Landscape of the Soul
Summary This extract highlights the basics of art—Chinese and European. These present a study in contrast. The Chinese paintings are not as realistic and perfect as European paintings. A classical Chinese landscape does not produce the actual view. It can be entered from any point. The viewer is free to travel up and down. He has to participate in it both physically and mentally. The scenery is an inner one. An emperor could rule over his big conquered territory but only an artist could enter it. In European art, the viewer has to borrow the eye of the painter to look at a landscape. The scene creates an illusion of likeness with reality. This Idea has been through stories. The lesson also explains the word landscape and the concept of shanshui. It is the Daoist view. Land stands for vertical and Masculine Mountain. Scape represents water that shows horizontally and is feminine in character. They have to interact although they are like two poles of the universe. The man who acts ...