Department:
Art and Design
Course Number and Title: ART 1760 / Art in Vietnam
Bulletin Description:
A historical survey of Vietnam through its art, culture and architecture by means of photo documentation as a
visual language.
Prerequisite(s):
Co-requisite(s):
N /A
N/A
Program Goals and Outcomes (applicable to course as indicated on curriculum map)
This BFA Art Elective applies to the most of the program goals and outcomes of all 4 BFA majors in that such
an elective encompasses the reinforcement of knowledge of art history, discipline specific visual skills as well
as research and critical skills specified in each of the program goals.
Units of Instruction:
The purpose of this course is to build on the understanding and openness towards other cultures through the
combination of real life experience and academic coursework. This course aims to provide units of instruction
in order to achieve the following course-specific goals:
1.
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Articulate on Vietnamese culture and history.
Recognize and describe key historical and cultural sources in Vietnam.
Students will become versed in major trends in painting, sculpture and architecture from ancient traditions
that go as far back as the Chinese occupation through to the 1986 Doi Moi economic reforms that allowed
artists to express themselves freely after decades of creative repression.
Students will develop their optical perception through the careful examination of works of art seen in
person and in digital format.
Students will learn a new vocabulary of art historical terms that will aid them in developing visual, verbal
and written acuity. Students will apply this terminology in their written assignments, discussions and oral
critiques.
Students will deepen their ability to observe visual information, ask sophisticated questions, and draw
conclusions from their own findings as they explore and experience the aesthetic expressions of cultural
and individual values, aspirations and spirituality of Vietnam and its people.
Identify camera parts and define practical approaches to documentation.
Predict the outcome of an image as related to the techniques learned.
Demonstrate an ability to use the camera as a tool for creative expression and documentation.
Demonstrate a basic understanding of digital cameras.
Illustrate basic proficiency in exposure evaluation as related to existing light and night photography.
Demonstrate ability to create and maintain an online outlet for the work produce, (e.g.: blogs, journals,
websites).
Develop a basic sense of style variations from photographers who have historically documented cultures
and places.
Demonstrate a basic knowledge and understanding of photography as it relates to the history of Vietnam.
Introduction
Vietnam’s cultural diversity will enhance the curricular offerings of St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences by giving students an all-encompassing experience in Vietnam which stems from a history that dates
back to more than 4,000 years. This course will focus on the Vietnamese concept of beauty and creativity.
Major stylistic and thematic developments, as influenced by location, religion, philosophy and literature will be
examined.
Students will use photography as a learning tool throughout the class. They will learn about the social
documentary roots of the medium, and also use photography as a way of personal expression. This component
will provide students with a practical understanding of the basic skills of photography as they experience the
life and culture of Vietnam. Students will integrate their experiences as they communicate them visually
through the medium of photography.
Suggested Method of Instruction:
--Digital cameras as well as other traditional photographic material will be used to study the organization of
space within the viewfinder.
--Students will examine architectural structures, cultural practices, and contemporary life (as in the streets) will
serve as subject matter in which significance of content and design elements such as line, shape, texture, and
value contrast can be evaluated and stressed through composition within the viewfinder.
--Students will be required to design and maintain a blog that documents the development of a body of work.
Unit 1 (Lecture in St. John’s University)
An examination of traditional arts through the mediums of painting, sculpture and architecture. The lecture will
examine Vietnam’s 4000 years old civilization. Students will reflect upon Vietnam’s cultural legacy that has
survived despite of the destructive forces of both nature and war. Lectures will be supported by digital slides
and supplementary reading material.
Introduction - Influences
Vietnamese modern art 1925 – present: influx of a unique French-Vietnamese cultural amalgamation that
produced the first Confucian scholars educated as European painters.
Vietnamese Painting
• Oil painting (1925 Ecole des Beaux – Arts De I’Indochine (EBAI), beginning of European tradition)
• Silk painting: 1925-1945, this style has a unique character and transparency that are different from those of
China and Japan.
• Dong Ho prints: Vietnamese woodblock prints originating in Dong Ho village. This style of printing can only
be found in Vietnam. The paper and materials that are used to make these prints are all hand-made and
natural.
