Advertising pictures, posters and vietnamese woodblock-Printing labels in the period 1946 - 1954

52 Nghiên cứu trao đổi ● Research-Exchange of opinion
ADVERTISING PICTURES, POSTERS AND 
VIETNAMESE WOODBLOCK-PRINTING LABELS IN 
THE PERIOD 1946-1954
Hoang Minh Phuc*
Date received the article: 5/8/2019
Date received the review results: 4/2/2020
Date published the article: 27/2/2020
Abstracts: In Vietnamese graphic arts, advertising pictures, posters, and engravings 
printed in wood from 1946-1954 have made important contributions in many aspects of 
politics, culture and arts. The works of this period not only refl ected the historical appearance 
of a people in words, images and techniques expressing the specifi city of wood carvings in the 
general development of art, but also contribute to confi rm the imprint of this material during 
the development of applied art of Vietnam.
Keywords: Advertising pictures, posters, prints, woodblock prints, Vietnam.
* Dong Nai Decorative fi ne arts college
Tạp chí Khoa học - Viện Đại học Mở Hà Nội 64 (2/2020) 52-58
Vietnamese society in the time of 
commercial feudalism did not develop, so 
there was no need for advertising, graphic 
advertisement did not form clearly, although 
some shops in Thang Long used to have 
door labels, products and hang the product 
out the door, treating it as an advertisement. 
By the end of the 19th century and the early 
20th century, when the French colonialists 
temporarily settled colonial rule, a number 
of cities began to develop trade alongside 
small handicraft trade in craft guilds and 
feudal trade. The urban bourgeoisie formed 
with the birth of a weak bourgeoisie 
in Vietnam. Market demand is always 
associated with advertising, signs on shops, 
posters for regular trade or each birth in 
urban areas, in which woodblock printing 
posters are relatively popular.
53Nghiên cứu trao đổi ● Research-Exchange of opinion
When capitalist production was 
fi rst established in the French colonial 
cities, labels and packaging of goods 
fi rst appeared, depending on the type of 
goods people used appropriate means 
to advertise. Signs are usually painted 
with paint on wooden boards, corrugated 
iron, or directly on the walls of the house 
(doorway). Goods always have a certain 
small and large package, but most of 
the words, signs, logos (like logos) are 
printed with woodblock on paper. There 
are always logos, writing (shops, prices, 
short introductions about the product, and 
maybe a picture of something related to 
the product or homeowner, for example, 
the tiger is printed on the label of Cao 
Con Ho, the deer head is printed on the 
label of Cao Ban long). For small labels, 
sometimes people design a series of 
uniform labels on a printed mold, print 
them out, then cut them out and paste them 
for each product packaging. The color 
of the label is also important for visual 
impression, but because of the color prints 
on the wood version, the prints are usually 
only one or two colors and black prints or 
black prints on colored paper. 
After the August Revolution, 
commercial advertising posters did not 
develop due to the war situation and posters 
were used with the new requirement of 
propagating the Nationalist resistance 
movement of the Resistance and enemy 
campaign government, from that it is 
called posters - that means to motivate and 
encourage. The three graphical techniques 
used in antiquity during the resistance 
war against the French were stone prints, 
screen prints and woodblock prints, 
depending on the specifi c conditions 
and circumstances. In his talk about 
Vietnamese posters art, he wrote: “In 
the historic Dien Bien Phu campaign, 
frontline artists wrote on the spot many 
posters that positively contributed to the 
work of posters. Our means at that time 
were still in need, so the paintings were 
usually small, printed in wood or in stone; 
sometimes they cannot print, the artist 
takes a couple of pictures a day, along 
with a folk-song, or a slogan, and then 
they stick it on themselves.” [2, p.9] and 
Truong Chinh’s remarks: “When there 
are successful paintings, we must try to 
print and publish them to the masses.” [1, 
p.9]. The above two paragraphs illustrate 
the need for posters with the national 
resistance war in 1946-1954 and during 
the anti-American resistance war. Motive 
printing media was mentioned, of course, 
at that time, the woodblock printing was 
the simplest, the wood was not lacking, 
there was only a small amount of ink, or 
paint, the printing path was up or down. 
tprint (wood), the engraving is also simple 
... and this means, though rudimentary, but 
suitable for war situations.
The posters were usually hand 
painted by the artists until the 1980s. Then, 
from hand-drawn paintings, people would 
organize the printing into many copies 
by the above means, distribute them to 
localities and army units in resistance 
war, in order to propagate the ways of the 
Party and the state. Lithography has the 
ability to adapt drawings very well, but 
getting large format stones is relatively 
diffi cult, so it is only convenient for 
printing slogans, small-sized leafl ets. 
