To let the national colors and Vietnamese souls shine on the paper

Continuing the traditional profession  

Talking to us in a 5-room ancient house filled with the smell of ink and hung with Dong Ho paintings, Meritorious Artist Nguyen Thi Oanh said: “I was born into a family of the Nguyen Dang clan, with a mother who makes Dong Ho paintings. When I was 8 years old, I went to school in the morning and helped my mother make paintings in the afternoon, mainly coloring, drying and cleaning. From then on, my love for paintings, love for art and the desire to develop the profession of making Dong Ho paintings were formed.”

Meritorious artisan Nguyen Thi Oanh introduces Dong Ho folk paintings to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand Paetongtarn Shinawatra on May 15, 2025. Photo provided by the character

Growing up, Ms. Oanh became the daughter-in-law of the family of Meritorious Artist Nguyen Huu Sam, Chairman of the Dong Ho Painting Cooperative. Her father-in-law taught her a lot of knowledge and experience in making paintings. This was the solid foundation for Ms. Oanh to stick with and continue the traditional profession of making Dong Ho folk paintings of the Nguyen Huu family. Not long after that, her father-in-law transferred the entire family painting production facility to Ms. Oanh to manage, exploit and operate.

To make a Dong Ho folk painting, artisan Nguyen Thi Oanh is very careful and meticulous in every step, from carving the board to printing the painting. To make the board durable and sharp when printing, one must use Thi wood or Vang Tam wood. As for the bark of the Do tree, when purchased, it is flattened, then crushed Mai Con Diep (a type of thin-shelled seashell) mixed with sticky rice paste, and brushed with a pine needle brush to make it even, then dried to make painting paper. When printing a painting, one must know the surface of each printing plate to know which painting is which plate, which color plate is printed first, which color plate is printed later, the way of brushing the color must also be gentle and even, so that the color is absorbed into the painting not too much, not too little, so that the painting is flat as silk, the color is not rough.

International tourists are very excited to experience making Dong Ho folk paintings.

Being hard-working and creative, Ms. Oanh soon accumulated many secrets of making paintings. Before long, she became the main laborer in her family's painting workshop. Over the years, with her passion, enthusiasm, and dedication to her profession, Ms. Nguyen Thi Oanh has now become a famous artisan of Dong Ho folk painting village. In 2020, she was awarded the title of Meritorious Artisan by the State; in 2022, she was honored to be one of 24 typical examples nationwide of "Studying and following the ideology, morality, and style of Ho Chi Minh ".

"National colors shine on the paper"

Currently, Ms. Oanh's family's painting workshop is preserving more than a thousand ancient woodcuts with many genres such as: worship paintings, historical paintings, congratulatory paintings, landscape paintings, story paintings... Along with hundreds of woodcuts of more than 50 paintings she created herself such as: Paintings of Dau Pagoda, But Thap Pagoda, Amitabha statue, Do Temple's water pavilion, Tet market... To get those paintings, Ms. Oanh went to the field, took pictures of the scenery from many angles, then looked at them to draw, bringing new life to Dong Ho folk paintings, meeting the spiritual and cultural needs of the people.

Artisan Nguyen Thi Oanh dries do paper, the raw material used to make Dong Ho paintings.

For the ancient Dong Ho folk painting genre, familiar and close images such as: Swing, jealousy, coconut gathering, mouse wedding, toad teacher, buffalo herder playing flute... when printing the paintings, Ms. Oanh still kept the original size and design. In addition, Ms. Oanh also created many new paintings on large-sized diep paper to serve the needs of the public such as: Tranh ma dao thanh cong, vinh quy bai to, tu quy hac, tu quy binh, tu quy vien sen...

With her talented hands and creativity, every year Ms. Oanh creates thousands of Dong Ho folk paintings with different sizes and themes, conveying the dreams and aspirations of the Vietnamese people, through the unique artistic language on Do paper, sparkling with the colors of Dong Ho paintings.

Sharing about the most memorable memory during her painting career, Ms. Oanh proudly said: “In 2022, the painting “Vinh quy bai to” that I made was chosen by the provincial leaders as a gift for the late General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong when he returned to Bac Ninh to celebrate Tet. In 2024, my husband and I were honored to go to the Government Office to introduce painting printing techniques and instruct Chinese Premier Li Qiang on how to make Dong Ho paintings on the occasion of the Prime Minister's official visit to Vietnam.”

