The work of an unknown young man whose sketches recorded various facets of the life of Vietnam’s northerners a hundred years ago are on display at an exhibition in Hanoi.

The exhibition, which began Tuesday at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, celebrates the second edition of the book, which is considered one of the first documents on Vietnamese industrial culture in the early 20^th century.

“Techniques du Peuple Annamite” is a collection of some 4,200 paintings and sketches printed on do (poonah) paper. Oger spent two years 1908 and 1909 studying Hanoi streets and outlying areas to record the development of local life, industries and commerce, with the help of a Vietnamese painter.

This year, the d’Extrême-Orient (French School of the Far East) in Hanoi has cooperated with Ho Chi Minh City General Science Library, which still keeps an original version of the book, to reprint it in three languages – English, French and Vietnamese – in both print and electronic forms.

“With his book, Oger left the Vietnamese people an inestimable treasure,” says Olivier Tessier, co-editor of the reprinted book and also Associate Professor at the d’Extreme Orient.

“For a very long time, the book was not known by many people. The reason was simple: it was made very early on by a young man who was not famous at all.”

The exhibition will remain open until next Monday at the outdoor display section of the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology on Nguyen Van Huyen Street in Cau Giay District.

Source: Tuoi Tre