The Genesis Stories that Guide the Artist's Hand

"To understand how landscapes in art express our relationships to the land and how the concept of landscape is subject to the philosophical foundation from which it emerges, we need only look comparatively at the genesis stories that guide the artist's hand."

The author, through her unequivocal analysis of the difference in the portrayal of landscapes between Euro-American versus Indigenous arts, has piqued me to reflect on our own Vietnamese artists' traditional interpretation of the relationship between human and Nature.

Whereas Euro-American artists generally view the landscapes as mysterious, expansive, and conquerable, and Indigenous artists observe the interwoven and interdependent relationships between human and Nature, Vietnamese artists, though more closely aligned with their Indigenous counterparts, tend to portray a relationship of Divine protection from Nature to human.

If you look at most Vietnamese landscape paintings, there is usually one omnipotent, godlike presence clearly identified in the story.  This godly presence can be as obvious as majestic Dragons and Phoenixes flying above the land and water, or more subtle and symbolic like the overarching Sun  in the distant horizon, a hovering grove of lofty bamboo stalks rustling in the summer breeze, or the emerald green water and dragon-like jagged limestone formations of Hạ Long Bay. 

The people subjects in the paintings are often serenely going about their daily life, as if they are keenly aware of the invisible guardians, shielding them from harm. Thus, there is an implied submission from the people to Nature.

This relationship of reverence to Nature’s Providence can be traced back to an ancient fear that has soaked deeply into our DNA: the constant anxiety that our next foreign invaders are always ready to strike.

In fact, if you look back at the history of Vietnam since the first recorded pages of King Hùng Vương, there was very little breathing room bestowed upon us in between periods of foreign wars and colonization.  This anxiety breeds a perpetual sense of vigilance, which seeps into our folklores, arts, music, and traditions.

But just as much as our cultural heirlooms remind us of imminent threats from across the border and the sea, so too do they assure us of the promise of Divine protection. We are protected because we are the descendants of the Fairy Mother and Dragon Father, and that eternal promise never expires, regardless of whether the unwelcome intruders hail from the North or sail from the West.

And so circling back to the author’s original exposition: in order to understand a landscape artist’s interpretation of Nature through the eyes of humankind - whether as a conquest, an equal, or a deity - all one has to do is trace back to “the genesis stories that guide the artist's hand.”