expressions of the eternal connection between human consciousness and the infinity.
The infinity is emptiness, the absence of all, depicted by the enzo. The cycle of birth and death, of creation and destruction, of right and wrong, of good and evil, and day and night, is captured in the symbol of ying-yang. These motifs embody a philosophy so deep that it pervades through all cultures – it expresses the soul, the bindu or emptiness, in relation to the infinite, that engulfs all creation is also void, empty. The influence of these philosophies and the emblems or motifs often used to express concepts more clearly than through the expression of words, are apparent in the works of nineteenth century painters both from the east and from the west.
Van Gogh‗s ideas on his art may connect with spiritual enlightenment and messianic salvation originating as a Christian mentality with parallels to Buddhism. She discusses a few of van Gogh‗s lesser-known paintings, among them a painting of a tree and a self-portrait where the artist appears vaguely as a Buddhist monk, as indicative of the importance of Buddhism for him. (Fig. 31)Gauguin‗s sense of purpose and also finds the influence of Buddhism and spiritual enlightenment in several of his works. (Fig. 52)
These two Impressionistic painters and friends showed a great interest for Buddhism.
Nevertheless, they had two completely different ways on how to use the inspiration.
Where van Gogh emphasized the present and painted live motives, Gauguin looked into the past and painted from memories and the ‗subconscious. Van Gogh‘s Self-portrait Dedicated to Gauguin (Fig. 31) is from 1880 and painted with oil on canvas.
On the painting can see van Gogh en face dressed in a V-necked suit. He is painted with pointy strokes where the background is painted in circular strokes, creating an
aureole effect. The green filter on the picture symbolizes a serenity which represents the mental state of van Gogh. Indeed, in Zen Buddhism green symbolizes passivity and peacefulness128 He wanted to make himself look like a bonze, a Buddhist monk, who shaved their heads and wore V-necked slopes. Van Gogh‘s hair and beard has been shaved and are slightly beginning to grow out again. When van Gogh send this picture to his colleague he wrote:
‖I have a portrait of myself, all ash-colored…. But I also exaggerate my personality; I have in the first place aimed at the character of a simple bonze worshipping the Eternal Buddha…. I think that if, from now on, you begin to feel like the head of the studio, which shall try to turn into a refuge for many… then you will feel more or less we shall be giving lives for a generation of painters.‖ 129
Gauguin‘s Nirvana (Fig. 52) is a response to van Gogh‘s challenge: whereas van Gogh struggled with his unpredictable mind, which prevented his search for a serene and ascetic existence, Gauguin struggled with a big ego. Instead of using art for communicating Buddhism like van Gogh, Gauguin used art to practice the way of the Buddha searching relief from all desire.
The demon portrayed in the picture could refer to the Tibetan creature yaksha, representing the male gender but also the protector of Buddha enabling him the power of persuasion. Where van Gogh was more direct in spreading the message of Buddhism, Gauguin was psychologically cunning and multivalent when using symbols. When Gauguin heard about the death of van Gogh, he wrote to their friend Bernard: ―To die at this time is a great happiness for him, for it puts an end to his
128 http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/symbols/color.htm (Access on 02/03/ 2013 )
129 Jacquelynn Baas, Smile of the Buddha, P. 27
suffering, and if he returns in another life he will harvest the fruit of his fine conduct in this world, according to the law of Buddha.‖ 130
Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian gathered around Buddhist scholar John Cage around 1935 and John also had himself got interested in painting and begun painting. 131 Klee and Eastern art until now, researchers have been little concerned with the attention Paul Klee accorded to Far Eastern art that has however inspired him during all his years of artistic creation. After his return to Switzerland at the end of 1933, Klee became interested in the philosophy of Buddhism. In his ‗exile‘
he read the book The Great Liberation – An Introduction to Zen Buddhism by Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki. His cycle of drawings about the ―Urchse‖ is a reaction to the ―ten ox pictures‖ illustrated in Suzuki‘s book. (Fig. 89) Even during his time at the Bauhaus in Weimar, Klee was exposed to Buddhist attitudes. The author Bruno Adler remembered: ―The students revered the master, whom they liked to call ‗Buddha‘, and so did his colleagues. Kandinsky, Feininger and Schlemmer respected him as the supreme authority in all disputes.‖ Klee's interest in the art of the East, one can measure the importance of Klee's work, from ink and calligraphy painting to Zen Buddhism. Klee was fascinated not only by Eastern motifs and ornamentation, but also by ink application techniques, by calligraphy and the prevailing Zen-Buddhist mind-set. When abstract art was in its infancy several artists, Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee in particular, began to write about their art from a spiritual perspective and the belief that art had an ―awakening and prophetic power.‖ 132
Kandinsky was aware that Asiatic disciplines of meditation might provide a method through which artists could discover the invisible universe of spiritual energies. 133 For
130 Jacquelynn Baas, Smile of the Buddha, P. 30
131 Richard Kostelanetz, Conversing with Cage, New York, Limelight Editions 1994, pp. 173-198
132 Ulrike Becks-Malorny, Kandinsky, Taschen, Köln. 2007, P. 58
133 Roger Lipsey, An art of our Own: The Spiritual in 20th Century Art (Shambhala Publications,
Kandinsky meditation or ―absorption‖ became a means to realizing artistic ends. In Kandinsky‘s notebooks several pages exist that have notes for meditation instructions.
