Eastern Art Review LB34

Art Analysis: Past and prsent

Presented by:
Adam Mawardi - 2502030416 Arkananta Aliyya - 2502007552
M. Faizal Akhbar - 2502025006 Nandini Sempaka - 2502029811
Ladya Rizqya - 2502037473 Intan Nur'aini - 2501997792
 Analyses
India
Ancient (Ladya)
Contemporary (Adam)
Artworks will be reviewed based on form,content,
and context China

Ancient (Fai)
Contemporary (Nanta)
Japan

Ancient (Intan)
Contemporary (Nandini)
India
Artists:
Raja Ravi Varma
Reena Saini Kallat
Raja Ravi Varma
Date of Birth : 29 April 1848
Date of Death : 2 October 1906
Place of Birth : Kilimanoor, Travancore

Ravi Varma, who was born in the Kerala town of

Kilimanoor in 1848, was of royal descent. According
to legend, his uncle discovered him sketching images
on the walls of his residence. The uncle took him to
the royal palace in Thiruvananthapuram, where he
was taught in painting.
Sri Shanmukha Subramania Swami
(unknown date)
by Raja Ravi Varma
Date : ca, 1900-15
 form
dominated by blue and green
depicts a god sitting on a peacock
gods hold items in their hands, such as swords,
flowers, etc
there is a snake at the bottom which was
stepped on by the peacock
Medium : Color lithograph, varnish
Dimensions: Sheet: 19 7/8 × 13 7/8 in. (50.5 ×
35.2 cm)
 content
He is twelve-armed, nine of which
The first son of Shiva and Parvati is
display his armory and three gently
Skanda, the god of war, born of
embrace his wives.
Shiva’s sperm and Parvati’s womb (a
complicated story).
The peacock, along with the eagle,
regard the snake as their mortal
Shanmukha (‘six-faced’)
enemy and here we see the bird
Subrahmanya, the multi-faced form
clutching a cobra in its talons, a
alluding to Skanda being raised by
metaphor of Skanda’s power to
six divine foster parents. The youthful
destroy ignorance and evil. It is an
Skanda is shown accompanied by his
image that balances piety and
two wives, Devasena and Valli.
charm in equal measure.
context
Ravi Varma, who was born in the Kerala town of
Kilimanoor in 1848, was of royal descent. According to
legend, his uncle discovered him sketching images on the
walls of his residence. The uncle took him to the royal
palace in Thiruvananthapuram, where he was taught in
painting.

Until then, most of the painted figures were flat, and the
gods were only recognizable by their personal
accouterments. His painting output was crucial in the
formation of national consciousness. It was also during a
period in Indian history when national sensitivities were
developing. His Veda-reflective work caught on quickly,
earning popularity while also nourishing the conscience.
 Reena Saini Kallat
Date of Birth : 1973,Delhi
Date of Death :-
Place of Birth : Delhi, India

Reena Saini Kallat (born 1973) is an Indian visual artist. She

currently lives and works in Mumbai,India. She completed her
BFA in painting in 2011 at the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School
of Art in 1996.
Through her cross-disciplinary artworks that include drawing,
photography, sculpture and video, she mainly addresses the
politics of borders and migration
 Leaking Lines (2019-2020)

top: All 10 diptychs

bottom left: Leaking lines: "Danube river"
The Form:
The How
Time to create:1 year
Muted color palette

Medium of choice:
charcoal, gouache, graphite,
nails and electric wires on laser
cut and embossed Arches
paper
Dimensions:
25 x 33 in. l 64 x 84 cm. (top)
each
55 x 33 in. l 140 x 84 cm.
(bottom) each
Content:
The Meat/the what
Reena Saini Kallat, through Leaking
Lines, talks about a reocurring topic in her
works, borders.
Through the use of one of three main
elements of art, the line, to portray the
delineation of contested national borders
all over the world.
Contrasted with pictures of the
landscape these lines unnaturally divide.
Kallat aims to question the necessity of
these lines, and how to this day, some
lines remain as a center of conflict and
divide amongst the inhabitants.

