Landscape of the soul by Natalie Troyveroy

Know your author

Nathalie Trouveroy is an art historian who came in limelight because of her translated work ' City of
Djinns', a book by William Dalrymple.

She is the wife of Belgian ambassador to India. She has travelled various cities of the world with her
husband. She holds a Master’s degree in history of art and archaeology from university of Belgium.

She plan to write her next book on old Delhi architecture like Jama Masjid and Chandni Chowk.

Dealing with vocabulary:

Word-Meanings
landscape– the portion of land which one can view at a single glance,
commissioned–ordered, commanded, made on demand,
Immense–vast, dwells–lives; splendid–grand,convey–communicate, express, astonished–taken by
surprise; utter–speak, vanished–disappeared, trace–sign, classical–based on ancient knowledge,
Confucius–a Chinese philosopher, disciple–pupil, anecdote–a short event or story, revealing–disclosing

Page-35

Considered–regarded; contrast–mark the difference. dragon–a mythical or imaginary reptile with wings,
Flanders–a country, sneaked–entered secretly, panel–a piece of wood on which a picture is painted,
delicate realism–soft truthfulness, swat–give a hard blow, apprentice–trainee, Illustrate–show, make
clear, illusionistic–causing illusion, Dao–the path or the method, scroll– a roll of paper.

Page36
Concept– Idea, ;elements–essential parts,complementary–together making up a whole, reflecting–
showing, explaining; vertically–In a perpendicular manner; stable–firm, ; fluid–liquid substance,
counterpart–complementary part, fundamental–basic. void–empty space, lofty–high,

Pre reading activity:

Look at the following pictures and describe what you see. Both the paintings are titled
“Landscape of the Soul”

While reading activity:

Read the story on page 35 and 36 and note down the two stories the author shares about the
Chinese paintings and western paintings.

Given below are two paintings. Both are titled “the sunrise”.

Try to identify which painting is Chinese and which one Western. Give reasons for your choice.
While reading activities:

Look at the picture of Wu Daoji given below. Read the text and note down what do you get to
know about Wu Daoji from the text.

Also find out about a scroll painting.

Wu Daoji A scroll
The teacher may use the following picture to discuss the concept of yang and yin. Add more
points to the picture from the text.

Jean Dubuffet Nek chand

Nek chand’s Rock garden

What does the text tell you about Jean Dubuffet and Nek chand?
Post reading activity: Ask the students to find out more about Chinese, western and Indian Art.
They can write about the differences between them.

Chinese Art

western Art
Post reading activities may involve writing summary, making flow chart of the story, working on
similarities and differences, making quiz questions etc.

Value points:

The chapter ‘Landscape of the Soul’ by Nathalie Trouveroy is about art. The chapter consists of
two parts. The first part has been taken from ‘Landscape of the Soul: Ethics and Spirituality in
Chinese Painting’; and the second part is from ‘Getting Inside ‘Outsider Art’, an article written
by Brinda Suri in Hindustan Times.

The first part deals with the art of painting. There is mention of two stories in it. The first story is
about Wu Daozi, a famous Chinese painter, who lived in the eighth century. He was a master
painter and had been commissioned by the Tang Emperor Xuanzong, to decorate a palace wall.
He made a beautiful painting with high mountains, forests waterfalls, clouds floating in clear,
big blue sky, men walking and working on hilly paths, birds in flight, and a cave situated at the
foot of the mountain, where dwelt a spirit. As the painter was showing the painting to the
emperor, he clapped hands; the entrance to the cave opened, the painter got in; the painting
vanished and Wu Daozi never came out. The disappearance of the painting from the wall
signifies the knowledge of the spiritual inner world. Only the masters know the way within and
can go beyond any material appearance.

In another famous story, a famous Chinese painter refused to draw the eye of a dragon he had
painted for he feared it would fly out of the painting. The third story in the first part is about
Antwerp, a master blacksmith called Quinten Metsys fell in love with a painter’s daughter. The
father would not accept a son-in-law in such a profession. However, Antwerp had to accept
Quinten Metsys as his son in law because he painted a fly on his panel with such delicate realism
that it looked real one.

The author also talks about Chinese philosophy shanshui, which means ‘mountain water’. The
mountain represents ‘Yang’, the male principle; and water signifies Yin, the female principle.
In the second part the author writes about the concept of ‘art brut’, which means ‘the art of those
who have ‘no right’ to be artists as they have received no formal training, yet show talent and
artistic insight. They are artists who think out of the box. Their works are totally different from
those of their predecessors. In simple terminology this art can be called ‘unorthodox art.’ In this
section the author talks about Nek Chand’s creations. His creation of Rock Garden at Chandigarh
is an expression of art brut.