{"id":2403,"date":"2013-07-13T01:41:23","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2403"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:41:23","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:41:23","slug":"73-reviews-rupam-vol-01-early-cultural-writings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/01-early-cultural-writings\/73-reviews-rupam-vol-01-early-cultural-writings","title":{"rendered":"-73_Reviews – Rupam.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t"Rupam" <\/span><\/b>
\n\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t1<\/sup><\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/font><\/span><\/b>
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tT<\/font>HE<\/font><\/b>
\n\t\t\tAPPEARANCE
\n\t\t\t<\/b>of this superb quarterly admirable in its artistic get-up and
\n\t\t\tits fine reproductions of Indian sculpture and painting, admirable
\n\t\t\tin the accomplished excellence of its matter, -the name of the
\n\t\t\teditor, Mr. O. C. Gangoly, the one man most especially fitted by his
\n\t\t\tknowledge and capacity for this work, is of itself a sufficient
\n\t\t\tguarantee of excellence, -is a significant indication of the
\n\t\t\tprogress that is being made in the revival of the aesthetic mind of
\n\t\t\tIndia. Assailed and corrupted in a time of cultural decline and
\n\t\t\tarrest of its creative and artistic faculty by an alien aesthesis
\n\t\t\tand ideals antithetic to its own spirit, it is returning to a right
\n\t\t\tview and understanding of its past greatness, and though much way
\n\t\t\thas still to be made before there can be any universal recovery of
\n\t\t\tthe artistic eye and taste, the first steps have been taken with
\n\t\t\tsome rapidity and firmness and are all in the right direction. This
\n\t\t\tnew and fine effort of the Indian Society of Oriental Arts is likely
\n\t\t\tto be of invaluable aid towards this reawakening; its magnificent
\n\t\t\tillustrations are in themselves a revelation of the old beauty and
\n\t\t\tgreatness and, admirably selected and supported by illuminating
\n\t\t\tarticles, ought to be sufficient to open even the most blinded
\n\t\t\tvision to the meaning and value of our ancient painting and
\n\t\t\tsculpture. <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe subjects
\n\t\t\tof the four articles in this number are all of a considerable
\n\t\t\tinterest and touch points or raise and answer questions which have
\n\t\t\teither a central importance or a vital though second-plane
\n\t\t\tprominence in Indian art, and each article is a remarkably just,
\n\t\t\tfull, efficient and understanding interpretation of its subject. The
\n\t\t\tfrontispiece is a panel from a Pallava temple at <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t1 An
\n\t\t\tillustrated quarterly journal of Oriental Art, chiefly Indian,
\n\t\t\tedited by O. C. Gangoly.  
\n\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 590<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t5. Princely
\n\t\t\tDoorkeeper, Mahabalipuram<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 6. Poseidon of
\n\t\t\tArtemision<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMahabalipuram
\n\t\t\tintended to convey at once the essential character and appeal of
\n\t\t\tIndian sculpture by an example which offers no difficulty of
\n\t\t\tunderstanding or appreciation even to a non-Indian mind or to an
\n\t\t\tuninstructed knowledge, and it is accompanied by a brief but clear
\n\t\t\tand sufficient article. This example from one of the great styles
\n\t\t\tand periods shows, as is justly said, and shows very perfectly, the
\n\t\t\tIndian principle in the treatment of the human figure, the
\n\t\t\tsuppression of small particulars and trivial details in order to
\n\t\t\tsecure an extreme simplicity of form and contour, -the best
\n\t\t\tcondition for accomplishing the principal object of the Indian
\n\t\t\tsculptor which was to fill the form with the utmost power of
\n\t\t\tspiritual force and significance. The figure of this princely
\n\t\t\tdoorkeeper of the temple in its union of calm, grave, sweet and
\n\t\t\trestful serenity with a latent and restrained heroic energy in its
\n\t\t\tstillness, noted by the writer as the distinctive power of this
