[02 EBHR 18

[02 EBHR 18

castes, and although they work as painters, have a high position in society.

AJthough,

the

catalogue contains several examples of painting manuals (p.16), the Introduction _provides linle or no infonnation on such sketchbooks, or on the texts used by painters. such as

manuals and guidelines.

It

would also have been helpful

if this section had

includ ed some

infomtation on the substance of the colours and materials used.

W hile the stylistic overview ofthe paintings provides va

luable general infonn31ion

on Lhe

collection, the opportunity to provide a bold summary and interpretation of Newar paint-

ing has not been laken . Kreijger stresses that Newar paintings are noticeably different in

style from both the Indian and Tibetan paiJlling traditions, but makes Iinle attempt to identify these differences and to delineate clearly Ule distinctive features of Ne war paint-

ing and tbeir development over time. While certain typical Newar characteristics such as

representations of a deity's vehicle in pairs (p.42) are pointed out in the catalogue text,

more general t endencies could have been outlined to prepare the reader at the beginning of

the book. The final section of the Introduction provides a useful commentary on Nepa- lese religious practice, though there are several passages where useful information has been omitted, such as the identitication of the "holy lake where devotees ofShiva bathe"

(p.21) as Gosainkund. In addition, the use of broad generalizations occasionally obscures

whether a statement refers to specific items in the collection or t o the whole genre of Newar painting.

In its totality, this well illustrated and documented catalogue of the previously unpub-

lished Jucker collection provides an extremely va luable and detailed contriburion t o the study ofNcwar painting between the 13

¹¹¹

and 20

¹¹¹

centuries. Kreijger sets out to remedy

the lack of material available on the arts of the Kathmandu Valley, to provide a study

which is of intere st and an aid to all students of Nepalese art, and wh.ich serves as an introductory text on the subject. His enthusiasm for the subj ect will inspire readers both familiar and unfamiliar with the Newar painting t rad iti on.

Earth . Door . Sky . Door: Paintings of Mustang by Robert Powell with an introduction by Roberto Vitali. London : Serindia Publications, 1999 . 108 pp., col. ill., maps. ISBN 0906026539.

Reviewed by Clare Harris

In 1992 .he Nepalese government allowed a partial opening of the restricted area ofMus-

lang, a decision which enabled a number of Himalayas and Tibet specialists to begin research projects in the region. Among them was the Australian artist Robert Powell. He

joined a team of historians, architects and photographers (led by Niels Gutschow) who

ai m ed to study and document the archit ecture of Mustang. Gutschow made an inspired cboice when selecting his co lleagues for this project, the results of which can be appreci-

Reviews ^[03

ated in

Earth. Door.

S'y.

Door.

Although this publication reproduces works displayed by

P oweU at the Arthur M.Sa ckler Gallery, Washingt on

D.e., it

is not merely an exhibition catal ogue. The combin ation of PoweWs images and the text by fellow team member and Tibelol.ogist Roberto Vit ali m ake this an extreme

ly useful contribution to our knowledge

of Him alayan ar chitecture in a particularly interesting location.

As a cleft in the Himalayan ranges, lhe Kali Gandaki valley has been traversed by those

wishing

10

venture from the Tibetan plateau to the plains of lndia and vice versa for per- haps three millenn ia. Mustang, in the upper r eaches of thi s valley, is therefor e a place where ar chitecture displays a convergence of

Tibetan and South Asian influences.

P owell's paiOlings provide ample evidence of this and allow us to observe that, for example, the supersl'cuctures of Mustang homes bear close resemblance t o those of Central Tibet and Western Tibet, though window fittings are in some cases carved in the sty le of the Kathm andu valley . However, the style

of the

Mustang built environment nol only r e fl ects a degree of hybridity but asserts some distinctive local variatioD, particularly in the use of

vivid colours for exterior wall painting. Even the Sakyapa architecture of Tibet pales in comparison to the drama of the vertical bands of pigment used in Mustang.

Many

of the

images in

Earth. Door. Sky. Door

are executed with a r eal ism and accuracy that makes them inva luable to the student of Himalayan architecture. In fact this is a case where the painter h as eclipsed the photographer, as Powell incl udes a cross-section of a cave temple, illustrations of a set of stupas, and an interior which cannot be recorded b y the camera. Vitali 's captions and introduction provide hi st oric, technical and ethnographic

detail which is not available elsewhcre:and ensurc that thc book is undcrpinned by sound

scholarship. However, I suspect that the atmosphere of P owelJ's images will attract other

readers beside Tibetologists. Many of his paintings move beyond the purely descriptive,

vergin g instead towards the surreal and the abstract.

