摘要
This paper summarizes the painting artistry from three painters： Le Van Mien, Nam Son, and Thang Tran Phenh with the following notable characteristics： realism, impressionism, and contemporary humanism. It is visible from their works that these three artists have managed to define their ways to create arts reflecting the Vietnamese people in the period of transition between 19th and 20th Century Vietnam. Contemporary humanism has always been a great aspiration to any painter in any time period. During the life and work of painters, it is the visible themes of human beings in their work that best reflect how the artists perceive life. While considered to be the pioneering figures in Vietnamese oil painting registry of art, the three painters Le Van Mien, Nam Son, and Thang Tran Phenh all happened to favor the humanism theme in their oil painting works. There were two most commonly accepted explanations for this choice. First of all, most artistic geometry lessons for beginners often choose the human figure to be the starting model for study and creative development. Secondly, during the tram-century period when Eastern and Western cultures collided in Vietnam during the late 19th early 20th Century, humans and most notably the Confucianists were the most vivid storytellers of the day and age.