Fact: one of these "lines" is the mcmahon li-

ne, one of the lines dividing india after bri-
tish occupation, this is very contextual!
Context: The Why
Reena Saini Kallat's chosen topics in her artwork
can be attributed to the history of her home
country, India.
Although India has a long history of kingdoms
rising, falling, and warring, Reena was born in 1973,
exactly 26 years after the dissolution of the british
raj. In its wake, the British empire left india
partitioned into 2 states: the muslim pakistan, and
hindu India. This has resulted in decades-long
conflicts between the two, ranging from ideological
ones, to flat out genocide.

Knowing this, it is easy to find the source that

determines the trajectory of her works and how
personal the history of her country is to her.
China
Artists:
Zhao Mengfu
Zhao Mengfu
Date of Birth : 1254
Place of Birth : Wuxing, China

Following the fall of the Song dynasty and its college of

painting, Zhao Mengfu's works were some of the first to express
an interest in the themes and aesthetics of earlier painters.
Zhao Mengfu is most known for painting horses in the Tang era
(618-907) master Han Gan's style, but he was also a skilled
painter of other animal species, landscapes, and bamboos. By
using purposefully simple color and compositions, a schematic,
almost infantile representation of forms, and a small scale, he
often avoided the superficial beauty that is associated with the
ancient. He frequently uses a wide variety of brushstrokes in his
works.
Autumn Colors on the Que and Hua Mountains
1295, Zhao Mengfu
Form
The art itself is done in a traditional hand-scroll, the scroll's
design is balanced, with the rounded Mountain Que on the
left and the pointy Mountain Hua on the right.

The "hemp-fiber" texture strokes used to create the

mountains and shoals were then colored blue and green. The
leaves were dotted with ochre and scarlet, giving them a
distinctly autumnal appearance (and symbolizing the past).
The objects and motifs in this composition have plain, simple
shapes, and the archaic elements are abundant. One of Zhao
Mengfu's most well-known and well-preserved works, it has
Dong Yuan's (fl. first half of 10th century) brushwork and a
strong revivalist mood that permeates the entire picture.
Content
The painting's dispersed yellow and orange hues give the scene an
autumnal feel.
A closer look reveals hut-style settlements, willow and pine forests,
goat herds, and fisherman leading simple lives.

It inspires a feeling of serenity. The literati and scholar-amateur

painters did not prioritize faithful representation as their main goal.
Instead, Zhao's perception of Jinan was depicted in the painting in
appreciation of his friend's love for his ancestral home. It demonstrates
the inhabitants' simple way of life and the peace of the surroundings.

The prominent Mount Hua is represented by the sharp summit, while

Mount Que, which has a rounded shape, is to its east. The artist created
several diverse brushstrokes to depict the various mountains, some
using just the tip of the brush while others required him to hold the
brush upright with his hand in the handle's middle. The brush makes
some thin, long strokes and ragged, short ones. Some of these methods
can be linked back to the works of the 10th-century artist Dong Yuan,
who was active centuries earlier.
 Context
Autumn Colors on the Que and Hua Mountains is among Zhao's most significant works of art. The painting was created for Zhao's
close friend Zhou Mi, who was a painter and connoisseur whose ancestors originated in the northeastern Shandong Province, a
region Zhou had never visited. Zhao's inscription, which is written in the square-like regular script, states that Zhou was a
connoisseur and painter. Zhao, however, had visited Zhou's ancestral home as part of his official duties, and through his
painting, he was able to describe and share this experience with Zhou.

