“Ki Long Giang Khoi Lua - Sketches and Poems” was translated into Vietnamese by Phan Thanh Hao, including sketches, watercolors, poems and letters by artists and soldiers created right in the middle of the battlefield during the resistance war against the US. The English version of the book “Ki Long Giang Khoi Lua - Sketches and Poems” was published by Asia Ink and the University of Chicago Press in 2008, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Amidst fierce bombs and bullets, in the basements and in the camps of the resistance war against the US to save the country, the Central Office of Southern Vietnam opened art classes in the jungles of Ca Mau, Tay Ninh, Dong Thap Muoi... The battlefield painters were present in the cultural soldiers supporting the battlefields of the South from the early days such as Huynh Phuong Dong, Le Lam, Nguyen Van Tru, Nguyen Thanh Chau...

They composed and recorded authentic images of the battlefield, the rear and the battlefield landscape of the South from Tay Ninh, Ben Tre to Ca Mau during the period of 1964-1975. They recorded vivid moments, full of love, and full of faith in humanity. The artists passionately painted portraits from the liaison child, the soldier to the local guerrillas to sculpt the faces of the ordinary but heroic Vietnamese people in battle.

Thanks to that, many stories about the lives of soldiers, children, mothers, mountains, tunnels, and villages with lyrical qualities were recorded amidst the fire and bullets, expressing love for the homeland, courage, and desire for peace. The book also introduces the works of Nguyen Duy and Le Anh Xuan - poets representing resistance literature, such as the poem "Vietnam's Posture". The poems are interwoven with touching memoirs, diaries, and letters sent from the battlefield.

In the preface of the book “Cuu Long Giang Khoi Lua - Sketches and Poetry” printed the sharing of artist Nguyen Toan Thi - former Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Museum (who passed away in 2016): “From Hanoi, artists followed the Ho Chi Minh trail to support the battlefield in South Vietnam, reported to the Command of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, then were assigned to war zones throughout the Mekong Delta. Many official art courses were opened to train a new generation of artists in art… Life during the war was difficult, with extreme deprivation. We lacked painting materials, even paint. But we still created, finding ways to overcome difficulties. We quickly sketched with pencils, fountain pens, ink pens or watercolors… on any paper we could find, even on old newspaper or notebooks…”.

To introduce the art book “Cuu Long Giang Khoi Lua - Sketches and Poems” to readers, American journalist and curator Sherry Buchanan and Nam Anandaroopa Nguyen embarked on a journey to research, collect and introduce to the world works introducing the art of the Vietnam War. Sherry Buchanan and Nam Anandaroopa Nguyen traveled throughout Vietnam for nearly two decades (1998-2015), interviewed dozens of war artists, collected sketches, watercolors and unpublished documents to introduce to the world a deeper understanding of the fine arts on the Vietnam battlefield.

This is also a valuable source of information to help the younger generation better understand the resistance war from an emotional, humane, and visual perspective through the lens, understanding, and sharing of foreign scholars.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/Chuyen-dong-van-hoa/ra-mat-sach-nghe-thuat-cuu-long-giang-khoi-lua-ky-hoa-va-tho-i766873/