Chong Han Cay Chiem [Fighting against the crowd, we plant the Summer rice]

Poster depicting a young woman in the foreground holding bundles of harvested rice over her shoulders, while men in the background plant rice. The poster is derived from an image that appeared in a Vietnamese newspaper , reprinted for the New Year 1956, Year of the Monkey. The title of the poster refers to the Vietnamese people's contribution to the nation's prosperity. During the 1950s and '60s in Vietnam, poster artists often worked in a social-realist style promoted by the state, with art serving propaganda purposes. The artist for this poster was Nguyen Sang (1923-1988) a graduate of the l'Ecole des beaux-arts d'Indochine, Hanoi in 1945. From 1957 until 1983 he served on the executive of the Vietnamese arts association and participated in an artist's 'resistance class' in 1954. He was one of the best known commercial artists. The most important and patriotic subject matter in posters was realistic portraits of peasants, workers and soldiers. Ho Chi Minh, in particular, felt that art must 'speak to the masses' and artists took on a new role, fighting in the struggle for independence and national liberation. The posters were important in an ideological campaign that sought to promote a high regard for labour, collectivism and patriotism, during a period of socialist transformation and cultural revolution in Vietnam.