The Qianlong Emperor traveled by a picturesque area that resembled the artwork later in the Qing era. For his appreciation, the
Emperor requested that his representative deliver Zhao's painting from Beijing. He saw that the location of the two mountains in
Zhao's inscription was incorrect after looking at the painting. Another inscription by the Emperor read, "Mount Hua on the east,
Mount Que on the west”, According to art historian Peter Sturman, Zhao changed the topography of the scene in order to place
the viewer of the painting facing south rather than north, which he said indicated Mongolian control. Zhao's illustration closely
reflected the distinct forms of the distant mountains. However, the entire work was intended to be an impression from the
literati painter's mind rather than an accurate representation of the location.
 Liu Xiaodong
Date of Birth : November 17, 1963
Place of Birth : Jinzhou, China
Liu Xiaodong is renowned for his powerful
brushwork, precise figuration, and vibrant
colors. He paints spontaneously from
photographs of friends, family, and everyday
life. In order to provide the most accurate
depictions of his themes early in his career,
Liu focused on scenery and conventional
brushwork; nevertheless, he gradually
abandoned this technique in favor of limited
framing, unexpected perspectives, and the
use of color to amplify emotion.
Xuzi at Home
2010, Liu Xiaodong
Form
Color: The main colours used were;
orange, blue, and grey. The tonal
variation in this artwork can be
depicted as light and dark used by the
different strokes to create highlights
and shadows. The contrast can also
be seen lightly by the dark floor and
table against the bright walls and
home appliances. The coolness of the
room in the painting creates a very
homey harmony that represent Xuzi’s
the subject’s daily lives.
Form
Texture: As it was painted by Oil
paint, it may create some lumps
however, Liu managed to clear out
a smooth surface just as shown on
the broom on top of the water
gallon.
content
As the tittle of the artwork sounds, it
sure is a depiction of Xuzi at home going
through his daily life. Liu Xiaodong
mentioned in an interview that most of
his paintings are spontaneous or are
things that would include his friends and
family as themselves, to create contrast
between memory and reality. Xuzi, the
subject, is positioned sitting down
beside the dining table, unclothed as his
arm rest on the chair. His dining table
shows variations of home wares such as
the rice cooker, plates, bowls, teapots,
and possibly a lighter and a box of
cigarettes.
context
Liu Xiaodong implies that painting from
life is one of the privilege that an artist
can have. He is drawn to describe or
represent the societal classes or merely
the spontaneity of people’s lives. He
started of painting his friends, and it
can be seen throughout his career that
his paintings can be described as
“photography by paint” Before the
pandemic, especially during the early
2010’s Liu was working in Eisenerz and
eventually exhibited series of his work
the depicts the living classes of people.
 Japan
Artists:
Kawanabe Kyōsai
Chiharu Shiota
 Kawanabe Kyōsai
Date of Birth : 18 May 1831
Date of Death : 26 April 1889 (aged 57)
Place of Birth : Koga Ishimachi, Ibaraki
Prefecture, Japan

Kawanabe Kyōsai is a Japanese artist.

According to one critic, he was "an
individualist and an independent, perhaps the
ultimate virtuoso in traditional Japanese
painting". He created what is considered to be
the first manga magazine in 1874: Eshinbun
Nipponchi, with Kanagaki Robun.
Jigoku dayu (Hell Courtesan)

Kawanabe Kyōsai1874,
Meiji period (1868–1912)
Form
Jigoku dayu (Hell Courtesan) is a
print art using a 335 x 227 mm
color woodcut as its medium. This
print art was made by Kawanabe
Kyōsai in 1874, during the Meiji
period (1868–1912
 Content
Hell
Courtesan
This woman has vivid visions of
multiple skeletons playing,
dancing, drinking, and frolicking
about her while she raises her
head on one arm. However, she
is not affected by these visions
because she is the Hell
Courtesan, as shown by the
image of the King of Hell on the
lower section of her clothing.
Daruma
A vivid red robe covers the
majority of her body, implying
she is imitating the Buddhist
monk Daruma (in Sanskrit
Bodhidharma). Even though
Daruma isn't there in person, it's
usual to come across satirical
depictions of this holy figure
being bewitched by a stunning
courtesan. This convention gives
the impression that the Hell
Courtesan can seduce even the
holiest of people, suggesting
that she is impossible to refuse.
Context
The artist, Kyosai, was a
painter as well as a print
designer, and he frequently
represented weird, sardonic,
and comical situations in his
artwork. His vivid
imagination and boundless
ingenuity helped him achieve
fame both during and after
his lifetime.
This print is one of fifteen that
were created as part of a series
to symbolize the Meiji period
(1868-1912) in Japan, which was
a time when the country's
government and society
underwent substantial shifts.
An apprentice kneels with her
back exposed at the feet of the
red-clad woman, similarly
sleeping asleep and oblivious to
the dancing skeletons. On the
woman's head is an inscription
that reads, "A photograph of
her dreaming of playful
skeletons" (Gaikotsu no yuugi
wo yume ni miruzu).
The setting of the
composition is a graveyard,
with a hazy grey-blue
background that conveys an
ephemeral and otherworldly
topos. While the composition
evokes grotesque and
nightmarish apparitions, the
expressions of the people
and the joyousness of the
procession convey peace; a
heavenly aura in contrast to
the grisly environment.
 Chiharu Shiota
Year of Birth : 1972
Place of Birth : Osaka, Japan

