Save the Spring Garden of Central South North: Should be done well ...


After many months since the public discovered that Nguyen Gia Tri's North Central Spring Garden National Treasure was damaged, the 'future' of this painting is still a big question.

Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts is expected to hold a seminar in November to revolve around the restoration of works. But how to fix the painting, even if it should be done ... are still issues with mixed opinions among experts, lacquer painters.





Who will take over?

After many meetings of stakeholders, from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture and Sports, the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts to the representative of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, you can say almost painter Nguyen Xuan Viet – studied The painter Nguyen Gia Tri (1908 – 1993) – is the one chosen to restore the Spring Garden of the Central, South and North.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Viet is knowledgeable about his teacher's techniques and has directly completed the final stages of this painting. Artist Nguyen Xuan Viet also received two photo albums of the North Central and South Central Spring Garden before and after the damage from the HCM City Fine Arts Museum.

According to painter Nguyen Xuan Viet, in the project of restoring, repairing and restoring the painting, he plans to use Japanese gold and silver to reduce the color shades, make the egg layer sink when looking at the whole and draw. some details were blown away by the sandpaper.

Each step of reduction, sharpening, and adjustment can take a few months, then take about a year and a half to fully restore the painting, and it takes 8-10 years for the color layers to evenly and settle. .

Artist Nguyen Xuan Viet also expressed his wish to restore the painting with his own team. He shared: “Editing of lacquer works requires understanding from a team for a long time. So I only get to restore the painting when no one interrupted my work.

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Although I am offended by many people, I will still present this point of view in the upcoming seminar. “However, a source from Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts said that if according to Mr. Viet, it would be very difficult for the museum side. when reporting the project and monitoring and acceptance.

Some painters and lacquer restoration experts suggested inviting the old lacquer painter Hoang Tram to comment on editing the painting, but painter Hoang Tram was old, weak and before that he was frank. expressed the opinion that this painting should not be corrected because it will further damage the spirit of the painting.

More research is needed

Artist Nguyen Xuan Viet said that if he could only find suitable Japanese materials, he could immediately begin repairing the North Central Spring Garden. However, many opinions suggest that restoring works right now is not the right thing to do.

“In order to restore the Central-South-North Spring Garden, we need to study for more years, to avoid the case the more wrong and the more serious the case is,” said Luong Xuan Doan, vice president of Vietnam Fine Arts Association.

Lacquerer Nguyen Tuan Cuong also said that it takes more time to research correction options. “I know the Japanese have restored a box of lacquer over 100 years old that has peeled off in corners, edges.

They take lasers and analyze each paint layer very carefully, apply each part and use lasers to compare whether the new color can be mixed with the old paint or not. If seen with the naked eye, even the artists and experts could not judge whether the paintings were recovered or not “– said painter Nguyen Tuan Cuong.

Meanwhile, painter Ly Truc Son shared that it was difficult to consult international experts: “Vietnam's lacquer is not like other countries. The Japanese make fine-art lacquer with a standard process, so experts or even a craftsman can easily be restored.

And artistic lacquer with the free creativity of Vietnamese artists, especially Nguyen Gia Tri, can only be based on other works and carefully study his color scheme “ .

Artist Tran Ngoc Hung – who used to repair paintings by artists Nguyen Gia Tri, Nguyen Tu Nghiem, and Nguyen Sang – affirmed that the field of lacquer painting restoration has its own regulations. In order to restore in which area, the performer must make a specific zoning, depending on the overall painting to determine the amount of sulfur to be removed, not to draw more on the work ...

“The lacquer painting of Nghiem and Sang tool is quite thin, so it can easily crack the surface if not careful. Meanwhile, Tri's painting is thicker, so the restoration is easier” – painter Tran Ngoc Hung said.