Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c77.264

v2.c77.264

“As the painting of the West is an art of ‘mass’, so that of the East is an art of ‘line’. The western artist conceives his composition in contiguous planes of light and shade and colour. He obtains his effect by ‘play of surface’ by the blending of one form into another, so that decision gives place to suggestion. In Occidental painting there is an absence of definite circumscribing lines, any demarcation being felt rather than seen. On the other hand, much of the beauty of Oriental painting lies in the interpretation of form by means of a clear-cut definition, regular and decided; in other words, the Eastern painter expresses form through a convention—the convention of pure line—and in the manipulation and the quality of this line the Oriental artist is supreme. Western painting, like western music, is communal, it is produced with the intention of giving pleasure to a number of people gathered together. Indian painting, with the important exception of the Buddhist frescoes, is individual—miniature painting that can only be enjoyed by one or two persons at a time. In its music, in its painting, and even in its religious ritual, India is largely individualistic.”—Brown.