An

image such as 'H ouse at Tsarang' takes some of the basic ingredients of Tibetan architectur e-white paint ed mud wall, a doorway with black

'homed'

architrave, and a thick layer of firewood stored on a flat

roof-and transposes .hem by close cropped framing into a Rothko-like modernist work.

When Powell paints yak horns impaled in mud at Drakmar (in a style reminiscent of working drawings by the sculptor Anish Kapoor) they inspire him to create an imagined 'yak horn device', an object that looks like a cross between a torpedo and the crown of an

obsc u.re potentate. Thus Powell metamorphoses the local meaning of yak ham, where it

functions as a protective votive to the earth spirits, into an icon from a m or e personal

cosmology. Hence I agree with Vitali when he remarks that POlVell should not be com-

par ed

¹⁰

the Orientalist painters

of the

monuments ofSomh Asia who "pai nted an invis-

ible barrier separating their easel fr om the world around them" (p. ll ). PoweW s sensibil-

.ty is so thoroughly engaged with his subject that his paintings become what Giuseppe Tucd~

the founder of Tibemn art scholarship. would call

'psycho-cosmograms·.

Since

Tucci used Lhis Jungian tenninology to r efe r t o th e Tibetan mandala, the comparison is, I

think apt, for Powell has clearly used his eye and brush to try to see beyond the physical

appearance

of Mustang

in an attempt t o capture something ori ts essence. To my mind this

104 EBHR 18

inevitably also reveals something of the mentality of the observer-in this case an Aus- tralian who has travelled extensively in the Himalayas as part oran emotional intellectual commitmenllo the cultures ofTi~lan Buddhism, and who clearly shares the lale twenti·

eth century view that the region can effect what Vitali calls a 'metaphysical transforma- tion' in the visitor. Hence for me there is some tcnsion in these images, for Powell's aesthcticisation of the material culture of Mustang is so ravishing Ihat

it

can surely only inspire many others to be31 the same p31h and 10 knock on the 'earth door sky door' of Mustang. It is only in this sense that PoweU's paintings are similar to the engravings and aquatims of the Orientalists: they

will

drive the imagination of others and catapult them towards making the 'Grand Tour' of the I-limalayas.

Wc." -lim f.1IIIIboN

PropaaIs for arIicIea shouIcI in the lint i-.:e be

Rat

10 the lead editor, Micbael HUll.

AD articlellUbmitled .... aabject 10.

process

of pew review.

PIeae _

author-year c:itationt in JIU""*

^{I ••}

^{wiIbin the}

^ICIXt,

^{r-... wbae-.y,}

and incluclo.1UII bibJiosnphy. This ill often caJIed the 'Harvad' formal ID the body of

your text!

11

bu " - CODCIualwIy ... 1IraIed (Sakya 1987) in apite of objecIIonI (Miller 1988:

132-9) 'hat tile 0Itricb

is

rare in Nepal.

ID tile

bibliapaphy:

SakyI,

OD. 1987.

",.".r-

o..trlcAa:

if

trlYitJllftYIIt. Kodmw.dg· Manil'l1ltakBbadar.

Miller,

MD.D.

1988.

'A

COIIIpIdIenIIw oeIluttal ofO. Sakya' XalUull 6(2): 121-83.

We welcome ia/imntIfon 011""'-;'18

coafeIeaceI

aad pubUcatioIII. For adveotiaina

_ pleae

COIIIIICt

Ibc editDn.

For_ detlt1ed IrdbtIDlliw 011 ftIaDaI,..,.uin&

^{foma, 111:.,}

pi .... c:onsuIt Ibe web poae

<btIp:l/dlldal.ariad

_.aklebhP.

AddIMI forl*DF cl, de

nlnI_, lID.

BBHR.

do MiclJael Hutt SOAS

Thomaugh

SIIeet

RuaaeU Square London WCIOXG Great Britain

emaiJ:

mb~8.ac.uk

Tel: +44 (0)171323 6240 Fax: +44 (0) 171 436 2664

E.HR.

SOAS

London

Con..., NatiOlllle de

la

Recbercbe Scientifique

PariI

EBHlt18

Below

!be Sarf_ or Private PJupwty: JadIvIduaI rf&bIa, co

^{! 'G . .} opal)

ad

!be H1phlD /dptIt .,....ID biIIorlcali*apecti ...

WemerM. EgIi

MuIIlm MobIItI.UIoD ad !be State ID Nep.I, 1!1S1-95.

MoUIca Da8tider

IIthaic Cal . . . . aad 'l1IeIr u...,.ID ByaM,.'" I"" NepeI.

KatauoNawa

011 !be Call1p1aily or ^{Oml 'hdIIioa: A nplylo CIau RIIK ZoDerII} rm.w.ay

'Oral EpIc IbetIy la !be c.mJ HlmaIaya

JobnLea~

SPitiNG 2000