The Theory of Art in Asia - Term Paper Example

 INTRODUCTION Art in Asia has been the subject of study for decades. There are a plethora of books and research sources dedicated to studying the various categories of Asiatic art and culture. This paper looks at The Indian Art Expressed In The Form Of Myths And Symbols And The Origin And Development Of Buddhist Art. I try and summarize the main points related to these two sub-topics within the broader category of the Theory of Art in Asia. Needless to say, this is just a précis or summary of the broader category. MYTHS AND SYMBOLS IN INDIAN ART Hinduism as a religion is one of idol worshippers and thus the symbolism and myths of the Hindu art reflect this system. Thus, the reigning gods or the triumvirate of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva reflect the different kinds of art forms that have been developed in India over the centuries. As Zimmler and Campbell (1972) note in their book, Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization, “India’s treasure of myths and symbols is immense. In the teeming texts and multitudinous architectural monuments eloquent details abound that, though scholars have been spending time since the Eight century in trying to edit and translate the various leitmotifs of the times, it is not uncommon to discover a hitherto unknown art work or form of art that is different from that of the existing material”. Thus, any summary of Indian art is a work in progress. To understand more about the myths and symbols in Indian art, it is pertinent to note that Indian culture and religion has no fixed set of rules and regulations and has been described as “a way of life” rather than an organized religion. Thus, Indian art reflects this apparently chaotic but stable at the core kind of arrangement that is India and her religions and people. The cosmic cycles of birth and re-birth and the creation myths play an important role in the way in which Indian art depicts the world. It is a truism to state that Art imitates life and thus, the art forms of India reflect the “jungle of opinions” and thought forms that constitutes the Indian experience. THE SPIRIT OF INDIAN ART Ancient Indian art is religious in nature. Most of the murals, paintings and sculptures convey a sense of religious study and invoke the gods and goddesses in their various forms. Ancient Indian literature is also religious in nature though there are points of divergence between Indian art and literature. As Basham (1954) points out, “Indian literature was the product of men and women who lived ascetically and were in self-denial having given up worldly pleasures whereas Indian art was the product of artisans and secular craftsmen”. The latter though they worked under the guidance of priests and followed their instructions, loved the world with an intensity that reflected in the art forms that they were making. The spirit of Indian art had much to do with the times that the art works were made and they are as much a reflection of the ebb and tide of history as they are of the reigning deities of the time. Further, the art reflected the conceptions of beauty that the artisans and people felt for the inner truth that they were expressing. As Nehru (2004) states, “The ancient Indians loved beauty also, but they always sought to out some deeper significance in their work, some vision of the inner truth as they saw it”. The early period of Indian art is full of naturalism and a sense of belonging to the nature and this may have been partly because of the influence of the Chinese on Indian culture. Thus, Indian art can be said to have been the expression of the higher selves of the artisans and their patrons. One striking feature of Indian art is the joi de vivre expression that is manifest in the works and that says a lot about the Indian culture and history of those times. In the next section, we look at Buddhist Art and discuss the same. BUDDHIST ART The development of Buddhist art is marked by a series of phases which were characterized by evolution from “happy fleshy figures with little spirituality about them, but later they developed in grace and religious feeling” (Brown, 1949). This coincided with the spread of Buddhism around the countries of East Asia. The murals of the earlier Buddhist paintings are marked with a sense of gay abandon about the Buddha and the saints who followed him. As the Dhamma spread across East Asia, there was that much more of an awareness of itself as a religion and a way of thought and living and this can be seen in the murals of the later stages. As Weinou (2006) declares in his article on Buddhist Art, “Buddhist art disseminated foreign philosophical thought and culture, as well as foreign conditions and customs, and at the same time established its roots in China and flourished, forming in the various areas a distinctive national art. With the propagation of Buddhism, there was an evolution of the cultural traditions of each place touched by the content of Buddhism, and at the same time Buddhist art was also changed by