Tiger, tiger burning bright

As Vietnam ushered in the Year of the Tiger, artist Le Tri Dung unveiled an exhibition dedicated to this mighty animal but don’t expect to see claws and fearsome fangs.

Le Tri Dung is a well known Vietnamese artist whose favourite medium is watercolours and Chinese ink on mounted rice hand-made paper. His preferred subject is normally the horse but for his latest exhibition Le Tri Dung has created a series of 60 portraits featuring the tiger – it is the Year of the Tiger after all.

The tigers in Dung’s paintings are vivid, joyful and ecstatic and pose no threat. The owner of Maison des Arts, Nguyen Nga saw the tigers as friendly rather than fierce. “Looking at Dung’s tigers, I seem to meet my friends! Each tiger seems to be a portrait of a friend or someone around me in character and in spirit,” said Nga.

Le Tri Dung’s Tiger paintings are inspired with by folk paintings, which play such an important role in the spiritual life of Vietnamese people. “During Tet holidays we often decorate our homes with folk art with the hope of receiving good luck in the New Year,” explained Dung. “So I use these traditional motifs as a strong point in my paintings.”

Dung’s creations seem to follow the daily life of the tiger in various shapes and forms. The result is we come face to face with a strong but good-natured beast. These tigers wouldn’t harm a fly. Or perhaps, we look at the tigers as if we were part of the pack. We don’t fear this animal. In fact, we would happily sit alongside it.

“I love to paint horses and I have painted thousands of horse paintings,” said Dung. “Now painting tigers is a new challenge and an inspirational subject for me. “Tigers do not dance romantically on hooves under the sun [like horses] but a tiger has a powerful face and lissome body. A tiger’s inner expression reveals an august strength – a tiger is brave and successful.”

According to the Oriental mythology, the tiger is actually a protector and a preserver. Vietnamese people see tigers as one of the four main spiritual creatures. The tiger is also the king of all animals and the lord of the mountain. Dung’s exhibition is also a poignant one. As recently reported in Timeout, the tiger’s days in Vietnam are numbered and by the time the next Year of the Tiger comes around in 2022, this proud and noble beast could be extinct.

About the artist
Le Tri Dung was born in 1949 in fairly unusual circumstances after his parents left Hanoi for the countryside at the height of the battle for independence against France. Unable to find a doctor in such a remote location, his father was forced to deliver the baby in the house of a stranger, who, as fate would have it, kept horses in his yard.

His mother was something of a raconteur and she would later tell Dung the only thing she remembered clearly about his birth was the sound of horses neighing in the background. That’s why painting horses came so naturally to Dung. Like his visions of the tiger, his horses are brave, fearless and strong but also charming.

In 1972 Le Tri Dung joined the military and drove a tank in the war of independence against the US. But his passion was art. He had already started his studies at Hanoi Fine Arts College before joining the army and for five years in the battlefield, he continuously sketched the most violent moments of the struggle for national independence and reunification.

His oil painting Vuot Trong Diem (Overcoming the Fighting Line) was created from sketches he made during the war. This piece is now in the collection of Vietnam Fine Arts Museum in Hanoi. Today Le Tri Dung lectures at Hanoi Industrial Fine Art College, Hanoi Art College, and Hanoi Open University Institute.

Tiger by Le Tri Dung lasts until March 30 at Maison des Arts, 31A Van Mieu street, Hanoi.