ART OF CHINESE

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19894, 25 May 1936, Page 19

ART OF CHINESE

IMMEMORIAL TRADITION. LIGHT 0N ORIENTAL ATTITUDE. t The visitor to the Chinese Exhibition ‘ at Burlington House at London at pre- . sent, will see in the distance. before he mouan the staircase, the sculptured head of a Bodhisattra la being. that is, who can enter the final peace if he will. but waits till he can share that blis with the whole world). writes Lawrence Binyon in the London Observer. As the visitor mounts he will see by degrees the calm columnar form rise into view. till in all its height it towers far above him. smiling its mysterious smile. . With this statue in my mind, 1 think of Chinese art and its immemorial. con- ‘ tinuing tradition, emerging slowly from‘ l the mists of time and legend into the, : daylight of history, with a setene‘ ‘ activity of production. “without haste. without rest.” and over all its manifold creations the presiding genius seems to l reserve a smile beyond the cares and the passions of mankind. l First the bronze vessels. asézciated with age-old rites, draw our min back . to a time when the human race, struggling for existence. was filled with fear of the unknown powers of Nature; but ‘ human hands have somehow captured ‘ and incorporated something of these powers into the masive. swelling forms of bronze, and made them formidable even while subduing them to use. - Centuries pass. and gradually the Chinese mind. through the Chinese artists, feeling rather than investigating, seeks and finds a closer, subtler relation the world without. till at last it is at home with all life; it feels itself part of the eternal change and the infinite universe; it expands and is exhilarated. This exhibition provides at last the opportunity for us. not only to delight our eyes with miracles of craftsmanship. ‘ but to understand the Chinese attitude and outlook. exprescd so abundantly ; in the arts. In Europe one country or 1 another has a great period of creation. 1 and then apparently becomes exhausted; . but in China period after period passes, .' each of some hundreds of years. and . there is still the Chinese genius work- . ing, now in one form now in mother; l if in the later periods with less interior . power and glow. still maintaining the i tradition. What is the secret of this con- ] tinuity, this vitality? Perhaps it is just i that gift of flexibility which has enabled l the Chinese to assimilate so much from ‘ outside and to lead their conquerors ; captive. With them the human spirit is 1 not at odds with a world it wants to | dominate and use; it flows out and ‘ draws in; it is in love with things. It 3 is continually refreshing itself with the l life outside itself. It is all the more human on this account; for this is one 1 of the privileges of being human. ELQQUENCE OF ATTITUDE. People to whom all this art. except, ! perhaps the porcelain and the carpets, l is new will probably find their first i vivid response in the rooms devoted to I the art of the Tang dynasty. especially l in the pottery figures from tombs. Specimens or these are now familiar = enough, but here are chosen specimens. lnot too many, of the finest quality. What amazing life, what eloquence of l attitude. in the dancers, the action. the ‘ horses, the camels! But then. over against all this “pagan" pride 0! life, there is the religious sculpture. serene and aloof; for this also is the great era . of Buddhist art, and we shall. to: the i first time in England. be able to appre- | ciate the singular beauty which Buddh- ' ist sculpture could attain. I Here. as in the West, the secular and the religious art appear divided, as if in separate compartments. But we pas on to the age of Sung (10th-13th centuries) and observe. or rather feel, how l the Chinese genius has assimilated | Indian ideas. so that even the landscape } painting is pervaded with a sort of per;fume from the world of the spirit: a i fusion has been accomplished. The {inl est creations of Chinese are are not of a resounding external magnificence; l they are subtle and intimate. I It is extraordinary how the artists seem to have lived what they portray ‘The wild geese are flying through the ‘air in a long flight. or dipping to the water, or half-hidden in the mist; as we look we are there; we have passed into their world. Or we share the quick senses of the deer, shy in the autumn Iwoods. These paintings that so draw l us out of ourselves may sometimes disconcert at first because they do not sc‘cord with our ideas of what a picture . should be, especially the long rolls; but how magical the touches of the brush! 5 And then, when on the larger scale, how grand and simple can be the design! No tart can reconcile as the Chinese does I l the monumental and the exquisite. ‘ There are landscapes in the exhibition l which must take everyone captive. with ' their-sense of space and height and ate 1

‘mosphere. From them we turn to the pottery and porcelain, happily shown ‘ with the paintings, and in each period . we find the same pervading style and‘ taste. Can such things really be the work of human hands? one cannot help exclaiming. ‘ In the galleries are between three and [four thousand works of art; bronzes, jades, sculpture. paintings. calligraphy. pottery. porcelain, lacquer, carpets. embroideries. wood-cuts. Cloisonne; in each category how many lovely things! But it is not so much single masterpieces—though there are many one could pick out—which are the glory of Chinese art as the informing spirit that unifies all its creations: a radiant wholeness, a profound humanity.