Hàng Trống painting

Hàng Trống painting (Vietnamese: Tranh Hàng Trống) is a genre of Vietnamese woodcut painting that originated from the area of Hàng Trống and Hàng Nón streets in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam. In the past, Hàng Trống painting was an essential element of the Tết Nguyên Đán holiday in Hanoi, but today this tradition has almost disappeared and authentic Hàng Trống paintings are found only in museums or art galleries. However, the art of making Hàng Trống paintings is always considered a symbol of traditional culture and aesthetic value of Vietnam.

Themes and making

The common themes in Hàng Trống paintings are spiritual and cultural symbols such as the white tiger (hổ trắng) or carp (cá chép), which indicate a stronger influence of Buddhism and Taoism than in Đông Hồ painting. However, besides the pictures of worshipping themes, Hàng Trống craftsmen also made paintings with folk themes like Đông Hồ such as Bịt mắt bắt dê (blind-man's buff), Rồng rắn (following the leader) or Thầy đồ Cóc (the toad scholar) for the decoration of families during the Tết holiday. The aesthetic value of Hàng Trống painting is more urban than Đông Hồ pictures which are made in the countryside and often reflect a farmer's perspective. Some popular examples of Hàng Trống painting are Ngũ hổ (Five Tigers), Lý ngư vọng nguyệt (Carp Looking at the Moon), Tứ bình (Four female musicians) and Tố nữ (Virgin Girl).

In making a Hàng Trống painting, the craftsman starts with woodblocks to print black outlines, then draws the details and finally colours the picture in by hand. Because the main part of the process is made by the craftsman's hands, Hàng Trống pictures are slightly different from one to another, thus they become more valuable for the fastidious customers in Hanoi. The paper used in making Hàng Trống painting is called Xuyến chỉ paper (giấy Xuyến chỉ), which differs from the natural colour paper of Đông Hồ painting.