Landscape of the soul class 11 chapter 4 English Hornbill summary

Landscape of the soul class 11 chapter 4 English Hornbill summary

landscape of the soul class 11 summary

Wu Daozi was a painter in the eighth century .his last painting was a landscape that he made for tang Emperor Xuanzong, to beautify a palace wall. wu Daozi hid his work behind a screen, so only the emperor would see it. he told the emperor that in the cava in the painting at the bottom of the mountain, lived a spirit. he then clapped his hands, and the entrance to the cave opened. the painter entered the cave and the entrance closed behind him. Much to the surprise of the Emperor, the painting vanished from the wall. after that neither was there any sign of Wu Daozi’s painting nor was he never seen again.

There are many such stories in China’s classical education. the books of great philosophers such as Confucius and Zhuangzi are full of such accounts. these stories helped the master to guide his student in the right direction. they also tell of the general feeling of the people towards art. there is another well-known story about a painter who did not draw the eye of a dragon that he had painted because he feared that it would fly out of the painting.

In the fifteenth century, there was a story about an accomplished blacksmith called Quinten messy. he fell in love with a painter’s daughter. the painter’s studio and painted a fly on his latest painting.it looked so real that the master tried to squash it away. he then realized what had happened. so he immediately took Quinten as his trainee. Quinten married his beloved and later become one of the most famous painters of his time. these two stories show that each form of art was trying to achieve a perfect, impression of similarity in Europe and the spirit of an inner life in Asia.

In the Chinese story, the Emperor appreciates the outer appearance in the painting but the artist shows him the true meaning of his work. the emperor rules over the land but the artist knows the soul. the European painter would want people to look at a particular landscape just as he saw it while the Chinese painter does not choose a single viewpoint. one can enter a Chinese landscape from any point and travel in it. the artist makes a path for your eyes to travel up and down, and then back again. in a leisurely movement. this is even more true in the case of the horizontal scroll, in which the action of slowly opening the painting, then rolling it up to move on to the other, adds an element of time which is not found in any other form of painting .it also required the active involvement of the onlooker, as his participation is physical as well as mental. the Chinese painter wants us to enter his mind. the landscape is a spiritual and abstract universe.

This idea is expressed as shanshui, which means mountain water, it is used together to symbolize the word landscape’ more than two elements of an image represent two complementary poles, reflecting Daoist view of the universe.

The Mountain is Yan. it is depicted up right as if reaching towards heaven. it is steady, warm and dry in the sun. on the other hand the water is yin that is horizontal and resting on the earth. it is fluid moist and cool. the basic idea of Daoism is depicting the interaction of yin and yang. while yin is the feminine part of universal energy, yang is the masculine. the vital third elements, the middle void. is often ignored. this is where the interaction of yin and yang takes place. this can be compared with the yogic practice of pranayama. breath in, retain. breath out the the suspension of breath is the void where meditation occurs. the middle void is indispensable .nothing can happen without it.

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