Lacquer work is one of the oldest forms of craftsmanship in Asia, and it is a medium that is difficult to master. In the 1930s, Joseph ไInguimberty, who was professor at the École des beaux-arts d’Indochine, opened a lacquer workshop. He encouraged his students to combine the vision of Western modern painting with Asian techniques. Lacquer 𝓰work thus took on a new dimension at a time when Vietnamese art was at its golden age (1930-1945). 

Landscape in Northern Vietnam is not signed, which was often the case of works that were exhibited each year at the École des beaux-arts d’Indochine. It is either a collective work by student-artists or a composition based on the works of their mentors. This work reflects the technique and graphic design that are so disti♑nctive of this movement of the 1930s to 1940s. Likewise, the colour range and use of chiaroscuro to juxtapose dark zones with bright gold can be compared to the shimmering style of works by Nguyễn Văn Tỵ, Hoàng Tích Chù, or Nguyễn Tiến Chung. These three artists, who were students at the École des Beaux-Arts d’Indochine, were the principal initiators of a modern change of direction in traditional Vietnamese lacquer painting.

Landscape in Northern Vietnam portrays a peaceful landscape in which few villagers stroll in their fields near the rice fields. The lush vegetation nearly conceals a house at the foot of the mountain in the background, while the viewer’s eye is drawn to blue rice paddies in the foregro🍒und. In juxtaposition with the dark, massive mountain, the delicate golden leaves, the subtle rendering of the rice fields and foliage, and the harmonious incorporation of human figures all bring a feeling of balance to the composition. The scene remains suspended in an undisturbed instant of serenity and peace that one would be reluctant to upset, transporting us to the poetic, idealized Asian unity between man and nature. A similar lacquer screen ‘Mountainousꦰ work-exchange team’ painted by Hoàng Tích Chù in 1958 is now in the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, cat., p.78.

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漆藝為一項歷史悠久之亞洲🔯工藝，其技藝繁複過程耗時。 1930 年代，曾任中南美術學院教授的約瑟夫·恩桂波提設立漆藝工作室，鼓勵學生揉合西方繪畫風格及東方工藝靈感，創出混合兩種文化的獨特藝術風格，開啟越南藝術之黃金時代（1930-1945 年），漆畫從裝飾品提昇為一種新穎的藝術語言。

此作品並無署名，應為美術學院藝術家之集體創作，或是臨摹導師之作。在這段時期中南半島美術學院所展出ꦿ的作品通常都無署名。本作品展現 30 至 40 年代之漆畫工藝技巧和創作風格，其色調及光影運用技巧可與漆畫大師阮文悌、Hoàng Tích Chù、阮圖年並ও駕齊驅。這三位前美院學生將現代元素加入創作中，讓漆畫提升至更高的美學境界。

「越北風景」描繪一幅寧靜的農村風景，畫中村民在水田中漫步。首❀先吸引觀者目光的是前景中湛藍的水田，植被蔥鬱幾乎掩蓋了背景山腳下的房屋。沉穩的山岩與搖曳的金葉紅樹相互對應，赤紅的土地上點綴著人物及動物，構圖和諧平衡。畫面彷彿停留在寧靜祥和的瞬間，人間事物，與自然風景揉合無縫，隱喻天人和諧共處。可與一幅名由Hoàng Tích Chù 所繪之漆畫比較，創於1958年主題相似，今藏於越南美術館，圖錄，頁78。