Artists from Vietnam played an integral role in both the First Indochina War (1946-1954), where they fought for independence from French colonial rule, and the Second Indochina War (commonly known as the Vietnam War or the American War), which continued until 1975. Artists documented conditions for soldiers in the battlefields, as well as for civilians in the cities and the countryside. In the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam or DRV), artists were employed by the military or the state; sometimes their works were created as personal mementoes, but they also created propagandistic and sometimes romantic images to articulate and advocate ideological positions. Sometimes these images were exhibited or published during the wartime. According to interviews with the artist, this artwork depicts the smoking and ruined remains of a forest on the Ho Chi Minh trail, after a B52 bombing attack. Cluster bombs would also be dropped, resulting in destructive fires across the landscape. The Ho Chi Minh Trail was the collective name for a network of trails and routes through the Trường Sơn mountains in Eastern Laos and Cambodia, via which the North Vietnamese army was able to clandestinely move into South Vietnam and transport vital supplies. In this striking panoramic image, the desolation of the scene is conveyed through Bùi Quang Ánh's monochromatic palette and use of stark, angular brushwork in ink. While most art in North Vietnam followed a realistic style, as mandated by the official guidelines on art production, Bùi Quang Ánh's work nonetheless gives the impression of a defined personal style.This artwork is part of a significant collection of drawings, sketches, paintings, posters and photographs in Singapore’s National Collection. These works reflect the diversity of artistic production during the First and Second Indochina Wars among artists affiliated with the communist side of the conflict. Many key figures active as war artists during this period have also had a lasting impact on the development of modern art in Vietnam and beyond.
