Daoist Themes by Female Artists

Abstract

184 Daoist Themes by Female Artists1 PATRICIA EICHENBAUM KARETZKY This paper explores the art of contemporary Chinese women artists who use Daoist themes in their work. Their interest is not in religious Daoist institutions, texts, or practices. Rather, in the wake of the demise of Mao‑ ism, with the subsequent lack of spiritual focus in daily life, a threatened natural environment, rapid changes in the political and economic realms, and the adoption of Western models of capitalism and industrialization and the consequent problems of homelessness, lack of healthcare, and the rise in such vices as drugs, crime and prostitution, these women look back to the great spiritual traditions embodied in the Daoist classics of the Daode jing and Zhuangzi and the artistic traditions shaped by them. Thus their approach is more philosophical than religious, more general‑ ized than specific, and more holistic than particular. For this reason, I compare these artists’ work with the art that inspired them or with the artistic cultural heritage they drew on, consciously or not. Cui Xiuwen2 Cui Xiuwen lives and works in Beijing. She makes large­scale photo­ graphs of predominantly monochrome landscapes inhabited by a young model who resembles a schoolgirl in her demeanor, dress, and hairstyle. Holding a doll that is an exact replica of her, she braves the inclement weather of winter in the north of China (Fig. 1). The landscape looks like one from the Northern Song, notably Fisherman’s Evening Song by Xu 1 This paper was first delivered at the Seventh International Conference on Daoist Studies on Nanyue, Hunan, June 2011. 2 See www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist.../Cuixiu wen.php Karetzky, “Daoist Themes by Female Artists” / 185 Daoning in the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas (Fig. 2).3 Northern Song landscapes have long been associated with Daoist belief, especially in their monochrome expression of the forces of nature for as said in Daode jing 12, “The five colors blind the eye.” The small human inhabitants in the mist­covered mountains reflect the relationship of man living isolated from cities and social attachments as the ideal of Daoist reclusion—to live in harmony with nature. It is commonly held that these landscapes can also be read as a philosophical model of the dynamic dualism of yin and yang, with the eternal moun­ tain balanced against the yin elements of water, trees, and man. Some of the compositions are also a study of the seasons, like the portrait of the burgeoning forces of nature in Early Spring by Guo Xi dated 1072,4 or the somber dirge of autumn in Fisherman’s Song with its bare mountains, denuded forests, trees bare of foliage, and the chill of the fall wind whis­ tling on the river. Fig. 1 Cui Xiuwen, Existential Emptiness, 2010, C print 35” x 80” Fig. 1. Cui Xiuwen, Existential Emptiness, 2010, C print 35” x 80” Cui’s photos from the 2010 series Existential Emptiness are a study of win­ ter, and for several of the works she has adopted the long scroll composi­ tion, limited herself to a black and white palette and focused on the tex­ tures of the natural elements—rock, snow, and water. Her horizontal composition features the mountains, whose rocky surface is unrelieved by vegetation, an effect she achieved by manipulating the photograph with the Photoshop computer program. By enhancing the contrast, she 3 Xu Daoning, (970‑1052) Fishermenʹs Evening Song, ca. 1049, hand scroll, ink and slight color on silk, 19 inches x 7 feet 4 ¾ inches, in the Nelson Atkins Mu‑ seum Kansas City, Inv. no. 33‑1559. 4 Early Spring dated 1072 Northern Song dynasty (960–1127), hand scroll; ink and color on silk (1981.276), National Palace Museum, Taiwan. 186 / Journal of Daoist Studies 5 (2012) eradicated the details of the landscape and as a result it appears change­ less in the serene but blinding snow. The adamantine quality of the mountain is a foil for the fragility of man and his manmade comforts: the doll and model that occupy the foreground are almost indistinguishable from their environment. The two figures lie in the snow, separated by a distance. Disturbingly, they are not dressed for...