• Lacquer painting: The art of lacquer-painting is ancient technique that originated in China more than a
thousand years ago. The Vietnamese have used this technique mainly for household and decorative items.
After the French established the Ecole des Beaux- Arts de I’Indochine in Hanoi in 1925, the technique was
applied to paintings usually with traditional landscape motives thus, creating a new art form.
• Sculpture: Vietnamese sculpture has been heavily influenced by the three traditional religions; Daoism,
Confucianism, and Buddhism, which came from neighboring countries China and India. Examples of early
Vietnamese sculpture can be found in common houses, temples, and pagodas.
• Calligraphy: Influenced by Chinese calligraphy, played an important role in Vietnamese society, the illiterate
often commissioned scholars to write prayers which they would burn at temple shines.
• Vietnamese Modernism and the Avant-garde: After decades of obscurity Vietnamese contemporary art is
currently in high demand in the international market due to the 1986 Doi Moi policy that allowed artists to
express themselves freely after years of governmental repression.
• Architecture: Lectures will be examine the five main categories – vernacular, Chinese, ethnic, colonial and
modern architecture.
Unit 2 (Lecture in St. John’s University)
I.
Overview of Photographic Basics
1.
How the camera works.
a) light and exposure
d) I.S.O. selection
c) manual, automatic
d) functions of digital camera
2.
Ways in which light enters the camera.
a) aperture and f-stops
b) shutter
3.
Controlling exposure in a variety of situations:
a) daylight
b) artificial light
c) night photography
d) high contrast situations
e) low contrast situations
4.
Depth of Field: Creative and essential uses.
a) controlling D.O.F. through aperture
b) controlling D.O.F. through distance
c) controlling D.O.F. through lens type
5.
The shutter and motion.
6.
Lenses and their creative applications.
- An introduction to basic lens types and their uses
II.
Editing and Publishing
1.
White Balance, Density & Contrast control, Color Balance
2.
Digital Output
3.
Editing, processing, and publishing online
4.
Words and Images
Unit 3 (Classroom Lecture in Vietnam)
III.
Communication, Self Expression, and the Visual Document
Vietnamese life, culture, and people as documented by each individual photographer.
A critique and evaluation of images made will conclude each week of shooting.
Developing a body of work with specific documentary intentions: e.g.: a personal documentary of Hanoi, its
culture and people as experienced through the eyes of each individual student will be realized.
IV.
Photography & Vietnam
Discussions on works by photographers who have embraced Vietnam as a primary subject matter.
Photography’ Socio-Documentary History: Origins (Daguerre and the Daguerreotype, others); Social Change
(Lewis Hine, Jacobs Riss, others); Conflicts (Mathew Brady, Magnum Agency, Bill Burke, others).
Unit 4 (Classroom Lecture in Vietnam)
Introduction to the Tale of Kiều (mandatory reading). The Tale of Kiều is an epic poem by Nguyễn Du (17661820), and is widely regarded as the most significant work of Vietnamese literature. The poem recounts the
life, trials and tribulations of Thúy Kiều, who sacrificed herself to save her family. She sold herself as a
prostitute to save her father and younger brother from prison.
Introduction to Architecture and Urban Development- examining Chinese, French Colonial and Soviet.
Hanoi’s Old Quarter (This area was one of the main resistance centers against the French colony, it contains a
remarkable example of six hundred year old architecture and lifestyle).
