The question of landscape

A standout of the Princeton University Art Museum's latest exhibit, The Question of Landscape, is a hanging scroll titled "Listening to the Waterfall" (1660), by Zhang Feng. It depicts a solitary figure sitting on a rock ledge above flowing water, where lofty trees rise across the ravine. A poem that evokes the rushing water and the call of a yellow bird that pierces the gray mist accompanies the scroll.

This piece, along with about 30 other pieces from the museum's own collection, is part of curators Cary Liu '78 GS '80 GS '97 (Asian Art) and Laura Giles' (prints and drawings) first step in a larger project to determine what it means to describe something as a landscape and to trace the early beginnings of the term "landscape" all the way to the contemporary.

"You look at this as one image ... then you read the inscription and all of a sudden sound has activated the painting. Now you are looking for the bird that made the cry - I've spent hours searching for that bird," said Mr. Liu. The power of this piece comes from its ability to merge sight and sound - an unusual concept for a painted scroll and one that makes the piece exceptional.

Also worth noting is the contemporary piece, "Landscript" (2002), by Xu Bing. Bing composes the elements of his landscape using the Chinese characters that correspond to the land element they represent. For example, he uses the Chinese character for grass to represent grass, stone for stones, and so on. Thus, Bing creates a work of art that overtly raises questions about what it means to represent a landscape - questions that are inherent in all the pieces in the exhibit. Bing's work is also interesting because he literally combines painting and calligraphy - two of the three art forms (poetry being the third) that are very closely related in scholarly Chinese landscape painting.

Though not a major component, the left wall of the exhibit showcases several Western landscapes that are meant to provide contrast to their Eastern counterparts. For example, the pagoda tops of Zhang Hong's "Landscape Album of Ten Leaves" (1625) are echoed in the works of two Dutch artists - Jan van Goyen and Pieter Molyn. This combination of works reinforces the idea that this exhibit is not just about Eastern landscapes, but also is meant to raise questions about what it means to depict a landscape in general.

And indeed, there are many questions one could ask of these works. Does a landscape only represent the physical world as seen or can it go beyond and represent the energy of the land too? Is there a difference between the approaches of Eastern and Western artists? Moreover, what does it mean to our understanding of landscape that man must dictate any depiction of the natural?

The Question of Landscape may not provide any answers, but, as its title suggests, it does not promise to. Instead, these questions are more than enough to hold a viewer's interest - especially since they are provoked by some very beautiful pieces.

Pros: Raises interesting questions about the genre of landscape and is a must see for Asian art enthusiasts.