Japanese installation and performance artist

Chiharu Shiota. Shiota received her education
in Japan, Australia, and Germany. To explore
ideas about the body and flesh and personal
narratives that engage with memory, territory,
and alienation, she weaves together
materiality and the psychic perception of
space.
Across The River
by Chiharu Shiota
Date 11 June 2022 – 15 January 2023
 Form
Shiota specializes in the use of thread—string or wool, typically in
viscous red and black, but occasionally in white—not as a clever
textural medium, but rather as a three-dimensional stand-in for
that most private of art forms, drawing.
According to what we could make out, Chiharu Shiota uses the red strings as a kind of
rain that falls onto the boat that we can make out to be a "skull," and then we can
make out the origami fluttering around the strings that emits a kind of wind that blows
through the artwork.
 Content
ACROSS THE RIVER, a The central themes of
brand-new site-specific human existence are
installation by Chiharu explored in Shiota's
Shiota, works,
alludes to the building's design as well as
the area around the State Gallery of Including memory and time,
Lower Austria. Shiota constructed a place and custom, and life and
dense web-like structure out of red yarn death. Her installations make us
and connected it to boats that are lying think about the ways in which
on the ground in the museum's light-
filled exhibition space on the ground
we are bound together by
floor. The boats are customary Zillen, unseen lines and the potential
which are common as Danube River for our thoughts and feelings to
transportation in Krems and the Wachau interact with one another.
region.
 Context
1. Chiharu Shiota has been weaving entire
universes out of string for the past 20 years.
This technique has become her go-to for
creating ethereal, melancholy, and poetic
large-scale environments that are dotted
with found objects like shoes, dresses, book
pages, suitcases, bed frames, windows, and
doors.
3. She needs her fear to continue creating art, so
the creative process is far from being
therapeutic for her. Her intention when she
creates is to link her inner and outer worlds
through the use of emotion. Through her art, she
is able to better understand herself, her feelings,
and the emotions of others, even complete
strangers.
2. When Shiota learned that her cancer had
returned after 12 years in remission, she was
profoundly made aware of her mortality and the
close connection between life and death. She
understood that this encounter with death had
given her courage, and she had turned the
agony that comes with life into something fresh
and inspiring.
4. She included common objects that each had a
history because they carried the imprint of human
life, speaking of modern migrations and navigating
a sea of emotions to reach an unknowable
destination. Even though their bodies weren't
present physically, one could still feel the presence
of these travelers. There was a presence in the
absence thanks to the energy of dreams and
memories.
Thank you
for listening!
 Daftar Pustaka:
Contemporary India:
Dalrymple, William, The Great Divide, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple
MAP ACADEMY, Reena Saini Kallat, https://mapacademy.io/article/reena-saini-kallat/
Roberts-Komireddi, Cleo, 10 Indian
Artists Who Are Shaping Contemporary https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-10-indian-artists-shaping-contemporary-art
Art

Ancient Japan:
Iconographic analysis of a Kawanabe https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/rjaps/39/01/39_59/_pdf/-char/en
Kyosai blockprint
Arts and Culture https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/jigoku-dayu-hell-courtesan-kawanabe-
ky%C5%8Dsai/XgH0_dGEitcmMw?hl=en

Across The River https://www.koeniggalerie.com/blogs/magazine/chiharu-shiota-across-the-river