The Landscape of the Soul by Nathalie Trouveroy

 The Landscape of the Soul by Nathalie Trouveroy

Questions and Answers: Short Answer-type Qs (30-35 Words each)

Q1. What is the Chinese view of art?

Ans. A classical Chinese landscape is not meant to reproduce (present/copy) an actual view. He does not choose a single viewpoint. The artist creates a path for your eyes to travel up and down, then back again, in an easy manner.

Q2. What is the European view on art?

Ans. . The European painter wants you to borrow his eyes and look at a particular landscape exactly as he saw it, from a specific angle.

Q3. Who was Wu Daoji? Why did he make the landscape?

Ans. Wu Daozi was a famous Chinese painter. He lived in the 8^th century. the Tang Emperor Xuanzong ordered him to make a painting to decorate a wall of his palace.

Q4. What happened when the painter clapped?

Ans. The painter clapped his hands, and the entrance to the cave opened. The painter entered the cave, but the entrance closed behind him. The painting had vanished (disappeared) from the wall.

Q5. Why are anecdotes so popular in Chinese art?

Ans. Anecdotes or stories played an important part in China’s classical education. They helped the master to guide his disciple (pupil/student) in the right direction. Beyond the anecdote /ˈæn.ɪk.dəʊt/ (story/tale). They are deeply revealing (expressive) of the spirit in which art was considered.

Q6.How did Metsy succeed in marrying his beloved, the daughter of the great painter?

Ans. A master blacksmith, Quinten Metsys, fell in love with a painter’s daughter. The father was not ready to accept a son-in-law in such a profession. So Quinten sneaked (entered secretly) into the painter’s studio and painted a fly on his latest panel (board). It was so real that the master tried to swat (hit) it away. The painter was impressed and allowed him to marry his daughter.

Q7.What is ‘figurative painting’?

Ans. The figurative painting creates an image that is very close to reality. It is the realistic view of the painter. The person feels an illusion of the real object in the painting.

Q8. Why is the viewer’s participation necessary to observe a Chinese painting?

Ans. Chinese painter does not choose a single viewpoint. So Chinese painting requires the active participation of the viewer. He can decide the places where he wants to travel through the painting. This participation is both, physical and mental.

Q9. Define Shanshui?

Ans. Shan-Shui is a traditional art of Chinese painting, in which a brush and ink are preferred to conventional paints. In this art form, mountains, rivers, and waterfalls also are important in this art form.

Q10. What is Daoism?

Ans. Daoism does not believe in the separation between body and soul. It recognises that physical actions have a spiritual effect. Daoism accepts nature and is spontaneous in human experience.

Q11. Why is the blank space in Chinese painting compared to Pranayam?

The Middle Void is essential. Nothing can happen without it. The Middle Void is where their interaction takes place. This can be compared with the yogic practice of pranayama in which we breathe in, stop the breath, then breathe out. Meditation occurs in the suspension of breath in the Void (empty space in the stomach). Similar is the importance of the white, unpainted space in the Chinese landscape.

Q12. What is outsider art?

Ans. Outsider art is called raw art. This is made by people who have received no formal training in making mainstream paintings. But they have deep insight into showing their art in paintings. Such works are also called art brut. Examples of Art brut or raw art:

 

Multiple Choice Qs/Ans.

Q1.When did Daoji lived?

 Ans. in the 8^th century.

Q2.Which king commanded Daoji to make a landscape for his palace?

Ans. Xuunzong

Q3.Where was the apinting hidden?

Ans. A screen

Q4.In which thing did Wu Daoji vanish?

Ans. A cave

Q5.Whose books contained stories/anecdotes that played an important part in China’s classical education?

Ans. The books of Confucius and Zhuangzi

Q6.What is Antwerp?

Ans. Antwerp is known as the City of Rubens,

Q7.Who was Metsy?

Ans. A master-blacksmith

Q8.Who invented the term ‘Art Brut’

Ans. Jean Dubuffet

Q9. What did Metsy paint on his father-in-law’s painting?

Ans. A fly

Q10.What name is often given to Western or European painting?

Ans. Figurative Art