Art History

Evolution of Decorative Architecture in Vietnam

Presenter Information

Carrie Rhodus, Ball State University

Document Type

Oral Presentation

Location

Indianapolis, IN

Subject Area

Art History

Start Date

11-4-2014 11:00 AM

End Date

11-4-2014 12:00 PM

Description

Recent travel to Vietnam gave me the opportunity to observe Vietnamese decorative architecture of today is a blend of traditional, French colonial, socialist, and contemporary styles. My follow up goal is to explore these architectural traditions and to derive a sense of architectural style distinctions and overlap. One issue that I will consider is that traditional Vietnamese architecture was originally built for a mobile society, and thus was not built to last. Thus traditional decorative architecture was also temporary rather than permanent. My study is focused on the origins of decorative architecture of non-religious structures, to determine what is traditionally Vietnamese in contrast to subsequent cultural overlays. In doing this I will examine the decorative architecture of homes and especially the use of decorative images that are incorporated into Vietnamese homes over time. The first aspect of my study will be to review how Dong Son era representations were incorporated in subsequent Vietnamese traditional and contemporary architecture. The next uniquely Vietnamese decorative art that I will study is associated with the Cham civilization resident in the central and southern Vietnam regions from roughly the fourth century CE. Moving to the present, after identifying these earlier traditions, I will evaluate twentieth-century and contemporary Vietnamese architecture to determine where new construction derives from Vietnam's past, how much is a product of contemporary global architecture, and which, if any, are a unique "Vietnamese modern". I intend to reflect on the modern architecture that has been the product of a more globally oriented Vietnam.

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Apr 11th, 11:00 AM Apr 11th, 12:00 PM

Evolution of Decorative Architecture in Vietnam

Indianapolis, IN

Recent travel to Vietnam gave me the opportunity to observe Vietnamese decorative architecture of today is a blend of traditional, French colonial, socialist, and contemporary styles. My follow up goal is to explore these architectural traditions and to derive a sense of architectural style distinctions and overlap. One issue that I will consider is that traditional Vietnamese architecture was originally built for a mobile society, and thus was not built to last. Thus traditional decorative architecture was also temporary rather than permanent. My study is focused on the origins of decorative architecture of non-religious structures, to determine what is traditionally Vietnamese in contrast to subsequent cultural overlays. In doing this I will examine the decorative architecture of homes and especially the use of decorative images that are incorporated into Vietnamese homes over time. The first aspect of my study will be to review how Dong Son era representations were incorporated in subsequent Vietnamese traditional and contemporary architecture. The next uniquely Vietnamese decorative art that I will study is associated with the Cham civilization resident in the central and southern Vietnam regions from roughly the fourth century CE. Moving to the present, after identifying these earlier traditions, I will evaluate twentieth-century and contemporary Vietnamese architecture to determine where new construction derives from Vietnam's past, how much is a product of contemporary global architecture, and which, if any, are a unique "Vietnamese modern". I intend to reflect on the modern architecture that has been the product of a more globally oriented Vietnam.