Artist Le Huy Tiep - talented and solitary

(Baonghean) - Few people know that this talented and solitary artist from Nghe An province has had a life full of dramatic events.

When I entered the apartment of painter Le Huy Tiep in My Dinh (Hanoi), he was busy washing wine glasses. In the spacious, solitary corner of the house, he seemed quite accustomed to living alone and full of enthusiasm for cooking. He said, "I love cooking and dedicate more time to it than any other job, even painting."

Speaking of food, he recounted: "I remember the nights I used to stay up with my mother making Tet jam. It was my mother who taught me how to make various kinds of jam and many other dishes, instilling in me a joy for cooking."

Artist Le Huy Tiep in a corner of his house. Photo: T. Vinh

When searching through his memories, Le Huy Tiep suddenly becomes a completely different person. He is like someone searching in a tunnel, still faintly seeing some kind of magical light guiding him. The American bombing that nearly killed him in 1965, when the 15-year-old boy was traveling from Nghe An to Hanoi for medical treatment and to pursue his dream of painting, blurred a part of his memory—a memory he had always believed to be the most beautiful and pure part of his life. Few know that this talented and solitary artist had a life full of vicissitudes.

In 1929, his father, then an intellectual youth, was expelled from Hue National School for his active participation in the student movement and deported back to his hometown of Nghi Loc (Nghe An). Upon returning home, the young man still wanted to reconnect with the revolutionary organization. He was introduced by his superiors to someone who could assist him in his activities, and to his surprise, that person turned out to be a woman.

"Waiting" - oil painting by Le Huy Tiep. Photo: T. Vinh

After working together for some time, he realized he had fallen in love with his comrade, even though he knew she was older than him. But surprisingly, when he proposed, she refused. The female revolutionary cadre refused not because of age, but because during those arduous months, she knew she was facing danger, even the risk of losing her life. He said that if she refused, he would never marry anyone else. Indeed, not long after, she was arrested, imprisoned, and tortured in Vinh prison.

It wasn't until after the successful August Revolution that they met again. By then, he was a member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, her superior, and surprisingly, he had waited for her for over 10 years. Once again, he reported to the organization and proposed marriage, but she refused again. She feared the tortures had rendered her infertile. But then, with his earnest devotion and the organization's persuasion, she accepted. When their wedding took place (in 1948), the happy news was published in the provincial newspaper.

"At the Bottom" - a unique print by Le Huy Tiep. Photo: T. Vinh

Two years later, a miracle happened to them. The female revolutionary fighter Nguyen Thi Thiu gave birth to a son. The boy, Le Huy Tiep, was the culmination of a love described by the press as "exceptionally faithful." He was also the only child of the two revolutionary fighters, Le Huy Diep and Nguyen Thi Thiu. Mr. Diep was the former Standing Vice Chairman of the Fatherland Front of Nghe An province. Ms. Thiu (a fellow revolutionary activist with Nguyen Thi Minh Khai and Nguyen Thi Quang Thai) was the President of the Nghe An Provincial Women's Union and the Head of the Nghe An delegation to the 2nd National Assembly.

In 1965, while traveling from Nghe An to Hanoi for a medical check-up, Le Huy Tiep was caught in an American bombing raid and fell to the ground. After three days in a coma, the injuries caused him to lose a portion of his memory due to severe impairment. Since then, every time Tet (Lunar New Year) comes around, he sits and reflects. He longs to recall his memories. He longs to see clearly his childhood days, the Tet celebrations with his parents. He speaks of the restless feeling he experiences when he sees the spring blossoms sprouting on the porch. There is a verdant green somewhere, once vibrant within him.

Eva Returns - oil painting by Le Huy Tiep. Photo: T. Vinh

His story kept making me ponder about nostalgia and forgetting. Somewhere amidst the hustle and bustle of our lives, something has drifted away and faded into layers of oblivion, but its existence is real, its experience of bringing happiness or sorrow to people is real. Forgetting, in a way, is another aspect of memory. Perhaps it is the void that people yearn for and joyfully want to return to. Just as being away from home is simply a way to live with one's homeland, in a different part of the mind.

Similarly, Le Huy Tiep lost nothing after that bizarre accident in 1965. It's just that his memory was clouded, giving way to what people call nostalgia. And so, throughout his life, he lived to be worthy of the honor of being the only child, born late in life, to a forty-four-year-old mother, born in that impoverished year in Anh Son, a mother who had once been a staunch revolutionary cadre during the war.

"Creativity" - an oil painting by Le Huy Tiep. Photo: T. Vinh.

In each of his paintings, Le Huy Tiep seems to want to preserve forever, through canvas and color, the world he once knew. This is also how the artist lives with his memories, present, and future, once again, regardless of what he remembers or forgets.

These paintings contain his thoughtful reflections on a world full of flavors and colors, full of joy and sorrow, intensity and darkness... Like a floral fragrance, a bird's song, a gentle melody, like a delicious dish placed on a table in an elegant room, each painting awakens the senses of the viewer, transporting them back to a beautiful dream, yet also to their own true selves.

Vinh - An