Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c46.29

c46.29

One of the symptoms of the indigenous trend in the building art of Java is noticeable in the plastic designs which decorate these later structures, where a grotesque treatment of the human figure gradually began to insinuate itself. This represents the influence of the *Wyang* or "Shadow Show" movement, a phase of Hinduism-cum-entertainment of a theatrical nature The Wyang phenomenon appears to have captured the imagination of the Javanese in a most remarkable manner, so much so that not only their art became intensely stylised but their figure compositions in a sense are replicas of the people themselves, who seem to have cultivated deliberately a stiff and emphatic form of pose and progression, as if the Wyang figures had come to life. At this stage therefore the sculptures on the buildings show that the art as a whole was losing its pronounced classical ideal, which gave such a distinguished and dignified quality to the productions of the Mid-Java development, and on the other hand was assuming a character, which although it may have a certain attraction, tends towards a formalized method of expression, and particularly a somewhat distorted, if not fantastic interpretation of the human form.