Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Chinese Books - Dotting the Eyes on A Painted Dragon

http://www.chinesecultureonline.com/d:BA:Tradition-History/473.html

I picked up this book a few years back at an old book store. This story and its illustrations have filled my imagination since then. There are three stories in the book. This particular story of the dragons explores the role of the artist in infusing life into works of art. What is the essence of any painting? Why do we relate to strokes, forms, eyes and the whims of diverse characters. This book brings out many subtle emotions within the artist and the observer as the artist paints the marvellous dragons and slowly begins to dot the eyes on them.

Very similar to the Indian concept of UNMILANA - (the final step in the creation of Gods and Goddesses by painting their eyes and infusing life into their form), Dotting the eyes on a painted dragon takes us through the pain and passion of the artist and the contrast between the life and lifelessness of a painted work.

The illustrations capture the subtleties and moods and unusual perspectives bring alive the intensity of the story. The text is by Cang Yangqing and the illustrations are by Lu Fusheng.

1 Comments:

At 9:42 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

"Unmilana" Nice book to read. wherein in my collection I have a lot of Amar Chitra Katha books. from childhood I am reading the stories. I recommend to read Mahabharata from http://www.amarchitrakatha.com/in/

 

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