It is said the Vietnamese won “the American War” – their term for the long and costly Vietnam War between 1965 and 1975 – with fish sauce and bicycles: in other words, with protein and mobility.
A third tier of strength was their powerful propaganda, whose messages are reflected in these posters. Images portray a nation’s activities, such as agriculture, manufacture, and food supply. Other subjects include armaments, ethnic hill tribe crafts, and portraits of Ho Chi Minh.

France progressively colonised Vietnam and Indo China from the mid to late 19th century until the early 1950s. At that time, Vietnam became partitioned, with Hanoi as the capital of the communist north under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh.
Western modern art was introduced to Indochina in the early 20th century, with the establishment of art schools like Gia Dinha Painting School (1913) and Indochina Fine Arts College (1925). As the struggle for independence grew, such schools’ instruction encouraged the portrayal of the revolution in a favourable and persuasive light. Artists literally became soldiers on the battlefield, and their propaganda works reflected this direct contact with the Vietnamese people.
Although one could argue that Vietnam's tradition of painting on silk were the first true Socialist Realism propaganda posters, the onset of hand screen printing on paper and hand-painted marquettes brought the medium to a mass audience, both in the countryside and city. Graphically strong imagery, reminiscent of Bauhaus, are the hallmarks of this style, with influences of Soviet art of the 1920s to Eastern European communist propaganda from the 1950s and 60s

Earlier communist propaganda posters reflected northern Vietnamese life, often with a sole woman representing the concept of “mother of the nation.” After unification, two women were commonly portrayed, symbolising both the north’s and south’s oneness as a nation. Southern women are commonly shown wearing a checked scarf.
Initial propaganda messages aroused the populace to simple goals, such as studying the writings of Ho Chi Minh. As the war escalated increasingly fervent messages called for “protecting our skies” from wartime bombs, to “don’t let them escape” when parachuting American troops landed in the countryside. After unification, when famine and hardship especially prevailed, citizenry were extolled to plant more crops, produce more products. By the time Doi Moi (economic liberalization) was introduced in the late 1980s, a common propaganda refrain called for greater exports. This coincided with the country’s opening to trade and tourism with the outside world.

Of prime importance, the offices of the Ministry of Information sent educational and propaganda posters for exhibition among the populace. Typically, bunches of posters were hand rolled and tied, then couriered by bicycle across the countryside where they were publicly exhibited and discussed.
Pin pricks and creases indicate greater usage of these posters – a proud testimony to the images’ popularity. Many collectors find this adds an authentic dimension.

Vietnamese propaganda posters historically range from paints on silk, to hand-coloured prints from woodblocks, to free-hand pencil drawings coloured with tempera. The posters in this exhibition are predominately tempera on a variety of papers. As paper was often in short supply, local recycling and production was essential. Likewise, there was very limited printing capabilities during times of war and privation.
Generic “wood paper’ is the common term used on Vietnamese government websites today, although paper stocks vary greatly, from pulped rice chaff, do tree bark and even cloth. Posters were also recycled, some printed on both sides. Local tempera colours were typically natural pigments, such as red from gravel and black from burned bamboo.
These authentic Vietnam propaganda art poster come framed and hinge-mounted, backed with hand-made paper from Dong Ho village, funded as a Unesco heritage project. The paper is brushed white with a time-honored gouache of ground oyster shell and sticky rice paste.

The government and the party still have a real need for this sort of art… It still has the power to mentally affect people, and help them understand government policies.
In war they are an encouragement to the nation, while in peace they aim to maintain the revolutionary spirit.
-- Luang Anh Dung, propaganda artist

We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda, it is a form of truth.
-- John Fitzgerald Kennedy