Description

Henri J. Oger was a colonial administrator in French Indochina with a deep admiration for the people and culture of Vietnam, or Annam, as the French then called it. In 1908−9 he commissioned artists and wood carvers to visit the 36 streets of Hanoi and the surrounding countryside in order to document the material culture, methods of production, and cultural practices of the common people. The artists sketched 4,200 scenes and produced wood engravings from which prints were made. Oger assembled the prints to create the multivolume Technique ...