
HO CHI MINH PORTRAITS
1985 - 1992
Ho Chi Minh died on September 2, 1969, while I was stationed in Pleiku, South Vietnam. I knew very little about him at that time. All I knew was that he was the leader of the country we were fighting against, North Vietnam. Eighteen years later I spent three weeks traveling and learning much more about Ho Chi Minh, and the rich and historic culture of the Vietnamese people. I returned from that trip determined to educate Americans about both Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh.
In 1987, there was very little information available in the U.S. I did manage to find two short biographies, one by American writer David Halberstam and another by British-American writer Charles Fenn. These writings provided me a much clearer but complex picture of Ho Chi Minh.
And then I created an exhibit of fifty mixed-media portraits of Ho Chi Minh. Each portrait is 28 x 20 inches on Rives BFK French rag paper and can include lithography, collage, pastel, acrylic and computer images.
This exhibit has been shown at the Richard F. Brush Art Gallery at St. Lawrence University, Can-ton, NY, the ICA at the Maine College of Art and Design in Portland, Maine, the New England College in Henniker, NH, the Danforth Museum in Framingham, MA and the Pacific Bridge Gallery in Oakland, CA.
First portrait of Ho Chi Minh by David in 1987. The portrait is drawn on gessoed Rives BFK paper then glued on a lithograph which is then glued on an acrylic painted sheet of Rives BFK.
Click any image for slideshow.




Above: Four sample portraits in larger format.
Below: Thirty-six of the fifty portraits.
