Dong Bao Tay Bac [People of the north-west are happy to see President Ho]

Posting depicting people of north-west Vietnam, in traditional clothing, seated on the floor of a hut, drinking tea and looking at a poster of Ho Chi Minh. The accompanying text translates as; 'People of the north-west are happy to see the picture of President Ho Chi Minh'. The text in the lower left below the image refers to Ho Chi Minh's birthday celebrations. 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 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. Many poster artists during this period were encouraged to draw the ethnic minorities living in the highland areas bordering Loas and China. All Vietnamese citizens were to take equal part in the movement for independence. The artist for this poster, Mai Van Hien, was born in 1923, studied at the l'Ecole des beaux-arts d'indochine in 1945, sketched on the front line at the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and participated in Ngoc Van's 'Resistance Class' at art school in 1945. He travelled with Vietnamese cultural delegations to Cuba, Bulgaria, Russia and Eastern Europe during the 1970s and from 1957-1983 served on the executive committee of the Vietnamese arts association.