Phan Cam Thuong (1956)

1956:Phan Cam Thuong, born in Hanoi, Vietnam, was the youngest of his 9 other siblings. Many sources are stating that he was born in 1957, however, the artist clarified that 1956 was the correct year. Phan Cam Thuong’s home resides at Ly Quoc Su street, one of Hanoi’s old quarters. He grew up in an environment that was heavily influenced by Confucianism, reading, and poetry. He’s also fluent in Chinese characters, able to read Buddist scripture in Han characters and comprehend Eastern philosophy. When he reached 9 years old, Mr. Thuong was taught painting by his neighbor, Vu Dang Ban, who was one of the artists at Indochina College of Fine Arts.

1964-1973: Self-taught calligraphy and painting

1975: He joined the army and served in the American war, but fortunately, the war ended after a few months of service.

1979: Starting from his interest in writing and painting Vietnamese people’s cultural life, Mr. Thuong entered the Hanoi University of Fine Arts (formerly known as Indochina College of Fine Arts) and majored in Reasoning and Criticism. During his time at the university, Mr. Thuong was especially inspired in arts and research by his professor, Nguyen Quan. Both of them wrote a few books together namely “Art in the Village”, “Art of the Vietnamese People”, etc. They later separated and pursued their own path of artistic creation, research, and criticism.

1984: Taught at Hanoi University of Fine Arts

1994: He had traveled to many Vietnamese villages for the next 18 years, focusing mainly on the Northern Delta, Bac Ninh, Ha Tay, and throughout the country to research the civilization of Vietnamese villages.

1996: First solo exhibition at Red Lake gallery, Vietnam.

1997: Exhibition in Thailand.

1998: Exhibition in Singapore

1999: Lived and researched at But Thap temple

2000: `Exhibition in New York, USA.

2001: Exhibition in New York, USA.

2002: Exhibition in Chicago, USA.

2003: Woodblock prints exhibition at New York, USA.

Achieved First prizes in the Vietnamese Fine Arts Association Award in the National Fine Arts Exhibition, for the book “Strawberry Temple and the Art of Tu Phap”

2008: Achieved Phan Chau Trinh Cultural Research award “for outstanding works on national culture research”.

2009: “Feel with the 12 Zodiacs” Exhibition

2011: Published “Material Civilization of the Vietnamese People”. Till 2011, roughly 18 of Phan Cam Thuong’s books on the research of culture and art had been printed.

2015: Lived and researched at Muong Cultural Museum. Exhibited a series of Thuong’s Pottery.

2019: He began to suffer from chronic headaches and spent most of his time on artworks and topics relating to ancient culture.

2021: After many years of hiatus, he planned to perform a solo exhibition on lacquer and Poonah paper but later postponed it.

2022: Displayed his theme of 17th-century palace custom at The Muse Artspace.