Pham Thanh Tam
Phạm Thanh Tâm (b. 1932-2019, Vietnam) was the eldest son of a traditional revolutionary family. His life as an artist began studying how to sketch and paint revolutionary posters in a propaganda division of Military Zone III. In 1950 Tâm joined the Việt Minh resistance army and was assigned to work as a reporter for the Quyết Thắng (Be Determined to Win) newspaper. He went on to join the Điện Biên Phủ campaign as a journalist and artist. His role was to record the daily life and hardships of soldiers and civilian volunteers on the front lines. Tâm began studying at the Vietnam Fine Art College in 1963, before graduating in 1967 with a speciality in oil painting. He returned to the front lines in the south before ending the war with North Vietnamese army units in Saigon in 1975. Following the war, Tâm collaborated with the official Quân Đội Nhân Dân (People’s Army) newspaper to stage touring exhibitions of wartime art works. He retired and lived in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam until his death in 2019.