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Vietnam Folk Painting

There are two kinds of folk paintings: New-year paintings and Worshipping paintings. Folk paintings are closely connected to religious belief of worshipping for forefathers and deities. For mass production, folk paintings were executed through woodblock printing. They became quite popular in the 16th century, and developed steadily at a high level in the 18th and 19th centuries. Given their artistic styles, printing and drawing techniques and materials, folk paintings could be classified into some different brands such as Dong Ho (Bac Ninh province), Hang Trong (Ha Noi) and Kim Hoang (Ha Tay province)… Today, however, folk paintings are almost obsolete. Amongst the few existing brands of folk paintings under preservation, Dong Ho paintings still develop and can be found in many countries such as Japan, France and the US... Dong Ho is the name of a small village lying along the southern bank of Duong river, in Bac Ninh province. Dong Ho paintings are made in an original way, technically and aesthetically, in every aspect from pattern design, carving, paper production (dzo (poonah) paper is hand-made, coated with white powder made from baked shell), color mixture (made from natural materials) to picture drawing and printing.