{"id":4743,"date":"2013-07-13T01:58:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4743"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:58:00","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:58:00","slug":"007-introduction-vol-04-paintings-and-drawings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/02other-editions\/04-paintings-and-drawings\/007-introduction-vol-04-paintings-and-drawings","title":{"rendered":"-007_Introduction.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n


\n\t\tPaintings
\n & Drawings<\/font><\/b> <\/font>
\n\t\t
\n\t\tBy<\/a> The
\n Mother<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

INTRODUCTION<\/font><\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n

In
\n the physical world, of all things it is beauty that expresses best the
\n Divine. The physical world is the world of form and the perfection of form
\n is beauty. Beauty interprets, expresses, manifests the Eternal.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

The
\n discipline of Art has at its centre the same principle as the discipline
\n of Yoga. In both the aim is to become more and more conscious; in both you
\n have to learn to see and feel something that is beyond the ordinary vision
\n and feeling, to go within and bring out from there deeper things. Painters
\n have to follow a discipline for the growth of the consciousness of their
\n eyes, which in itself is almost a Yoga.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

When
\n you are in Yoga, there is a profound change in the values of things, of
\n Art as of everything else; you begin to look at Art from a very different
\n standpoint. It is no longer the one supreme all-engrossing thing for you,
\n no longer an end in itself. Art is a means, not an end; it is a means of
\n expression. And the artist then ceases too to believe that the whole world
\n turns round what he is doing or that his work is the most important thing
\n that has ever been done. His personality counts no longer; he is an agent,
\n a channel, his art a means of expressing his relations with the Divine.<\/font><\/p>\n

(p-v)<\/small><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

\n\n\n
\n


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


\nThe Mother
\ndid not give her personal career as an artist a primary importance. Hence it is
\nnot commonly known that she was an accomplished artist. It will be evident from
\nthe paintings and drawings reproduced in this volume that, in spite of her
\nlimited artistic activity in later years, she never lost the power of her
\nobserving eye nor the sureness of her hand, nor did she allow her consciousness
\nof beauty and her aesthetic vision to become diminished in the midst of her
\nintensive spiritual endeavours and manifold responsibilities as the head of Sri
\nAurobindo Ashram.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n


\nThe Mother (Mirra Alfassa, 1878 -1973) loved to draw and paint from her
\nchildhood. Though art was only one of her many interests, it occupied a
\nprominent place in her early life. She began to take drawing lessons at the age
\nof eight. Two years later she started to learn oil painting and other painting
\ntechniques. By the time she was twelve she was doing portraits. In 1892, when
\nshe was fourteen, one of her charcoal drawings was exhibited at the
\nInternational "Blanc et Noir" Exhibition in Paris.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n


\nHaving
\ncompleted her regular schooling at the age of fifteen, she joined an art studio
\nin Paris to study painting. In all likelihood it belonged to the Academic
\nJulian, an organisation with several studios founded by Rodolphe Julian in the
\nlatter part of the nineteenth century. In those days women were not admitted to
\nthe Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Three or four of the paintings reproduced here are
\nevidently of models supplied by the studio (pp. 26-27 and perhaps the newly
\ndiscovered work shown on p. 149). They are good examples of the style of
\npainting taught in the best French art schools of the time. One of these studies
\n(p. 26) is signed and dated 1895, when the Mother was seventeen.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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