Unit 5 (Site specific lecture/photo documentation)
City Hall (1908 French, decorated by Ruffier)
Reunification Palace (Reconstructed in 1966, Architect Ngo Viet Thu)
Notre Dame Cathedral (1828 French Colonial)
Unit 6 (Site specific lecture/photo documentation)
Museum of Vietnamese History (1927 French, it documents the evolution of Vietnam’s various cultures; the
Dong Song Bronze Age, Southern Chinese Funan, Cham, Khmer and Vietnamese)
Unit 7 (Site specific lecture/photo documentation)
Thien Hau Pagoda – Dedicated to Lady Thien Hau, The Sea Goddess (18th century Chinese) Phung Son Tu
Pagoda – Dedicated to the God of Happiness and Virtue (1914)
Unit 8 (Site specific lecture/photo documentation)
Ho Chi Minh City Museum (1866 French Colonial, contains pictures of the Wars amongst other displays such
as the flat-bottomed boats)
Lacquer factory (Students will learn how to make a lacquer painting through demonstration)
Unit 9 (Site specific lecture/photo documentation)
Independent private art galleries (Instructors will give a guided tour of the major art galleries in Ho Chi Minh
City)
Unit 10 (Site specific lecture/photo documentation)
Old Quarter (This area was one of the main resistance centers against the French colony, it contains a
remarkable example of six hundred year old architecture and lifestyle)
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (Soviet Architectural Influence 1945, this site is where Ho Cho Minh’s body is
preserved)
Unit 11 (Site specific lecture/photo documentation)
Fine Arts Museum (Beginning with 10,000-year-old Dong Noi Stone carvings to the Post-Impressionism of
current day)
Temple of Literature Van Mieu (1076 built under the reign of King Ly Thanh Tong)
Unit 12 (Site specific lecture/photo documentation)
Women’s Museum (Exhibitions focus on the female dress of various ethnic groups)
Unit 13 (Site specific lecture)
Art workshop with local artists at the Hanoi Institute of Fine Arts
Unit 14 (Site Specific Lecture)
Service learning component: Art workshop at Vietnamese orphanage
Sites
Location: Ho Chi Minh City
• City Hall (1908 French, decorated by Ruffier)
• Reunification Palace (Reconstructed in 1966, Architect Ngo Viet Thu)
• Museum of Vietnamese History (1927 French, it documents the evolution of Vietnam’s various cultures; the
Dong Song Bronze Age, Southern Chinese Funan, Cham, Khmer and Vietnamese).
• Ho Chi Minh City Museum (1866 French Colonial, contains pictures of the
Wars amongst other displays such as the flat-bottomed boats)
• Notre Dame Cathedral (1828 French Colonial)
• Thien Hau Pagoda – Dedicated to Lady Thien Hau, The Sea Goddess (18th century
Chinese)
• Phung Son Tu Pagoda – Dedicated to the God of Happiness and Virtue (1914)
• Lacquer factory
• Independent private art galleries
Location: Hanoi
• Old Quarter (This area was one of the main resistance centers against the French colony, it contains a
remarkable example of six hundred year old architecture and lifestyle)
• Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (Soviet Architectural Influence 1945)
• Fine Arts Museum (Beginning with 10,000-year-old Dong Noi Stone carvings to the Post-Impressionism of
current day)
• Temple of Literature Van Mieu (1076 built under the reign of King Ly Thanh Tong)
• Women’s Museum (Exhibitions focus on the female dress of various ethnic groups)
• Workshop with local artists at the Hanoi Institute of Fine Arts
• Independent private art galleries
• Art workshop at Vietnamese orphanage
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Art Theory
Taylor, Nora. Painters in Hanoi: An Ethnography of Vietnamese Art. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press,
2009.
Chuong, Tran Khan. Vietnam Ceramics. Hanoi: Fine Art Publishers, 1996.
Ménonville, Corinne. Vietnamese Painting - From Tradition to Modernity. France: Les Editions d'art et
d‚Histoire, ARHIS, 2003.
100 Vietnamese Painters and Sculptors of the 20th Century. Hanoi: Fine Art Publishers, 1996.
McLeod, Mark W. and Nguyen Thi Dieu. Culture and Customs of Vietnam. Westport: Greenwood Publishing
Group, 2001.
Dinh Quang, Lê Anh, Hà Van Cau, and Nguyen Huy Hong. Vietnamese Theater. Hanoi: The Gioi Publishers,
1999.
Noppe, Catherine and Jean-Francois Hubert. Art of Vietnam. New York: Parkstone Press, 2003
Stevenson, John, Guy, John and Allison, Louise, Vietnamese Ceramics: A Separate Tradition Hardcover. Art
Media Resources Ltd; First Edition edition, August 1, 1997
Hai, Pham Hoang. Art of Lacquer: Everything You Want to Know About Vietnamese Lacquer. Hanoi: Hanoi:
The Gioi Publishers, 2007.
