Page 66 - AI WEIWEI CAHIERS D ART

These paintings, which form part of the collection of Baron Kawasaki, are reproduced in the catalogue that appeared a few years ago. I don’t believe they have since been published elsewhere. Through these images, never before published
in Europe, readers of our Cahiers will be able to refresh their view on Japanese taste for the art of ancient China.
On the side of the moun-
tain that overlooks the
port of Kobe, rise the ter-
raced gardens and houses
of the opulent Kawasaki
home. Set slightly apart
from the other buildings,
a small pavilion is home
to the collection. Accor-
ding to the custom of the
country, it stands isolated
from the places of habi-
tation and is protected
against the dangers of fire
and the adverse effects
of the climate. Normally
stored in their boxes and
silk cloths, the artifacts
it contains are on occa-
sion displayed in what is
really a private museum,
installed at the entrance
to the park. This museum
is open to the public. But
it is only accessible for
a period of a few weeks
and when the season
allows for these fragile
works to leave their pro-
tective sanctuary without
concern over their expo-
sure to moisture. When
the owner wishes to honor his visitors with his pain- tings, he presents them in his own home: one by one they are unfurled, and then hung against the bare wall of wood with its squares of paper – delicate covering
1. The album: Clô-shum-kaku Kan-shô.
and the diffuse light suits them better than any frame, better than the over-ornate décor common to Chinese houses.
The works that we reproduce here date from the Song
and Yuan dynasties, which reigned in China from the tenth to the fourteenth century, when art became subtler and more refined than in earlier epochs. One of the trends, which vividly announces itself, concerns the search for the most understated means of expression. Just a few traits, a few nuances can be sufficient to produce a masterpiece. Some artists even argue that the value of a pain- ting is inversely related to the time expended on its execution. Those pu- blished in this Cahiers emerge from a number of schools; each the fruit of a different craft, and while the figures of Sakyamuni and Mañjus’ri are slight- ly tinted, the remaining images are monochromes painted in ink. But all tes- tify to the same tendency; all speak of the same in- clination towards spiri- tuality; all belong to an art which suggests more than it states, and which, far from representing the universe in its mate- rial reality, precise and colored, retains only the
CHINESE PAINTINGS
Tchang-Fang-jou, Buffle broutant une feuille.
essential lines and through them, ushers us into the
world of thought.
Assistant curator at the Louvre
Georges Salles
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