects. The aluminum relief “Words of Vietnam” is also a very inspiring work. With a simple, harmonious composition, creating a space that is both real and virtual, the image of Uncle Ho pensively sitting at the writing desk, in the far background is the image of the national flag with a shining 5-pointed star, a soft bamboo branch behind Uncle Ho's back, the simple rattan chair he sits on... All of these have created a sacred feeling, creating a large field of association about Uncle Ho's image for the viewer... And the painting "Silk for the elderly", with synthetic materials and folk painting style, evoked great emotions when depicting a close, rustic, loving President Ho Chi Minh. His hands carefully lifted a silk shirt to give to an old woman with a hunchback...

As one of the successful artists in creating on the theme of Uncle Ho, Tran Minh Chau is also recognized by his friends, colleagues and the art community in many other areas of topics: war, childhood perspective, people in labor, production and fighting. He is also the author of the group of sculptures "Truong Bon Victory" and typical works that have won awards such as: "They Come Again" (wood carving), "Crossing the Stream" (aluminum mound), "Legend of the Road-opening Girls" (aluminum mound), "Huong Dau" (terracotta), "Nuoc Ve" (painting), "Tan Tao" (terracotta), "Keu Cuu" (terracotta)... Colleagues commented that his works are rich in creativity in ideas, harmonious in composition and imbued with the deep humanity of the people of Nghe An.

For many years working in art, people have always seen a hard-working Tran Minh Chau, "persisting in pursuing a realistic, honest, and simple painting style to reflect many aspects of social life and characters associated with the development of history" (sculptor Tran Tuy). And he always thanks life for giving him a passion for painting. Having gone through many tasks, having "a foot" in many associations: Vietnam Fine Arts Association, Vietnam Folk Arts Association, Nghe An Arts Association... Retired since 2002, but even busier with paintings and sculptures, Tran Minh Chau has shown that creativity is happiness for him. He talks about his hometown of Nam Dan, his farmer father who loves singing opera, his mother who loves poetry with full love and pride!

And in the deepest, most sacred part of his soul, he always admired Uncle Ho. Uncle Ho's shining example was the source of life, the artistic baggage of his entire life. He wished he could create a work "maybe a painting, maybe a very large statue of Uncle Ho, a work that I could fully express his beauty" to leave to his homeland.

Article and photos: Thuy Vinh