the regional geographical conditions and the aesthetic interests of the people of each place”. Thus it is a saga of cooption and assimilation as evidenced by the exchange of ideas that took place along the Silk Road. The “Internet of the Old Era” is an apt metaphor for the Silk Road and similarly Buddhist Art changed and was itself changed in the process of this exchange of ideas and information. It is a testament to the openness of the Buddhist religion that it did not let dogma come in the way of it being influenced by other schools of thought. The Buddhist emphasis on the individual and the aesthetic point of view are captured as, “Buddhist images are required to display the thirty-two lakshanas and eighty notable physical characteristics of the Buddha, to seek dignity, a singular superb ness, in order to embody all excellences and good fortune and virtue, and still to give shape to one’s own individual aesthetic view” (Weinou, 2006). The emphasis here is more on Harmony and the interconnectedness of things. The latter representations of the laughing and smiling Buddha’s may seem to be an incongruity but they convey the dominant thought forms of that time. ART IN ASIA Art in Asia can be thought of as a form of expression of life and the various symbols and saints associated with the region. As in Europe, the architecture and the art reflected the zeitgeist of the times and hence the study of the art forms and sculptures and the associated artworks provides insights into the unique culture of the region. However, one point of difference between European art forms and the Asiatic art forms is the absence of elaborate baroque forms of painting and architecture. The Asiatic art forms reflect an aesthetic sensibility and an oneness with nature and her bounties. This may be due to the fact that the Asiatic countries were pastoral for a long time and the Industrial revolution of Europe did not touch the shores of Asia almost till the 19th century. Thus, it is common to find art forms that depict scenes from rural life and the local deities that are worshipped there. However, the point needs to be made that early Asiatic art particularly that of the first few centuries of the millennium had resemblances to Hellenistic art forms. As Basham () notes, “Several works of art in metal, very Hellenistic in style, have been found in the North-West, dating from the early centuries of the Christian era”. This may have been due to the fact that there were lot of cross cultural exchanges between Asia and the West in the time of the Roman Empire to the extent that trade from India to the Romans outstripped the trade in the other direction. In art, as in Sanskrit poetry and Indian music, the artist was supposed to identify himself with nature in all her moods, to express the essential harmony of man with nature and the universe. That has been the keynote of all Asiatic art and it is because of this that there is a certain unity about the Art of Asia, in spite of its great variety and the national differences that are so evident. One of the important points to be noted about the art in Asia is the religious injunction against graven images. Thus, it was not until Buddhism had spread to the Eastern Asia and the sculptures of the Buddha came to be made with sitting and reclining postures do we see a profusion of images in the Art of Asia. The Vedic injunctions against using images was taken seriously and as mentioned above, the Art in Asia could move beyond the strictures only after Buddhism, with its denial of the Vedic sutras came to be accepted. CONCLUSION As I have listed above, Indian and Buddhist art motifs are rich in meaning and can be interpreted as the conceptions of time and space among the Asiatic religions. For a westerner who is used to the linear concepts of space and time, it may be a stretch of imagination to try and decipher the meanings that are pregnant with possibilities and concepts. Nonetheless, it is necessary to have an ethnocentric view and ensure that we take an all inclusive view of life and promote intermingling of cultures. In conclusion, I have to state that my exposure to the Theory of Asian art in class and my readings for this paper has sparked an interest in me for the cultures of the East. It has provided me with insights into the unique cultural heritage of Asia and what it can teach the West I hope that I have expressed myself lucidly through this paper. Sources Basham, A L. The Wonder that was India. London: Sidgiwick and Jackson. 1954. Brown, P. Indian Architecture, Buddhist and Hindu. 2nd ed. New York: Harper Collins. 1949. Nehru, Jawaharlal. The Discovery of India. New York: Penguin. 2004. Saraswati, Baidyanath (Ed). Culture of Peace. New Delhi: IGNCA. 2006. Weinou, Jin. “Buddhist Art, the Mission of Harmonious Culture”. Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. 01 May 2006. 05 Mar 2009. http://ignca.nic.in/cd_09006.htm Zimmer, Robert Heinrich and Campbell, Joseph. Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization. New York: Princeton University Press. 1972. Read More