Screen prints made relatively easier and 
can print small and medium sized posters 
pictures, combined with large print sizes, 
but the materials were not easily available 
during the war. Particularly for woodblock 
printing, for painters living in the forest 
on the battlefi eld, it is not diffi cult to fi nd 
timber, so woodblock printing posters 
54 Nghiên cứu trao đổi ● Research-Exchange of opinion
were also available during the war against 
the French.
Promotional propaganda pictures 
before the August 1945 Revolution and 
after the August 1945 Revolution to 
1954 can be divided into the following 
categories: Flyers and leafl ets, periodicals 
and periodicals, antique paintings 
traditions, comics. These types have been 
studied from documents of museums in the ...  and 
yellow rice, 
Militia energetically set out 
Combined with the front line soldiers to 
destroy the enemy
In the years 1948 - 1950, a fl yer 
was printed entitled The Victory of Us 
with six-space pictures that presented 
our relations with the enemy in military, 
politics, economy and fi nance and two-
space conclusions that we are bound 
to win, France is bound to lose. This 
brochure is printed in small black and 
white, with many detailed drawings of the 
social situation during the war against the 
French. We can see many of these fl yers, 
they were distributed to people in the 
areas where the Viet Minh soldiers passed, 
sometimes scattered as leafl ets into the 
enemy area.
Newspapers and periodicals
The newspaper was popular in 
the period of war, schools, army units, 
and production units could make a wall-
sketched and handwritten newspaper for 
everyone to see, as well as doing wall 
papers until 1975. During the anti-French 
resistance war, newspaper wall print, 
woodblock printing and stone printing 
were also popular to propagate the 
resistance of the resistance government, 
and provide battle information to the 
people and army. These newspapers are 
published regularly or irregularly by 
regions under our management, of course, 
not as a fi xed newspaper in today’s press 
sense, but perhaps as informational, that 
name and trademark can be changed.
A newspaper to celebrate August 
Revolution and Independence Day in 
1951, published by Hung Yen Information 
Company. This newspaper consists of two 
sides printed into two sheets to stick on the 
wall, each side has six paintings with the 
content written. Newspapers of this type, 
with very little textual content, are often 
summarized like comics, while the illustration 
for ease of understanding is located above.
Content:
1. The coup on March 9, 1945 
Japanese fascists ousted France from 
Indochina. The French empire surrendered 
in shame.
55Nghiên cứu trao đổi ● Research-Exchange of opinion
2. The French Empire and the 
Japanese fascists looted our people›s rice. 
They caused terrible famine in March 
1945, causing more than two million of 
our compatriots to starve to death.
3. Facing such barbaric tactics, the 
Viet Minh Front led the people to raid the 
warehouses of Japan and France divided 
among the poor.
4. Viet Minh offi cials appeared 
nationwide and organized a liberation 
zone in Viet Bac.
5. In August 1945, at Tan Trao 
conference, President Ho Chi Minh 
ordered an uprising to seize power for the 
people.
6. On August 19th1945, under the 
leadership of Viet Minh, more than 30,000 
people demonstrated in armed struggle to 
seize power in Hanoi Capital.
7. On September 2nd 1945 at Ba 
Dinh fl ower garden, President Ho Chi 
Minh solemnly read the Declaration of 
Independence before the people of the 
nation and the world.
8. Hiding behind British Imperial 
troops, French aggression in the South on 
23rd September 1945. The people of the 
South rose and bravely fought.
9. In order to uphold the peaceful 
will of our people, President Ho Chi Minh 
signed the Preliminary Agreement on 6th 
March 1946 with representatives of the 
French government.
10. The treaty and the provisional 
treaty of September 14th 1946, signed and 
not yet in full force of French aggression, 
continue to provoke and gradually 
consume our land. On 19th December 
1946, the army and people throughout the 
country rose to the resistance.
11. From the small armies, 
rudimentary weapons, our army and 
people have grown up in the resistance, 
destroyed more than 10 lakh enemy troops 
and won hundreds of tons of American 
weapons armed to France and the 
scarecrow. 
12. The whole nation united to fi ght 
the Western / Successful resistance for 
victory.
