Vidal Denis. (2018). Before The aura : an anthropological approach to the art and to the practice of drawing from an Indian perspective. Universitas : Monthly Review of Philosophy and Culture, 45 (11), p. 3-26. ISSN 1015-8383.
Titre du document
Before The aura : an anthropological approach to the art and to the practice of drawing from an Indian perspective
Universitas : Monthly Review of Philosophy and Culture, 2018,
45 (11), p. 3-26 ISSN 1015-8383
From the Renaissance to this day, drawings have been valued, in Western Europe especially, for two main reasons: firstly, they were considered the most revealing expression of the inner creativity, individual style and authentic craftsmanship of artists; secondly, they were considered the best possible medium for artistic ideas and ideals, nearly independently of the specific material in which they were concretely realised. But this is however a different approach to sketch and drawings to the one that I intend to present in this paper. I will follow two methodological steps. The first one is to focus less on the Western conception of drawings than on their use and meaning of drawings in the Indian tradition of arts and crafts. The second step will be to put the emphasis on an ecological analysis of drawing: that is a methodological approach in which the art of drawing is not isolated from the general context, practical use or its various specific mediums. Doing so enables me to address three dimensions of sketching and drawing which have rarely been given a sufficient importance at a theoretical level, in India or elsewhere: the first is that to understand the use and meaning of sketching and drawing, one should begin by studying the concrete ways they are used: not for creating new designs or new styles of art but for transferring ever existing designs from one medium to another, from an existing work of art or craft to another one. The second is that it is only by studying such process that one may understand how artistic styles develop or perpetuate themselves. Finally, that one should acknowledge the fact that more often than not, it is at this stage du that innovations creep in, intentionally or not.
