Scenes of people harvesting sugarcane and a family meal in the South in the early 20th century were painted 100 years ago by an artist at the Gia Dinh Fine Arts School.
Daily Life in Cochinchina , published in three languages: Vietnamese, French and English by the Vietnamese Women’s Publishing House, released in November. The book is a selection of 99 paintings from the book Monographie dessinée de l’Indochine – an edition of the Gia Dinh School of Fine Arts, published in French in Paris in 1935 and 1938.
Portrait of a blind musician. Author Nguyen Quang Dieu – the book’s compiler – said the book aims to introduce the life, customs and habits of the old South. The series of paintings were selected from the Cochinchine section ( Southern Vietnam , six volumes long) of the original book, in the “exoticism” painting style.
People planting rice. The sketches by the painters include Jules Gustave Besson – who once ran the Gia Dinh Fine Arts School – and his colleagues and students.
The Gia Dinh Art School was founded in 1913 and is the birthplace of many great names in the country’s fine arts. The school often took students on field trips to observe the lives of working people to incorporate into their works. After many name changes and increased training scale, in 1981, the school was named Ho Chi Minh City University of Fine Arts.
The Annamese Meal .
The author chose the topic of urban life because he wanted the publication to reach a wide range of international tourists.
Daily Life in the South . Reading the book, Dr. Quach Thu Nguyet – Former Director of Tre Publishing House – commented that the book provides many interesting perspectives on the life of the Southern people in general and the people of Saigon in particular, such as the trading scene at Ong Lanh Bridge, Binh Tay and Ba Chieu markets, and the worship rituals before the ancestral altar. “In my opinion, the book will be a valuable source of documents for young readers, contributing to preserving the cultural heritage values of the Southern land,” she said.
Photo: Provided by Vietnamese Women Publishing House
