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ART & LITERATURE
EAST MEETS WEST
Atul Shah meets a new artist who
combines her western training to capture the spirit of worship at Palitana
WONDER WHAT INSPIRED JAINS TO BUILD THE TEMPLES OF Mount Abu or Ranakpur or Palitana? For their time, they Lmust have been major architectural and artistic breakthroughs. They were radical, innovative and no effort was spared in making them as beautiful and perfect as possible. Can you imagine the effort of carrying all the stones up the mountain at Palitana or Mount Abu without a truck or a crane?
We know for a fact that very few of the actual artists were born in Jain families
The sculptors were talented artists in their own right and commissioned by Jain patrons to practise their art by building beautiful temples. It seems that Jains always set very high standards and did not discriminate who worked for them, provided they delivered the desired quality. In those days, artists were revered and respected for their art and were paid well. Today, the story is different. We pay our stockbrokers instead.
In the 21st century, the question that always puzzles me is what has happened to this tremendous creative spirit we once had. How many new artistic innovations are we commissioning today? Are we simply repeating old designs and styles or are we setting new standards? Besides temple building, where else are we focusing our artistic resources? When we commission new buildings, how much attention do we pay to artistic design?
This article is an example of a new artist we have inherited. Riet Verheitt was born in Belgium and studied art of all types - among them oil painting, the Japanese art, Sume - and eventually did a course on quick sketching and watercolour in the spirit of Oscar Kokoschka, an Austrian painter. This technique requires the artist to observe particular moments and spontaneously capture the feel of the moment in a sketch. It is like a photograph, except that it is drawn by the artist and is a very personal impression of the moment. Initially, the sketches were all on white paper in charcoal or ink. Riet did not use any colour until she went to India.
The visit to India took Riet by surprise. She was bawled over by the hospitality of the people. The colours were striking and bold. She was surprised to see all the smiles; everyone looked so much happier than the people back at home in the West. The women and children were
RIET
34 Jain Spirit . June - August 2001 Jain Education International 2010_03
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