In 1949, the propaganda committee 
of the main army, Cao Bac Lang, published 
a fl yer of the Great Threat of the enemy in 
Viet Bac. This leafl et, on the one hand, has 
a colored drawing of the Vietnamese army 
winning on the fronts of No.4 and No.2 
in September 1949. The back shows all 
the information about the specifi c battles 
we have won. Also in the documents of 
the Revolutionary Museum, we found a 
Guerrilla - Militia newspaper, No. 3, of 
the wall newspaper, with 15 paintings and 
notes with the following content:
1. The regular army organized by 
the Government including only males.
2. The Guerrilla Team is organized 
by people. Any boy, girl, old, young can 
join.
3. Guerrilla fi ghting is a face-down 
attack. I hid on the side of the road, waiting 
for the enemy to pass by, and suddenly 
struck on the side.
4. Or when the enemy is closed, we 
wait for the dark to come and destroy the 
enemy. Should be very secret and fast.
5. Guerrilla purpose is to harass the 
enemy to prevent them from sleeping and 
sleeping.
6. Everywhere, every day, some 
enemies are killed. Gradually the enemy 
will be destroyed.
56 Nghiên cứu trao đổi ● Research-Exchange of opinion
7. The purpose of guerrilla warfare 
is to help the army with everything 
from reconnaissance, transport and 
replenishment, etc.
8. Again, preserving the homeland, 
prevents the enemy from pillaging wealth, 
raping women, etc.
9. EVERYONE CAN PARTICIPATE 
IN THE GUERRILLA WARFARE. A baby 
holding an egg basket came to lure the 
enemy out, stole grenades and throw 
grenades to kill the enemy.
10. A teacher and student, every 
night, he would go to the enemy camp and 
set off some artillery. The enemy thought 
the guerrilla came so tried to shoot all 
night and cost a lot of bullets.
11. An old woman was forced to cook 
rice by the enemy. The old lady secretly 
put poison into rice and wine. When the 
enemy ate passionately, she took their 
guns and hid them ...
12. . The old lady locked the door 
and set the camp on fi re. All the enemies 
died. The old lady brought guns to the 
guerrilla team.
13. Dan Quan means army of 
people. Healthy 18-year-old boys and 
healthy women can volunteer to join the 
Dan Quan.
14. Dan Quan defends the Viet spy.
15. Dan Quan helps sabotage, 
transport, supply, ambulance
Propaganda posters and comic
This is the richest part of Vietnamese 
graphics during the war against the 
French, attracting many talented artists 
to join. Propaganda posters are printed 
in many forms, generally not very large 
due to war situations and poor printing 
techniques. As mentioned above, a 
part of this painting was transferred to 
woodblock printing, stone printing and 
net printing, but if not, the artist had 
to hand-draw and then hand it to the 
information agency. Between posters 
and leafl ets, sometimes they do not diff er 
much, but there is a large image and 
slogan in the posters.
Some pictures of the anti-French 
colonial campaign are as follows: The 
fi rst picture on the topic of Tay farmers 
breaking the road to prevent the advance 
of the French army , the picture has the 
Tay song:
Ca tào noọng cuốc liên mừ
Làm tàng số 4 táy tầu dàm pây
Roughly translated:
Digging my way immediately hoe
Break the road No. 4 so you must step 
through
The second picture called for all 
foreigners to join the resistance to the 
national construction and the puppet army 
to follow us back, issued by Tuyen Quang 
province in 1948, with the verse:
Who love the country patriots
Return to the Homeland to kill colonial 
species
The third picture is about increasing 
production - Growing potatoes to save rice, 
published by Tuyen Quang Propaganda 
and Information Department, unknown 
year.
Still have sky, water and soil
There is still an inch of land I still rise
Add potatoes and paddy to place
Do not worry about hunger and the 
whole family are happy
The fourth picture called for not 
working for France - Determined not to 
work for France.
57Nghiên cứu trao đổi ● Research-Exchange of opinion
The fi fth picture is about preparing 
a counter-attack on May 19th for President 
Ho Chi Minh’s birthday issued by Tuyen 
Quang provincial news agency in 1950.
In addition to promoting the 
resistance war against the French, there are 
many artisans who compose folk paintings 
in the form of propaganda, including Dong 
Ho folk artists. These paintings are made 
in the folk style of Dong Ho and Hang 
Trong, with additional explanatory words 
or propaganda slogans, quite beautiful 
and beautiful, the frame is also small 
like Dong Ho paintings, a few paintings 
are printed. on the note, probably due to 
the circumstances at which the material 
wasn’t easy to fi nd.