\n\t\t\tcreation, is indeed equal, as he suggests, in its dignity and repose
\n\t\t\tto any Greek statue, but it carries in it a more profound and potent
\n\t\t\tmeaning; it is a perfect interpretation of the still and intense
\n\t\t\tGodward feeling, seized in one deep mood, in one fixed moment of it,
\n\t\t\twhich was the soul of the great ages of Indian religion. There is
\n\t\t\there a perfection of form with a perfection of significance. This
\n\t\t\trestraint in power, this contained fullness opening an amplitude of
\n\t\t\tinfinite suggestion, is not rare or exceptional, it is a frequent
\n\t\t\tgreatness in the art of India. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe second article on
\n\t\t\tGaruda in Bengal and Java by Akshaya Kumar Maitreya, besides its
\n\t\t\tinteresting and discerning treatment of its subject, the inception
\n\t\t\tand humanising of the Garuda figure and the artistic use of the
\n\t\t\tmythus, touches an issue which has not yet, I think, received
\n\t\t\tsufficient consideration, the place of the art of Gauda in the
\n\t\t\tdevelopment of the spirit of Indian sculpture. The putting side by
\n\t\t\tside of the two sculptures from Java and Varendra, on one side the
\n\t\t\theroic force, majesty, dignity and beauty of the ancient art in one
\n\t\t\tof its finest developments, on the other the moved nobility, grace
\n\t\t\tand loveliness and the fervour of spiritual emotion and tenderness
\n\t\t\tof a time when the antique Aryan spirit was softening into the
\n\t\t\tsweetness of the religions of bhakti, makes of itself an
\n\t\t\tilluminating suggestion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 591<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n\t\t\tThis sculpture is
\n\t\t\teloquent of that transition and the art of Gauda with its lyrical
\n\t\t\tsweetness of emotion and, at its best, suggestive depths, begins the
\n\t\t\tcurve of the stream of spiritual feeling which came down through the
\n\t\t\tVaishnava art and poetry, found its most gracious and lucid
\n\t\t\tembodiment in the poets of Bengal, has now taken, enriched by new
\n\t\t\telements, a large and living development in the lyrics of Tagore and
\n\t\t\tthe paintings of the Calcutta school and has yet a vital part to
\n\t\t\tplay in the spiritual future of India. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnother article
\n\t\t\tcontains a full and discriminating account, copiously illustrated by
\n\t\t\tnumerous figures, of the history of the Kirtimukha, a standing
\n\t\t\tfeature in Indian architecture, and the development of its use as a
\n\t\t\tconstant decorative element and in Java a prominent structural
\n\t\t\tmotive. The right understanding of these details is a necessary
\n\t\t\tequipment for the complete comprehension of the art of India. The
\n\t\t\twriter handles his subject with a consummate mastery and includes in
\n\t\t\ta small compass all that is needed to give us a full idea about this
\n\t\t\t"glory face". The one thing not included in his intention is its
\n\t\t\tpsychological significance, a question of great interest, for it is
\n\t\t\tan evolution as the writer indicates from an element common to the
\n\t\t\tancient art of Asia and there were kindred things in Greece and
\n\t\t\tmediaeval Europe. It is the result, I would suggest, of an
\n\t\t\timagination or an experience that has entered into the subtle worlds
\n\t\t\tand found there a side of things dangerous and distorted and
\n\t\t\tterrible that have yet to be compelled by the adventure of the
\n\t\t\tself-conquering spirit into an element of divine harmony and
\n\t\t\tsignificance. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe remaining article
\n\t\t\tby Mr. E. Vredenburg on the continuity of pictorial tradition in the
\n\t\t\tart of India treats a question of the most central importance and
\n\t\t\tbrings to it a fine aesthetic instinct even more necessary than
\n\t\t\thistoric and archaeological accuracy of information in such a
\n\t\t\tdiscussion, for one may have the latter and yet miss the truth for
\n\t\t\tlack of a more essential equipment of the art critic. Mr. Vredenburg
\n\t\t\tenters a still much-needed protest against the constant tendency to
\n\t\t\tattribute a foreign origin to whatever survives of Indian creation.
