Hanoi (VNA) - Some 50 folkpaintings of Vietnam are being introduced at an exhibition which opened at the Thang Long Imperial Citadel, Hanoi on August29.

Organised by the Thang Long-Hanoi Heritage Conservation Centre and the centre of the Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient (FrenchSchool of the Far East – EFEO) in Ho Chi Minh City,  the exhibition introduces paintings featuring diversetopics, from daily life, religious practices, literature, and seasons, andhistorical stories.

Notably, it also presents research results intofolk art through meticulously describing the process of making paintings andanalysing the paintings’ themes in their specific cultural and historicalcontext.

The paintings displayed at the event were selected from the book “Vietnamesefolk paintings - collection and research” by Maurice Durand, which was publishedby EFEO publishing house.

The book introduces a large part of thecollection of more than 400 folk paintings collected by Durand in Hanoi from 1940in Hanoi with the support of scholars Tran Van Giap, Tran Huy Ba, LouisBezacier and Paul Lesvy.

Tran Viet Anh, Director of the Thang Long-Hanoi Heritage Conservation Centre,said folk paintings are precious cultural heritage that should be respected andpreserved.

These paintings were copied with high quality from the originals, which are beingpreserved at the EFEO.

Born in 1914 in Hanoi, Maurice Durand wasthe son of a French sinologist and a Vietnamese woman.  He was a historian, literary language expert andcritic, and art analyst as well and died in 1966.

Maurice Durand is one of the rare bilingual researchers of the EFEO, withknowledge of French and Vietnamese cultural sources which are closely relatedto Han scripts.

The exhibition "Vietnamese folkpainting" is open from August 29 to September 30.

The same day, an exhibition on documents,photos, and paintings relating to the former Governors of Hanoi - Nguyen TriPhuong and Hoang Dieu who fought to protect the capital during the semi-feudal colonial time, was opened at Cua Bac Gate relic site.

More than 60 exhibits at the event highlightthe role of the two famous generals whocommanded the army and civilians in fighting against French colonialists in Hanoiin the 1800s.-VNA