First Generation Artist: École des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine French Influenced
Phan Kế An was born as Phan Kích on 20 March 1923 in Mông Phụ Village, Đường Lâm District, in Hà Tĩnh Province on the northern central coast of Vietnam. His father, Phan Kế Toại (1892-1973), was the personal envoy to Tonkin of the last Emperor of Vietnam, Bảo Đại, the Minister of Home Affairs (1945-1955) and Deputy Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) from 1955 to 1973. Various looted items acquired from Việt Minh armed robbery skirmishes of Japanese convoys, some of which involved An, were hidden in his father’s residence.
“In my head, there were so many questions: When working with such an important person, will there be any constraints? Will there be enough creativity? If the drawing is enough to portray Uncle Hồ?”
Thu Hà, “Uncle Hồ, the subject I pursued throughout my life,” Saigon Liberation Newspaper, 2 September 2008
An participated in Vietnam’s first National Fine Art Exhibition in Hanoi in 1946, winning first prize for his painting Thunderstorm looms over Thanh Hoá Citadel (Trời giông trên thành Thanh Hoá). He also won first prize at subsequent exhibitions in 1951, 1956 and 1961.
An was asked by General Secretary Trường Chinh to join Sự Thật (The Truth) newspaper (the predecessor of Nhân Dân newspaper) in 1947, at just twenty-four years old. Given the title of commission editor, he was completely free to cover any topic he wanted, which was very rare at the time. He contributed by drawing political cartoons, aiming mostly at French, and later American, imperialism and also at Ngô Đình Diệm (named Prime Minister of the State of South Vietnam by Head of State Bảo Đại in 1954) before his rise to power. He continued painting throughout the Second Indochina War to criticize the American bombing of Hanoi.3

In November 1948, he spent three weeks in secrecy with Hồ Chí Minh and his closest advisors, producing twenty portraits of the iconic Vietnamese resistance leader, some made from the burned ends of cigarette butts. He was the first person to portray President Hồ Chí Minh in the resistance against French colonialism.4
It was an opportunity that he realised changed his life, but not without some worry. “I was happy to meet and draw people that I always admired, but stressed over the heavy responsibility,” he said in an interview with Saigon Liberation Newspaper in an online interview in 2008.
Despite being nervous around his idol, An remembers the time fondly, filled with small interactions that solidified their relationship. He tells of how, to keep Hồ Chí Minh from moving too much while smoking cigarettes, An took them away one by one and began distributing them to the thirty soldiers in the camp. When Hồ Chí Minh found out – wondering why he had so little cigarettes – An admitted his plan. After listening how An had up to that point taken thirteen cigarettes and distributed them to the soldiers, Hồ Chí Minh gave him another seventeen for the remaining “brothers” in the camp. An would eventually create over 200 portraits of Hồ Chí Minh during his lifetime, until the leader’s death in September 1969.
According to An, the earliest wartime works were intended by the artists to provide their patriotic support for the Việt Minh’s revolutionary activities. An noted that the Việt Minh soldier was a true patriot; although he was poor and had no boots or shoes, he was willing to fight the French for the independence of his country. An also noted that producing these types of works was extremely dangerous. If the French found these works, artists risked severe punishment, even execution.5
As a member of the Central Art Committee from 1951 to 1957, An was one of the first members of the Vietnam Fine Arts Association established in 1957, where he served as Deputy General Secretary from 1958 to 1978 and Member of Executive Committee from 1957 to 1983.
From 1960 to 1962, An was a trainee in fine arts at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Leningrad, in the former Soviet Union.
On 28 August 2008, An decided to give the Ho Chi Minh Museum of Fine Arts his sketches and wood engravings of Hồ Chí Minh, and the things he and his family kept as mementoes and priceless artefacts from the war.
An continued to paint throughout his life. His works are in the permanent collections of the State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow, and the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum in Hanoi.
An passed away at the age of 95 on 21 January 2018 in Hanoi.
RELATIONSHIP MAP
PHAN KẾ AN GALLERY
Publications
Realism in Asian Art, 2010, The National Art Gallery, Singapore & The National Gallery of Contemporary Art, Korea
Hội Mỹ Thuật Việt Nam, Nghệ sĩ tạo hình Việt Nam hiện đại (Ký Hệu Hội Viên), 2009, Nhà Xuất Bản Mỹ Thuật, Hà Nội
Vietnam 1954-1975: War Drawings and Posters From The Ambassador Dato’ N. Parameswaran Collection, 2015, National University of Singapore Museum, Singapore
Collections
State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow
Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, Hanoi
Ho Chi Minh Museum of Fine Arts, Ho Chi Minh City
Exhibitions
1946 – First prize at National Fine Art Exhibition
1951 – First prize at National Fine Art Exhibition
1956 – First prize at National Fine Art Exhibition
1961 – First prize at National Fine Art Exhibition
2006 – Il drago e la Farfalla, Complesso del Vittoriano, Rome, Italy
2010 – Realism in Asia, National Gallery, Singapore; National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea
2015 – Vietnam 1954-1975: War Drawings and Posters From the Ambassador Dato’ N. Parameswaran Collection, National University of Singapore Museum, Singapore
Official Roles
1983-1989 – Member of the Executive Board, Member of the Professional Committee, Chairman of the Artistic Council of Graphic Design II Vietnam Fine Arts Association
1989-1994 – Member of the Examination Board III Vietnam Fine Arts Association
Awards7
Third Class Independence Medal
Second-Class Resistance Medal
Anti-American Resistance Medal First Class
Arts Devotion medal
Medal for the cause of Vietnamese art
Medal for the People’s cause
2001 – State Awards for Literature and Arts
REFERENCES AND FOOTNOTES:
- Lý Trực Dũng, Biếm họa Việt Nam, 2010, NXB Mỹ Thuật, Hanoi.
- Lý Trực Dũng, Phan Kích: blowing up the wall to break … the cartoon!, 2008, TTVH Online
- Lý Trực Dũng, Phan Kích: blowing up the wall to break … the cartoon!, 2008, TTVH Online.
- Phan Kế An biography from an interview conducted with the artist at his home on Thợ Nhuộm Street, Hanoi on 31 August 2006. Witness Collection.
- Independent interview conducted with artist Phan Kế An at his home on Thợ Nhuộm Street, Hanoi on 31 August 2006. Witness Collection.
- Artist Phan Kế An passes away, 2018, Life & Style, Vietnam News.
- Phan Kế An Biography, Vietnam Fine Art Association Online.