Monday, November 6, 2023

'The Landscape of the Soul' by Nathalie Trouveroy

The landscape of The Soul


Nathalie Trouveroy was born on 2nd February, 1975 in Buenos Aires in Argentina.

She was the wife of a Belgium ambassador, Guy Trouveroy, who was appointed to India,Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives during the year 1999 to 20003.She travelled  many countries along with her husband. 


Nathalie Trouveroy had her Masters in the history of art and archeology, with a specialization in Japanese Art, form Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. 

Nathalie Trouveroy had learnt calligraphy from Yu Quilling, direct descendent of a seventh century royal calligrapher of China, when she was with her husband in China. 

Nathalie Trouveroy was an accomplished translator. She had translated many catalogues and art work from Dutch into different European languages, as she had worked as a translator in major museums in Belgium.Natalie had a special interest in Asian Art. She was inspired by Indian artists from North to South and she worked to combine her talent as an art historian and archeologist. She had been interested by the artwork of M. F. Hussain, a natural artist in India.
 
Guy Trouveroy was the husband of Natalie Trouveroy who was the ambassador to India during the year 1999 to 2003.

In India Nathalie Trouveroy and Agnes Montanari, a trained lawer and a photographer met in a Delhi based French School where their daughters studied. Their growing friendship became a great event for the Indians. Both of them read the book "City of Djinns"a book on a travell account of India by the author William Dalrymple, a gifted writer who came to India as a correspondent of a London based newspaper " The Spectator".The travel based book "City of Djinns"was a must read book by all foreigners who visited India and it is the best contemporary work on Modern India. 

Both Nathalie and Agnes developed a zeal to transform the William Dalrymple's book " City of Djinns"into a photo album. Agnes had the preference for balack and white photograph as she says"Colours can distract the eyes from the essence of the subject especially in an country like India".


The two ladies worked jointly and completed with 49 photograph based on William Dalrymple's book "City of Djinns", translated and published as a book "City of Djinns:A Year in Delhi" (la Cite' des Djinns) . 
Both the ladies after completion of their work affected by a sense of despair, "The people of Delhi don't have a sense of belonging, they don't appreciate their rich heritage, a number of forts and havelis are lying in ruins", says Agnes. 

About the Essay - The Landscape of the Soul

   Chinese landscape painting

Nathalie worte this essay to present it in India's International  center for Art. 
The essay presents the two contrasting form of Art, which are Chinese Art and European Art.

Nathalie Trouveroy describes the two contrasting forms of Art with the help of two stories which  were very popular in teaching the classical Art form. 

The Chinese painter Wu Daozi :

A story about him was very popular in Chinese classical education because it helps the student to learn about the basic characteristics of the Chinese painting.

The story of Wu Dauozi


Wo Dauozi was a Chinese painter of the eight century. He was commissioned by the Chinese emperor Xuangzong to draw a landscape painting to decorate the palace wall. 

When Daozi completed his painting he had hidden his work behind a screen so that the emperor would be the first visitor to see it. The emperor saw the painting and appreciated the forests, high mountains,clouds floating in an immense sky, men on hilly path and birds in flight. But at this point, the artist interrupted him and said, "look Sire, in this cave, at the foot of the mountain, dwells a spirit. " The painter then clapped his hand, and the door of the cave opened. The painter entered the cave and the entrance closed behind him.. The emperor was astonished  but before the emperor could move or utter a word the painting and the painter had gone vanished from the wall without leaving a single trace of Wo Daozi's brush. The painter was never seen again in this visible world. This story has played an important part in China's classical education.

The books of Confucius and Zhuanzi are full of such anecdotes.Such stories reveals the deeper meaning of Chinese painting and helps the student to understand the Chinese art form perfectly.


The Chinese view of art:


1.he Chinese landscape is not a real landscape, it is a conceptual space and an inner spiritual one. 

The emperor appreciated the outer beauties of the landscape painting but the painter interrupted him and directed him to look into his painting by entering into it spiritually as the painter entered into his painting through a cave. 

2.The Chinese landscape is not a real landscape. The Chinese painter doesn't want to reproduce an actual view of a landscape. 

3.To understand a Chinese painting a viewer has to enter into the landscape both physically and mentally at any point with as much as dimension of time it needed to discover it's meaning. 

4.The Chinese painter doesn't want to produce a single viewpoint. One can give various dimension of meaning of a Chinese landscape. 

5.The Chinese landscape is a spiritual landscape. It has the inner meaning in it. 

6.The Chinese landscape is shanshui landscape. The word shanshui literally means mountain water.It is Daozi's view of the universe.
 According to Daozi there are two universal aspects of energy which interacts with each other in the Middle Void. The Middle Void is considered as the third element. "Yang", which is the mountain, represents the masculine aspects of universal energy, is vertical,active, warm and stable. "Yin", which is water,represents the feminin aspects of universal energy,is horizontal, moist, fluid and cool is the receptor. The mountain and water together represents the Chinese landscape. 

Yang and Yin are not the contradictory elements, but are the two complementary poles. Their interactions takes place in the Middle Void, which is the white, unpainted space in the Chinese landscape. 

The third element, which is the Middle Void, cannot be ignored because interactions between the two elements - Yang and Yin occurred in the Middle Void.Where man's role is fundamental in that space between Heaven and Earth. Man becomes the conduit of communication between the both poles  of the universe. 

Man's role in the Chinese landscape is also important.His presence is essential.Without man the landscape painting becomes meaningless. He is in Francois Cheng's wonderful expression "the eye of the landscape".

