Organised by the Vietnam Fine Arts’ Association, the exhibition features more than 200 of Lieu’s wartime sketches in response to the drive by the Vietnam Army’s Political General Department and the Vietnam Fine Arts Association to catalogue the work of the armed forces.

It is the first time the museum has exhibited the work of a single wartime artist. Each sketch could be described as a thought, a memory, or a wartime image with which army veterans will be only too familiar.

There are a multitude of images, capturing the defiant mood of the Vietnamese during the American War, said Major-General Le Ma Luong, director of the museum.

Lieu and other students at the Industrial Fine Arts College, which the artists attended from 1969-74, volunteered for service during the bloody battle in Quang Tri. The artworks on display at the museum were sketched during this campaign.

Born in 1942, Lieu served as an information soldier. One of the sketches on display “Painting in the Battle Field” was drawn in early 1973 at a signal post on the banks of the Thach Han River. “There I captured a stragetic meeting in an A-shaped shelter. One soldier was sitting on a sandbag, another on a roll of insulating wire. One was holding a rifle across his chest while another was keeping his between his legs-a beautiful, closely and naturally arranged layout.

After the meeting, they even tried to stay a little longer for me to complete my drawing,” said Lieu.

Lieu has captured the action of some of the fiercest battles in Vinh Linh and Quang Tri.

“It’s rare to have enough wartime sketches for a personal exhibition. Luckily, Lieu has held on to many of his works. Some of the artists have had to sell their works, while other artists did not get the chance to witness the action like Lieu,” said art critic Le Quoc Bao.

A book entitled “Wartime Sketches”, some of Lieu’s finest wartime works, is also on sale at the exhibition.

“This is a special live account of the country’s recent military history that evokes a magnificent time that one can never forget,” said museum’s director Luong.

“Wartime Sketches” runs until May 1 at 28A Dien Bien Phu street, Hanoi.