Discovering Vietnamese culture through "Essay on Annamese art"

The book “Essays on Annamese Art” by Louis Bezacier published by Nha Nam, includes 7 talks and a booklet with projections made at the Louis Finot Museum (now the National Museum of History, Hanoi ), under the auspices of the Association of Friends of the École Française d'Extrême-Orient.

This is a valuable document not only for art lovers but also for those interested in Vietnamese culture and history. “Essays on Annamese Art” was first published in 1944 and has been translated into many languages. The book provides a comprehensive and systematic view of Vietnamese art from prehistoric to modern times.

Louis Bezacier (1906-1966), who studied at the School of Fine Arts in Paris from 1926, was one of the few scholars who laid the first bricks for the study of Vietnamese art history. He himself realized that his work was to pick up each pearl, compare, contrast, appraise, describe, and analyze, then synthesize them to create a chain of Annamese art. Bezacier presented an open perspective when looking at artifacts with a multidimensional and multicultural eye.

Louis Bezacier wants to show through these pages that this art deserves more than that. This is the general goal: to try to perceive and understand Annamese art; to study not only its origin and development, but also the diverse influences it has received.

From the research of Louis Bezacier, Vietnamese scholars in the 20th century developed a series of monographs, such as "Fine Arts of the Ly Dynasty", "Fine Arts of the Tran Dynasty", "Fine Arts of the Le Dynasty", "Fine Arts of the Mac Dynasty" by the Institute of Fine Arts, "Fine Arts of the Vietnamese" by Nguyen Quan and Phan Cam Thuong... In the 21st century, there are the books "Arts of Vietnam 1009-1945" by Kerry Nguyen-Long ( The World Publishing House, 2013), "L'envol du dragon-Art royal du Vietnam" (Musée National des Arts Asiatiques - Guimet, Paris, 2014), "Fine Arts of Nguyen" by Nguyen Huu Thong (Ho Chi Minh City General Publishing House, 2019).

Essays on Annamese Art is also a journey to discover the culture and spirit of the Vietnamese people. By combining in-depth research with Louis Bezacier's delicate feelings and passion for art, this book opens a new door for readers to understand more about the beauty and value of art.

Louis Bezacier studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1926 and took architectural classes at the Defrasse-Madeline workshop from 1931-1932. He arrived in Hanoi on October 3, 1935, taking on the role of conserving works in Tonkin, then in central Vietnam. He also participated in the restoration and research of a number of ancient works, including the identification of a new style: Dai La art (11th-12th centuries).

Louis Bezacier has a number of representative works including “L'Architecture religieuse au Tonkin” (Religious Architecture in Tonkin, 1938), “L'art et les constructions militaires annamites” (Art and military constructions of Annam, 1941), “Le panthéon bouddhique des pagodes du Tonkin” (Buddhist shrines in pagodas in Tonkin, 1943), “Essais sur l'art annamite” (Essays on l'art annamite, 1943), “L'art vietnamien” (Vietnamese art, 1955).

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