Bringing "national color" to the world

According to Meritorious Artist Nguyen Thi Oanh: "Dong Ho folk paintings are a long-standing genre of paintings with unique content and artistic values, bearing a rustic, nostalgic beauty, and having lasting vitality not only for many generations of Vietnamese people but also for international tourists". From that meaning, in recent years, artisan Nguyen Thi Oanh has always actively participated in performing, introducing, and promoting Dong Ho folk paintings and the craft of making Dong Ho folk paintings at important events at home and abroad, typically: APEC Conference in 2006; the event of the IPU-132 General Assembly of the World Parliamentary Union; International Exhibition of Paper Products of ASEAN Countries; attending Vietnam National Day at Expo 2020 Dubai; introducing the craft of making Dong Ho folk paintings at the Vietnam Cultural Tourism Festival held in Seoul (Korea)...

In addition, Mrs. Oanh's family's paintings have also been promoted and exhibited at many major festivals in countries such as Japan, France, Germany, India, the Czech Republic, etc. The colorful and generous paintings of chickens and pigs, symbolizing luck, prosperity, and prosperity, have become impressive highlights, attracting the attention of many international tourists. Since then, the reputation of Dong Ho paintings by artisan Nguyen Thi Oanh has become known to many people. During the 14th APEC Conference (November 2006), Mrs. Oanh's family's painting workshop in Dong Khe village welcomed Mrs. Hillary Clinton - wife of US President Bill Clinton to visit. Mrs. Oanh's painting "Glory" was also chosen by the Vietnamese Government to present to Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, on the occasion of his official visit to Vietnam in November 2018.

Artisan Nguyen Thi Oanh presented the author of the article with a Dong Ho painting "Returning home in glory and paying respect to ancestors".

International visitors to the family's painting workshop and gallery are introduced in detail and thoughtfully by Ms. Oanh, leading them from admiration to admiration for a unique and valuable line of Vietnamese folk paintings, unlike anywhere else in the world. Here, visitors can experience printing paintings, learn more about the customs and traditional culture of the Vietnamese people, through the unique art of Dong Ho folk paintings.

Proud to contribute to spreading the Vietnamese cultural identity to the world, artisan Nguyen Thi Oanh confided: "Seeing our overseas Vietnamese and international tourists love and appreciate Dong Ho paintings, I feel very proud and happy, that is the motivation that urges me to continue to stick with the profession of making paintings."

Keep the "fire of the profession" with heart

Sitting down to confide in us, artisan Nguyen Thi Oanh recounted a profound memory at the beginning of the Year of the Tiger 2022, when she was participating in the exhibition and promotion of Dong Ho paintings at Do Temple. It was an honor for her gallery to welcome General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong to visit and encourage: "We must preserve the traditional craft of our homeland". The General Secretary's advice is always the motivation for Ms. Oanh to continue to stick with and be passionate about the craft of making Dong Ho folk paintings.

Every day, Meritorious Artist Nguyen Thi Oanh is still like a silkworm spinning silk, diligently and industriously doing the meticulous manual steps of making Dong Ho folk paintings, from creating new paintings, creating woodblocks to making die-paper and printing paintings. Because more than anyone, she understands that without those who "keep the fire burning", Dong Ho paintings will gradually be forgotten. Previously, Dong Khe village had 17 families making Dong Ho paintings, now there are only two families (Nguyen Dang and Nguyen Huu) with only 3 families. The Nguyen Dang family has one family of Meritorious Artist Nguyen Dang Che, the Nguyen Huu family has two families: Meritorious Artist Nguyen Thi Oanh and Meritorious Artist Nguyen Huu Qua (Mrs. Oanh's husband's younger brother).

Although in recent years, the villagers have become richer thanks to the high income from switching from making Dong Ho paintings to making votive offerings, Mrs. Oanh's family is still loyal to the painting profession. Every day, in addition to making paintings directly, Mrs. Oanh also teaches her experience and secrets of making paintings to her son and daughter-in-law, to preserve the "fire of the profession" for Dong Ho paintings. When guests come to visit the gallery, Mrs. Oanh is ready to introduce them, and when guests want to experience printing paintings, she enthusiastically helps and guides them through each step, completely free of charge.

Leaving the gallery, we clearly remembered the words of Meritorious Artist Nguyen Thi Oanh: "The profession of making Dong Ho paintings is hard, the income is just enough to eat, but I still do it because of my passion and enthusiasm, the main thing is to preserve the traditional cultural beauty passed down by our ancestors, so that the national colors, the cultural quintessence of the country and the Vietnamese soul will shine more and more on the paper".

Article and photos: LE XUAN MINH

Source: https://www.qdnd.vn/phong-su-dieu-tra/cuoc-thi-nhung-tam-guong-binh-di-ma-cao-quy-lan-thu-16/de-cho-sac-mau-dan-toc-tam-hon-nguoi-viet-toa-sang-tren-giay-diep-828706