134 Klee, Kandinsky, Mondrian and other abstract pioneers were also involved in the Theosophy; it was a spiritual group that used the Indian religions as a source of inspiration. 135
Morris Graves (1910-2001) observed that Buddhism seemed to have an affinity with the artist‘s temperament: ―Zen stresses the meditative, stilling the surface of the mind and letting the inner surfaces blooms,‖ he said.136 Graves had a special friend in Seattle, a woman who had the ―largest influence‖ on his life as he said. Graves didn‘t identify her, perhaps because she was married. Her influence on him ran deep. They read Japanese Noh plays and Asian poetry together, made each other Japanese tea, and shared their investigations of Asian art. And they talked endlessly about Buddhism.137 Graves, who admired Tobey‘s white light and borrowed it to pour over his birds, was Cage‘s friend. Tobey was Cage‘s teacher. A bit old-fashioned, stiff, and formal, Tobey didn‘t share Cage‘s temperament, as Graves did. But his eye had more to say, so to speak.138
Zen philosophy encourages the making of art as a way of approaching nature directly, avoiding theory or interpretation. Graves adopted certain characteristic elements of Chinese and Japanese art, including subject matter birds, (Fig. 88) pine trees, (Fig. 87) waves and techniques the use of thin paper and ink drawing.
Yves Klein (1928-62) adopted Zen concepts of space. In fact, this space was converted into two dimensions because the oriental concept of ―the void‖ is quite
Boston, Mass.,1988), P. 1
134 Maurice Tuchman, The spiritual in art: Abstract painting, 1890-1985, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Abbeville Press, N.Y., 1986, P. 133
135 Maurice Tuchman, The spiritual in art: Abstract painting, 1890-1985, P. 134
136 Kay Larson, Where the Heart Beats, P. 73
137 Kay Larson, Where the Heart Beats, P. 75
138 Kay Larson, Where the Heart Beats, P. 81
dimensional. Interestingly, the Zen concept of ―emptiness‖ differs from the Taoist concept of ―emptiness.‖ The Taoist ―emptiness‖ is closer to physical emptiness and is quite objectified. For instance, Taoism tells us, the emptiness one faces in nature, in a forest or on the beach, is one‘s rapport with it. Yet the emptiness in Zen is two-dimensional, like silence in a black hole that entails one‘s hopelessness. ―The void‖
echoes multiple dimensions, whereas the term jian, meaning gap or crevasse defines a narrow boundary could be found in Klein painting installation. (Fig. 79 A, 79 B) In Chinese culture, the concept of jian is overlooked, whereas in Japan, it has taken on value. Separation and distance become clearly distinguished.
An examination of the paintings of these masters clearly shows the application of the basic circle and its variations. The superimpositions of the square and the triangles and spontaneous lines were used the rapid evolution of a being and the progression of the soul to enlightenment. The colors used had duality of interpretations from the eastern and the western perspectives. Therefore, the fundamentals show both the influence of the Zen and Tao schools of thought, and at the same time the creative forces that was aroused by inspiration from the central motifs.
4.3 Zen and Taoism Influence with Geometry Abstraction. 禪與道對幾何抽象藝