This painting was printed on white 
message paper and followed the Dong Ho 
folk painting style published by the Central 
Propaganda and Information Department 
from 1945-1954. With content:
The sun rested on the bamboo branches
He went to kill the enemy and she stay to 
raise children
Young men repay homeland
History will remember him forever
These three new folk paintings were 
published by the Dong Giang Information 
Company according to Dong Ho folk 
painting, all painted by an artist named 
Ky, in 1949 (Ky Suu). The fi rst one 
reads: The Year of the Ox: All the people 
compete to participate in the production 
of killing the enemy. The second picture 
reads: The Year of the Ox: All the people 
compete to learn letters to kill the ignorant 
enemies. The third picture: The Year of 
the Ox: All the people compete to kill the 
French enemy. Many new folk paintings 
were found for propaganda at this time, 
proving it to be very popular. The folk 
artisans of Ho village instead of producing 
Tet paintings, compliments and beliefs, 
are also involved in printing the paintings 
to address issues in contemporary society. 
In the past, Vietnamese farmers bought 
Dong Ho folk paintings to hang on to Tet, 
they can now get new folk paintings and 
new content to replace Tet. The cultural 
institutions at that time (news agency) 
often printed and distributed to people in 
free areas.
Two black and white woodblock 
prints in 1952-1953 Transplanting 
labor and popular education by artisan 
Nguyen Dang Khiem with the content: 
Contributing to work together, emulating 
the bustling singing of the countryside 
and Training on popular education to 
respond to the movement of increasing 
production, collective labor in the form of 
exchanging labor (even though the form 
of cooperative production has not yet 
been born) and opening literacy classes, 
eradicating ignorance for the people when 
it was launched right after the August 
Revolution.
Besides, there is also a series of 
comic books, including fi ve continuous 
engraved prints as a story book with 
drawings and poems. The general theme 
was about a mountainous region where 
people united to fi ght the West, the 
guerrillas, militia, and people in the rear 
produce food to support the front army. 
This comic series can be made between 
1952 and 1953.
Picture 1:
A tree should not make premature
Three trees bunched up into a high mountain
The whole population rebelled
Any enemy is terrifi ed, any Westerner is 
terrifi ed.
Picture 2:
Rain called spring sunshine
58 Nghiên cứu trao đổi ● Research-Exchange of opinion
Sunny for passionate enthusiasts 
battlefi eld
There is a local guerrilla
Hidden on the street sniping the enemy.
Picture 3:
She threw countryside rice
Pulling out the hand gland cover his 
mouth smiling
Where to go so hurry, dear
Come kill the enemy waiting for me to go 
along.
Picture 4:
She went to resupply payroll
I guerrilla broke the road and shooting 
tank
Tomorrow after winning the the fi ght i 
returned
I have her side, the oath established.
Picture 5:
Clouds drifting across the sky
Young people still fi ght the West
Mother work hard day and night.
Mashed rice to feed the army.
Labels for packaging of goods during 
the French colonial period and after peace 
used many forms of printing, in which 
woodblock printing was popularly used 
due to small-scale production and limited 
quantity of goods. Types of packaging, 
labels often hire artists or private outside 
printing workshops to perform and 
incorporate into products. From the 
beginning of peace in 1954 to the 1970s, 
goods were scarce, especially during the 
Subsidy period, labels at that time were 
only used for some common items such 
as tobacco, tea, matchbox, cake. candies, 
books ... they are fi rstly printed with 
woodblock printing. Woodblock printing 
is so popular that, when confectionery 
packaging is wrapped in plastic bags, 
people still use woodblock printing to 
print the labels of the place of manufacture 
on plastic bags according to the printing 
press. When goods and packaging were 
produced on a larger scale, the form of 
wood-based labeling was also lost, and 
only privately used in the printing of the 
underworld for religious beliefs ...
Woodblock printing is a graphic 
form that is widely used and lasting 
throughout the history of graphic art. From 
Buddhist scriptures to folk paintings, from 
book illustrations, newspapers to works 
of art, from forms of advertising printing 
to propaganda, advertising ... each stage 
Wood carvings all have diff erent forms 
of expression and bring a unique value 
to confi rm the role of this technique in 
the development history of Vietnamese 
graphic arts from shaping to application.
References:
[1]. The Nhan Dan Newspaper was issued on 
January 20, 1974
[2]. Nguyen Phan Ngoc, Tran Thi Thuc Phi, 
Duong Anh (1977), Discussing Vietnamese 
Fan Art, School of Information Offi cer.
[3]. (1977), Cheering paintings, Culture 
Publishing House, Hanoi.
[4]. Nguyen Tran (1993), Graphic Arts, Fine 
Arts Publishing House.
Author address: Dong Nai Decorative fi ne 
arts college
Email: hoangminhphuc@gmail.com