Duong Bich Lien (1924-1988)

Painter Duong Bich Lien, who was born in 1924 and died in 1988, was a student of the last course in Fine Arts College of Indochina. He was a native of Phu Thi village, Me So canton, Khoai Chau district (Phu Thi village, Me So commune, Van Giang district nowadays).

He started his painting career quite early. At the beginning of the August Revolution, he painted the propaganda posters for the resistance war in mobile propaganda team and liberation drama group, or worked as the painter of “Ve quoc quan” (The soldier) newspaper. Besides, he took part in some art exhibitions in Phu Tho (1948), Viet Bac secure area (1950) and national exhibition (1954) and gained a lot of prizes. In 1980, he was the first winner of the National Art Exhibition with works: "Ho Chu Tich qua suoi" (Uncle Ho passing the stream).

He spent a lot of time studying the style and trend of the world’s arts. He inclined toward mostly to the theme of portrait painting and was famous for paintings of ladies. He was very skillful in reflecting his artistic creation in many materials, especially lacquer painting, oil painting, and sketching by lead. Two thirds of his works were about women, some of which were masterpieces of Vietnam’s modern art.

As a talented and passionate painter, he was very interested in painting and never left his beloved easel even in the most difficult time of the war against the American Imperialism.

His painting career is the precious assets of the Vietnamese Fine Arts.