Jane Bradley Winston, Jane Bradly and Ollier, Leakthina Chau-Pech. Of Vietnam: Identities in Dialogue. New
York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001
Theater
Hong, Nguyen Huy. Vietnamese Traditional Water Puppetry. Hanoi: The Gioi Publishers, 2010.
The Family
Hickey, G. C. The Kinship System. Village in Vietnam. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1964.
Nguyen Du. The Tale of Kieu. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1964.
Architecture
Hoang, Huu Phe. The historical environment and housing conditions in the “36 Old Streets” quarter of Hanoi:
Conservation study. Bangkok: Asian Institute of Technology, 1990.
Socio-Economic and Demographic Characteristics
William J. Duiker. Vietnam Revolution in Transition. Boulder, 1995.
Hy V. Luong. Introduction: Postwar Vietnamese Society: An Overview of Transformational Dynamics Postwar
Vietnam. USA: Rowan & Littlefield Publishers, 2003.
Photography
After Daguerre: Masterworks of French Photography (1848-1900) from the Bibliotheque Nationale. New York:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in association with Berger-Levrault, Paris, 1980.
Baron, Cynthia and Daniel Peck. The Little Digital Camera Book. Upper Saddle River: Peachpit Press, 2003.
Barrett, Terry. Criticizing Photographs. Mountain View: Mayfield Publishing Co., 2005.
Burke, Bill (Photographer), Fall, Bernard, and Matak, Prince Sirik. Autrefois, Maison Privee. New York,
Powerhouse Books 2004, printed by Steidl
Burke, Bill, and Woody, Jack (Editor). I Want To Take Picture. Twin Palms Publishers, 2007 (Originally
printed by Nexus Press, 1987)
Burke, Bill. Mine Fields. Nexus Press 1995, distributed by Twin Palms
Ciaglia, Joseph. Introduction to Digital Photography, second edition. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2006
Coleman, A. D. Depth of Field: Essays on Photography, Mass Media and Lens Culture. New Mexico:
University of New Mexico Press, 1998.
Coles, Robert. Doing Documentary Work. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Davenport, Alma. The History of Photography, An Overview. Boston: Focal Press, 1991.
Davis, Phil. Photography. Dubuque: WM. C. Brown Publishers, 2003.
Freedman, Russell and Hine, Lewis. Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor. New
York: Clairon Books, (Paperback - Mar 23, 1998)
Hine, Lewis, Rosenblum, Walter, Trachtenberg, Alan, and Rosenblum, Naomi. America and Lewis Hine:
Photographs, 1904-1940. New York, Aperture, 1997
Horenstein, Henry. Beyond Basic Photography. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1996 edition.
Kalow, Nancy. Visual Storytelling: The Digital Video Documentary. Durham, NC: Center for Documentary
Studies at Duke University, 2011
Available for free at www.visualstorytellingonline.org
London, Barbara, and John Upton. Photography. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2008.
McCauley, Elizabeth Ann. Likenesses: Portrait Photography in Europe 1850-1870. Albuquerque: Art Museum,
University of New Mexico, 1980.
Rosemblum, Naomi. A World History of Photography. New York: Abbeville Press, 1984.
Riis, Jacob A. How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York. Kessinger Publishing,
Online resources:
Magnum Photos: http://www.magnumphotos.com/
VII Photo Agency: http://www.viiphoto.com/
Trade Journals:
Aperture Magazines: http://www.aperture.org/
Blind Spot: http://blindspot.com/
APPENDIX I: NEW YORK STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT REQUIREMENTS
APPENDIX I: NEW YORK STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT REQUIREMENTS
New York State Education Department (NYSED) Requirement: NYSED requires that there be 15 hours of
instruction and 30 hours of supplementary assignments for each course credit.
Students are expected to complete 90 supplementary hours of research and class work per semester.
APPENDIX II: RATIONALE FOR A UNIVERSITY-WIDE CORE CURRICULUM
N/A