Indian and Southeast Asian Art

Katy Zielinski, Aliyah Oestreicher,

Priya Gopani

● Indian art stresses the interconnectedness of all the arts: architecture, painting, and sculpture.

● Buddhist and Hindu philosophies form background to Indian artistic thought.

● A vibrant school of manuscript painting using brilliantly applied watercolors flourishes in India

Key Ideas

● Land was valuable; India has a history of Invasions and assimilations.

● Indian life today is a layering of disparate populations to create a cosmopolitan culture.

● There are 18 official languages in India - Hindi is what foreigners think as their national language however it is only spoken by 20% of the population.

● Along with Hindus and Muslims, there are many concentrations: Jains, Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs, as well as many myriad tribal religions.

● Geographically India is known have wide range of terrains from the tallest mountains to vast deserts, and tropical forests.

● ONE OF THE MOST DIVERSE COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD!

Historical Background

● The arts play a critical role in the culture: Buildings, sculptures, and murals● Rulers were very generous when it came to the investing buildings,

sculptures etc. (arts)● Arts enhance civic and religious lives along with providing glory● Indian monuments have a uniformity of style because monuments were built

as a combination of the arts; the artists who work on them work at the request of another artist serving as team leader who has his/ her own vision

● Religious designs of art and architecture was determined by religious advisor/ priest

● Religious advisor/ priest made sure that proportions and iconography of monuments agreed with the descriptions supplied in canonical texts and diagrams

● Religious advisors/ priest -> played important role in arts● Artists were trained as apprentices in workshops; they learned everything

from how to make their own brush to creating vast murals. VERY COMPREHENSIVE PROCESS!

● The training of Indian artists is highly organized

Patronage & Artistic Life

Borobudur in Java, Indonesia

● Massive Buddhist monument made up of carved stone blocks. ● Includes 504 life sized Buddhas, 1,460 massive relief

sculptures, and 1,300 panels 2,000 feet long.● Meant to be walked around, built similar to a mastaba, with

block on top of block, but pyramidal in shape.● Is an important place of pilgrimage and of prayer. ● The building’s lower stories represent a world of desire and

negative impulses, the middle area represent the world of forms and people who can control their negative impulses, and the top story is the world of formula where the physical world is unneeded and worldly desire expunged.

● Thought to be representative of the compass and cosmology.

Miniature Painting of Krishna Doing Rain Dance

● 19th century, unknown artist.● Watercolor on paper.● Krishna is the eighth incarnation of

the Lord Vishnu in Hinduism, seen here trying to bring rain to his needy people.

● Humans are often painted vividly and in with colorful drapery, they always have an expression.

● Translated to mean “Crown Palace” ● Built in 1632-1648● Named for Mumtaz Mahal (the

deceased wife of Shah Jahan), she died giving birth to her 14th child. ○ The Palace was meant to serve

as Mumtaz’s tomb. ● Onion shaped dome and exact

symmetry, with minarets framing and sheltering the center.

Taj Mahal in Agra, India

Buddhist Painting and Sculpture:

● Uniformity among regions● Compact pose, little negative space● Seated in lotus position, balls of his

feet turned up, a wheel marking on the souls of his feet. Sometimes standing or lying down

● Frontal, symmetrical, have a nimbus (halo) around their heads

● Bodhisattvas (helpers) are usually near the Buddha, sometimes attached to the nimbus

● Drapery varies by region ○ Central India: tight fitting

resting on one shoulder with folds slanting diagonally down the chest.

○ In Handhara: wear heavy robes covering both shoulders, similar to Roman toga (Hellenistic influence)

Buddhist Painting and Sculpture:● Moods: detached, removed quality

representing mediation● Actions and feelings revealed by hand

gestures called mudras● Ushnish: top not on head, hair has a

series of tight-fitting curls● Long ears dangle to shoulders● Curl of hair called urna appear

between brows● Reject courtly life = lack of jewelry● Predella (base) can include donor

figures and may have illustrations of teachings or a stories from his life

● Yakshas (males) and yakshis (females)- nature spirits often appear.

● Female: rare dance-like pose, almost nude. Male: accentuate male characteristics (powerful shoulders and arms)

Buddhist Painting and Sculpture:

Yakshi from Great Stupa, 3rd Century BCE- 1st century CE. Sanchi, IndiaSculpture from Vishvanath Temple

Buddha Preaching the First Sermon

● 5th century, sandstone, Archaeological Museum, Sarnath, India, 5’3”

● Sitting in yoga position, hands in a preaching mudra

● On predella: important narrative moment in Buddha’s life, figures of Sakyamuni’s followers who returned to him at the sermon in Deer Park

● Between the two groups of kneeling monks is the symbol of preaching, the Wheel

● Compact pose; epicene quality; tight fitting garb● Bodhisattvas (a deity who refrains from entering

nirvana to help others) in nimbus above him

Vishvanatha Temple

● Placed on high pedestal● As eries of shapes that

build to become a large tower; complicated intertwining of similar forms

● In the center is the “embryo” room containing the shrine, very small, only enough space for the priest

● An ambulatory circles around the inner chamber

● Corbelled roofs have a beehive quality

Vocabulary “Glossary Slide”Bodhisattva- a deity who refrains from entering nirvana to help others Buddha: a fully enlightened being. There are many Buddhas, the most famous of whom is Shakyamuni, also known as Gautama or Siddhartha Chaitya: a rock- cut shrine in basilican form with a stupa at the endpoint Darshan: in Hinduism, the ability of a worshipper to see a deity and the deity to see the worshipperGopura: a monumental entrance or gateway to an Indian temple complex Mithuna: in India, the mating of males and females in a ritualistic, symbolic, or physical senseMudra : a symbolic hand gesture in Hindu and Buddhist artNirvana: an afterlife in which reincarnation ends and the soul becomes one with the supreme spiritPuja: a Hindu prayer ritual Shiva: the Hindu god of creation and destruction Stupa: a dome- shaped Buddhist shrine Torana: a gateway near a stupa that has two upright posts and three horizontal lintels. They are usually elaborately carved

More Vocab...

● Urna: a circle of hair on the brows of deity, sometimes represented as focal point

● Ushnisha: a protrusion at the top of the head, or the topknot of a Buddha

● Wat: a Buddhist monastery or temple in Cambodia ● Yakshi (masculine : yaksha): female and male figures

of fertility in Buddhist and Hindu art