Back Arts & Culture » Music & Art » [Slideshow] Propaganda Art of Vietnam

[Slideshow] Propaganda Art of Vietnam

“All Art Is Propaganda” – George Orwell

Propaganda art serves as a rallying call for the defense of both ideas and nations; a colorful and static reminder of the things we should strive to cherish and protect. Or that’s the idea anyway. The hyper-nationalist art has been used for hundreds of years but perhaps no more so than during the Cold War when it was used extensively by the Russians, Chinese, Cubans and Vietnamese.

Propaganda as a concept traces its roots to 1622 when Pope Gregory XV created the ‘Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith,’ a commission of cardinals tasked with “spreading the faith and regulating church affairs in heathen lands.”

The art form took off in earnest during WWI and, by the outbreak of WWII, was being created en masse by both the Allied and Axis powers.

Adopted by Vietnam when socialist realism was all the rage, the Ministry of Information established the “national art force” in 1957 to reinforce the ideals of North Vietnam. Vietnamese propaganda art is most associated with the American War, though it was also used during the later conflicts with Pol Pot’s Cambodia and China.

The art form persists to this day in Vietnam, though it now deals mainly with civilian matters such as anti-smoking campaigns, holiday celebrations and economic mantras.

Here are some of our favorite pieces of Vietnamese propaganda art:

Related Articles

in Music & Arts

$840,000 Vietnamese Oil Painting Sets Christie’s Record

While SE Asia may not be known for fine oil paintings the way Europe is, Vietnam boasts a few exceptional artists in this discipline. One of these is the 20th century painter, Lê Phổ, whose artis...

in Music & Arts

'Beautiful Saigon Project' Explores Saigon Through HipHop

Hip hop has a special place in our hearts so when we see the style gaining popularity in Vietnam, we get pretty excited. We just stumbled upon this extremely entertaining and well-produced hip hop vi...

in Music & Arts

'Licence 2 Draw': UuDam Tran Nguyen Brings Robotic Art to Vietnam

Software-based creations are increasingly populating the 21st century art scene, which sees smart phones, websites, digital moving images and software used to investigate and address the most varied t...

in Music & Arts

10 Awesome Traditional Vietnamese Songs

Petites Planètes compiled a wonderful sampling of traditional Vietnamese music, from funeral songs to those played in Hue's Imperial Citadel, and put the playlist online.

in Music & Arts

15 Awesome Drone Images of Downtown Hanoi

We’re all about seeing Vietnam from different vantage points, from street level to outer space. But perhaps the perfect middle ground are photos taken from drones which give the viewer a birds eye per...

in Music & Arts

18 Photos That Combine Past And Present Vietnam In A Single Image

We love before and after shots of Vietnam as much as anyone, to the point where we’ve dedicated an entire Facebook group to the comparisons. But Vietnamese photographer, Khánh Hmoong, takes this conce...

Partner Content