\nThe
\nMother continued to work in this studio until 1897, when she married the artist
\nHenri Morisset. During the next few years, she participated in the stimulating
\nartistic life of turn-of-the-century Paris and associated with some of the
\nleading artists of the period. She did a fair amount of painting, both in Paris,
\nwhere she and Morisset had their flat with a studio in the garden, and on trips
\nto the countryside. Six of her works were exhibited in the prestigious Salon de
\nla Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1903, 1904 and 1905. These works are
\nlisted by name in the catalogues of the Salon; one of them was reproduced in the
\nillustrated catalogue of the 1905 exhibition (p. 150).<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nOnly
\nabout forty of the Mother’s paintings are available to us today. More than half
\nof these belong to her early years in France (before 1914, when she made her
\nfirst trip to India), including her visits to Algeria (1906 and 1907). Other
\nearly works, which she considered to be among her best, were either sold or
\npresented to friends and are now lost to us. The Mother also did a number of
\npaintings and drawings while she was in Japan, between 1916 and 1920. There she
\nacquired the Japanese technique of water – colour painting, working directly with
\nbrush and black India ink. When she returned to India in 1920, she brought with
\nher seven paintings and some drawings which she had done in Japan.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nIn Pondicherry, the Mother rarely had time to undertake oil paintings. Her
\nspiritual work and practical responsibilities became all absorbing and she
\npreferred to bring out latent artistic faculties in others rather than display
\nher own abilities. But she did quite a few drawings of the highest quality and
\nartistic value. These are mainly portraits. Those who saw her doing these
\nportraits describe how within minutes, with a few rapid strokes, a living face
\nwould be completed.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nThe
\nMother herself did not attach much importance to what she had produced as an
\nartist. No doubt, she could have done much more if she had chosen to apply her
\ntalent, training and spiritual vision to serious painting in her mature years.
\nHer early works,, for all the skill and beauty we may admire in them, are in a
\nstyle which may be said to belong to the past. The Mother was well aware of
\nthis. She spoke of the future of art in her talks, yet she did not herself
\nattempt to realise its highest possibilities as she saw them. She left this for
\nothers to attempt. When she was urged to take up painting again, she replied
\nthat she had no time for it. Her later drawings were generally a spontaneous
\nexpression on the spur of the moment, not a premeditated artistic creation.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nIt 
\n<\/span>must  <\/span>be 
\n<\/span>remembered  <\/span>that 
\n<\/span>even  <\/span>from 
\n<\/span>childhood  <\/span>the 
\n<\/span>Mother was conscious of a larger mission to which art and all other
\ninterests were subordinate. Art was for her a valuable part of life, but not the
\nmost important thing. It was a language which came naturally to her, and she
\nused it as a means of expression and communication in the course of her work
\nwith people. For her, images could often reveal more than words. She regarded
\nher art study in her early years as a discipline for developing the
\nconsciousness, not as a preparation for a brilliant career or a life dedicated
\nto art for art’s sake. Once she had mastered painting to a sufficient degree for
\nher purposes, she moved on to other things. Some remarks on specialisation the
\nMother made to a group of students are typical of her attitude:<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nThis is something I have heard from my very childhood, and I believe our
\ngreat-grandparents heard the same thing, and from all time it has been preached
\nthat if you want to succeed in something you must do nothing but that. And as
\nfor me, I was scolded all the time because I did many different things! And I
\nwas always told I would never be good at anything. I studied, I did painting, I
\ndid music, and then was busy with still other things. And I was told my music
\nwouldn’t amount to much, my painting wouldn’t be worth while, and my studies
\nwould be quite incomplete. Probably it is quite true, but still I have found
\nthat this had its advantages\u2014those very advantages I have been speaking about,
\nof giving breadth and suppleness to one’s brain and understanding. It is true
\nthat if I had wanted to be a first-class performer and play in concerts, it
\nwould have been necessary to do as they said. And as for painting, if I had
\nwanted to be among the great artists of the period, I would have had to do
\nnothing but that. That goes without saying. But still, it is just one point of
\nview. I don’t see any necessity of being the greatest artist, the greatest
\nmusician. That has always seemed to me a kind of vanity.
\n [Talk of 10th<\/sup>
\n February 1954 \u2013 translated from the French<\/i>]<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nAs far as
\npossible, all the Mother’s known works\u2014paintings, miniatures on ivory,
\ncharcoal drawings, brush and ink work, pen and ink drawings and pencil sketches-
\nhave been included in this volume. A few whose originals are not available are
\nprinted here from earlier reproductions. The arrangement is based on aesthetic
\nand technical considerations rather than chronological order. The paintings are
\nnumbered as "Plates"; the drawings are separately numbered. A
\ndescriptive catalogue at the end of the book gives details concerning all the
\nworks.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nA
\nnumber of the paintings, unfortunately, are in a bad condition. In some the
\ncolours have cracked or are peeling off. Besides, they have lost their original
\nlusture, having remained for seventy years in Pondicherry’s warm and humid
\nclimate. Some have darkened so much that their reproductions in colour are given
\nonly for the purpose of record. Where a damaged painting has been restored or
\nthe reproduction electronically repaired, a black-and-white reproduction showing
\nits original condition is also given.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nThe
\nMother’s drawings have proved as difficult to preserve and reproduce as the
\npaintings, since they were often done on scraps of paper which have mostly
\nturned yellow or brown and become brittle and acidic.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n


\nApart
\nfrom a few works included mainly for their documentary value, the paintings and
\ndrawings presented here will reveal to the discerning eye the Mother’s rare
\nartistic abilities: a mastery of technique achieved through years of rigorous
\ntraining and practice, a refinement of style, a clarity and depth of vision, and
\nthe freedom, power and sureness of expressive touch which her later drawings
\nmanifest.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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


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

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