\n\t\t\tThe instances he gives are indeed evidences of an extraordinary
\n\t\t\tperversity of judgment, such as the well-known refusal to leave the
\n\t\t\tcredit of the Tajmahal   <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 592<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n\t\t\tto India, "the
\n\t\t\tnumerous attempts that have been made to ascribe the Ajanta
\n\t\t\tpaintings to the Greeks, Persians or Chinese", and last but not
\n\t\t\tleast colossally absurd, "the truly astounding statement that the
\n\t\t\tKangra paintings are of European inspiration and that they were
\n\t\t\tpainted for the English market"! Only yesterday while reading Mr.
\n\t\t\tJouveau-Dubreuil’s able historical monograph I found myself brought
\n\t\t\tup short by the sweepingly positive but hardly judicial and
\n\t\t\tcertainly not judicious statement that "the Deccan like the North
\n\t\t\twas inspired by the Greek and Roman arts and the marbles of
\n\t\t\tAmaravati can be compared to the sculptures of Gandhara". The plain
\n\t\t\tfact is that whatever outside influences there may or may not have
\n\t\t\tbeen in India as elsewhere, even the earliest work shows a
\n\t\t\tcharacteristic Indian mentality and touch; and, as for Gandharan
\n\t\t\tart, it has the air of an inefficient attempt of the Hellenistic
\n\t\t\tmind to absorb this spirit rather than an effort of India to imitate
\n\t\t\tGreece. And in any case the great characteristic work could no more
\n\t\t\thave been the creation of a foreign mind or of its influence than
\n\t\t\tthe sculptures of Phidias can be attributed to an Assyrian, Egyptian
\n\t\t\tor Chinese origin. A psychological insensibility to the spiritual
\n\t\t\tsignificance of Indian work is probably at the root of these errors
\n\t\t\tand, so long as that subsists, the most erudite knowledge will be no
\n\t\t\tprotection against gross misunderstandings.<\/span><\/font>2<\/sup><\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tMr. Vredenburg
\n\t\t\tis chiefly concerned in this article with filling up the gap between
\n\t\t\tthe Ajanta frescoes and the later art of India. He is able to do
\n\t\t\tthis up to the eleventh or twelfth century: for the beautiful
\n\t\t\tcoloured reproductions of exquisite Buddhist miniatures from an
\n\t\t\tilluminated manuscript of that period which are the most attractive
\n\t\t\tfeature of this number, evidence a complete continuity of the Ajanta
\n\t\t\tstyle. Most striking are the two enlargements which show at once and
\n\t\t\tconclusively that these miniatures are in their whole spirit, method
\n\t\t\tand every <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t2 The attitude
\n\t\t\tand regard of the cultured European mind on Indian and Eastern art
\n\t\t\thas immensely changed since this was written and there has been a
\n\t\t\tgreat progress towards sympathy and understanding and even
\n\t\t\tdevelopments due to an oriental influence. There is indeed some
\n\t\t\tsurvival of old prejudices but this is no longer the characteristic
\n\t\t\tstandpoint of the aesthetic mind of Europe towards the creative
\n\t\t\tachievement of India or of Asia.   \t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 593<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\t\t\t<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tcharacteristic reductions of the old style of mural painting. He
\n\t\t\tappeals also to the typically Ajantesque character of the coloured
\n\t\t\tpanels of Man Singh’s palace which date from the fifteenth or
\n\t\t\tsixteenth century. It will be interesting to follow the farther
\n\t\t\tdevelopment of this argument in the forthcoming number.
\n\t\t\t<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tI could wish I had
\n\t\t\tspace for adequate comment on the many points of stimulating
\n\t\t\tinterest with which this number abounds, but I have, I think,
\n\t\t\tindicated enough to show that every lover of Indian art and culture
\n\t\t\tought to possess "Rupam". He will find it one of the luxuries that
\n\t\t\tare necessities.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 594<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/font>
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\n\t\t\t
\n \t\t\t<\/font>\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

"Rupam" 1   THE APPEARANCE of this superb quarterly admirable in its artistic get-up and its fine reproductions of Indian sculpture and painting, admirable in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-01-early-cultural-writings","wpcat-49-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}