In the Chinese landscape painting the artist creates a path or a method to enter into his landscape. A viewer may enter at any point both physically and mentally into a Chinese landscape.To understand a Chinese painting one has to enter into the mind of the artist but not to borrow the eyes of the artist. 

Quinten Metsys story vs Wu Daozi's story:

The story represents a contrast to the Chinese view of art. The painter didn't draw the eye of the dragon, for fear that it would fly out of the painting if the eye was drawn. Western painting is figurative , reproduces the actual view in art. 

The story of Quinten Metsys of Antwarp:

In the fifteenth century in Antwarp, there was a master blacksmith , Quinten Metsys, who fell in love with a daughter of a famous painter of that time. But the painter didn't want his daughter to marry with a blacksmith. Then oneday Quinten Secretly entered in the painter's chamber and draw a fly in his latest panel. When the painter entered in his chamber and saw the fly in his panel he tried to swat it away. But he realised that it was a painted fly. Then he immediately appointed that Quinten as his apprentice and allow his daughter to marry him. 

Both the story actually represents the true essence of the European painting. 

The features of the European painting:


1.The European artists tries to reproduces the actual view of the painting. The fly of Quinten Metsys created a kind of illusionistic likeness that it looked so life like and real that the famous artists tried it to drive away. 

2. European artists creates an illusionistic likeness to  reproduces an actual view of the painting. So the European painting is based on delicate realism. Metsys's fly looked so lifelike and real that the famous painter tried to swat it away. But he realised his mistake and immediately appointed Quinten Metsys as his apprentice painter. 

3.The European artists chooses to show a single viewpoint from a specific angle.To understand a European painting one has to borrow the painter's eye and need to learn what the painter actually wants his viewer to see  through his painting. 

4.western painting is figurative painting and the artist tries to reproduce  the actual view in art. 

5.European painter wants his viewer to borrow his eyes and look at a particular landscape exactly as he saw it, from a specific angle. 

2nd part of the "Landscape of the soul" is "Getting Inside the Outsider Art".


It is an another gner of art, which was recognised as the Outsider Art Or the Art Brute. 

Nathalie Trouveroy mentions this excerpt  from an article written by Brinda Suri, published in Hindustan Times, 28 August 2005.

The concept of the Outsider Art was first popularised by a French painter Jean Dabuffet in the year 1940 as "art brut".The " art brut" means  the art work of some artists who have "no right" to be artists as they have received formal training, yet show talent and artistic insight. They are untrained visionaries and have minorities of interest. 

The notion of the Art Brut or the Outsider Art:


The notion of 'art brut' or 'raw art' is the works of art in raw state as regards cultural and artistic influences. The outsider artists have no academic training so their art is not considered equal to the contemporary fine arts. 

Nek Chand is the biggest contributor of outsider artist of India. 


Nek Chand's Rock Garden at Chandigarh

In India such an untutored genius who created, by clearing a little patch of jungle, a garden, with sculpted stone and recycled materials some human figures which is known to the world as the Rock Garden at Chandigarh. His name is Nek Chand, an 80 years old creator and director who is now considered as the greatest contributor of the outside art. 

The Raw Vision, a Uk based magazine, pioneer in outsider art, in it's fiftieth issue(Spring 2005,anniversary issue's cover) highlights Nek Chand's Rock Garden sculptures as "women by waterfall".
Nek Chand considered, to him,is the greatest reward when one will walk through his garden.
 

Questions and answers:

1.Contrasting features of Chinese view of art with the European view with examples.

Answer:Chinese view of art is quite different from the European view of art.

 A classical Chinese artist doesn't want to reproduce an actual view of the landscape. Whereas the European artist creates an illusionistic likeness and it is based on delicate realism. 
The Chinese emperor could appreciated the physical appearance of the landscape only, the artists showed him the way to look within. 

The painter entered into the drawn cave and door closed behind him. The painting was vanished with the painter. 
The emperor could understand the inner meaning of the painting after that. The physical landscape was gone vanished and the spiritual landscape was unfolded to the emperor. 

The painted 'fly' of Quinten
 Metsys was creating an illusion that the painter thought it was a real fly and tried to drive it away. The European artists tries to reproduce the actual view of the painting. A viewer has to borrow the artist's eyes to understand his painting from a specific angle. But the Chinese artist only shows the path to go inside the landscape to understand the inner meaning of the landscape. Chinese artist doesn't choose a single  viewpoint. 

Asian Art tries to capture the essence of inner life and spirit. Contrast to this, the European art tries to achieve a perfect, illusionistic likeness.
 
2.Explain the concept of 'shanshui'. 

Ans:The Chinese landscape is 'shanshui' landscape. According to Wo Daozi there are two universal element, Yang and Yin. That is the Daoist philosophy of universe. Yang is mountain and represents the masculin aspects of energy which is stable, warm and vertical. Yin is the water and represents the feminine aspects of energy which is moist, fluide and cool, horizontally rests on earth. 

The interaction of Yin, the receptive and feminine with the counterpart of Yang, active and masculine is the fundamental notion of Daoism. 
The interaction of Yang and Yin takes place in the Middle Void which is considered as the third element. The white unpainted space of the Chinese landscape represents the Middle Void.
The man plays a fundamental role in the Chinese landscape.The man is in Francoise Cheng's Words 'the eye of the landscape'. Man becomes the connector between the two spaces- the Heaven and Earth. 




















 


































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