The first exhibition of its kind in Europe, “La Voie du Tao, un autre chemin de l’être,” showing at the Grand Palais, is an attempt to visualize Taoism, the mix of philosophy, religion and popular superstition that has influenced life in China for more than two millennia.
Though many in the West may have a bare understanding of Taoism and its obtuse precepts, most are unaware of the rich visual history involved with what is often misunderstood as an esoteric demi-religion. Curated by Catherine Delacour, chief curator at the Musée National des Arts Asiatiques Guimet, Paris, the exhibition explores an abundant and remarkably diverse selection of objects associated with Taoism and its fascinating history.
Including some 250 works, the exhibition is comprised of scroll paintings, sculptures in ceramic, bronze and wood, textiles and ritual objects. Most of the pieces in the exhibition have come from the Musée Guimet in Paris, one of the world’s richest collections of Asian art, while numerous other pieces are on loan from Taiwanese, European and U.S. museums.
Designed to allow the viewer to explore the philosophical, poetic, religious and scientific approaches of Taoism, the organizers have opted for a thematic approach to the exhibition and it’s layout.
The first part of the exhibition introduces the viewer to the cosmologies involved in Taoism, including a pantheon of 28 Divinities of the Celestial House, the Regents of the 11 Lights and other examples of a small club of born gods, venerated as patrons of various constituencies and appearing with their myriad insignia or ascribed talismans.
Examples of these deities are shown in both two and three-dimensional forms, the most outstanding of which are illustrated in a richly elaborate yet delicately decorated series of scroll paintings.
“Les régents des Onze luminaires : le soleil, la lune et les Cinq planètes” Ming dynasty, Jingtai period, 1454. Vertical scroll, ink on silk, height 141 x 80 cm each. Musée des Arts Asiatiques Guimet, Paris. © Rmn / Thierry Ollivier.
The second part introduces Laozi, a sage of the 6th century BC who was purportedly a record keeper of the Zhou Dynasty court in China, and who had a vision of spiritual reality and yearned to share it with others.
Traditionally held to have written the Tao Te Ching, the key philosophical text of Taoism, there are both scroll paintings and sculpture to be found representing this humble wise man, usually being transported by oxen. These texts ascribed to Laozi expound upon the universal and eternal principles of the Tao that form and condition everything in the seen and unseen world. Intangible and cosmic, the Tao of which Laozi writes influences and harmonizes all things and brings them to fruition, in addition to setting the norms and standards of truth and morality; hence setting forth the main tenets of the Tao.
“Laozi sur le buffle,” Zhang Lu (v.1490 – v.1563), Ming dynasty.Vertical scroll, ink on paper, height 101,5 x 55,3 cm. © The National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.
Numerous examples of early statuary present in this second portion of the exhibition resemble what viewers might commonly associate with Buddhist sculpture, and are significantly labeled “Buddho-Taoïste”. The seated figures, perched upon opening lotus flowers, halos to be found behind the figures heads, the hands signing specific mudra, are significant in that they signal Taoism’s strong influence on other religions during that era, most significantly Chan Buddhism of China and later Zen Buddhism of Japan.
Further delving into Taoist iconography, the two following sections cover Xiwangmu or “The Immortals” and the Assembly of the Gods. Depicted in a broad variety of media including delicately worked pieces in porcelain, bronze statuary and ritual objects, prints made from roughly hewn stone and numerous other two-dimensional works, it is obvious that from even the early days dating back to the 3rd century BC there existed a fervent cult of worship of these Taoist luminaries, whether they be real or imagined.
Stories abound, being illustrated on vases and painting, as well as sculptural examples of the iconic objects that were to be used in the elixir that granted immortality – the peach, the mushroom and the toad. These Immortals and Gods are of course closely associated with the initial cosmologies that the viewer encounters in the exhibition, creating a broad pantheon in both Earthly and Celestial realms.
Flowing smoothly into the next stage of the exhibition, Taoist ideas of the quest for a long life are encountered. Though the Immortals perhaps had acolytes creating elixirs for their longevity, it would seem that the teeming masses were prescribed series of gymnastic exercises, specific dietary regimes and disciplined techniques used for respiration.
Extensive collections of diagrams of specific plants used in an ancient pharmacology are on view, bound in book form, as are a series of mysterious diagrams explaining points of the body that would seemingly be for acupuncture or acupressure. Other more esoteric diagrams include star charts combined with figures found within landscapes surrounded by floral motifs and Chinese script – accordingly merging the Cosmos, the Earth, society, and an explanation of “the good life” and how to live it.
“Reconstitution des images peintes d’après les relevés” extracted from « A propos du Daoyin tu de la soie inscrite de la tombe Han de Mawangdui », Pékin, Wenwu chubanshe chuban, 1979.
Original color photgraph on silk, 60 x 108 cm original, 51 x 133 cm. Musée des Arts Asiatiques Guimet, Paris, © Rmn.
The sixth and final portion of the exhibition concerns Taoist rites and liturgy. Here one finds funerary sculpture, ceremonial swords, clerical robes, amulets and incense burners. Perhaps the most enlightening portion of this display is a video presentation of a contemporary Taoist ceremony.
Filmed in 2002, the viewer encounters a number of Taoist priests fulfilling the necessary acts of a ritual in which the eyes of a Taoist statue, presumably a deity, are opened so that the sculpture will become animated and conceivably exert its power. These rites involve music and particular procedures, and a further wall text explains that other liturgical ceremonies involve dance and chanting as well. Sumptuous in its visual presentation, the ceremony puts into a compact context the entirety of what one has seen in the previous portions of this finely tuned exhibition.
Brûle-parfum tripode, Qing dynasty, XVIIIe century. Copper and enamel partitioning, height 42 cm, diameter 36 cm. Musée des Arts Asiatiques Guimet, Paris © Rmn / Thierry Ollivier
In the words of Laozi, “…the Tao that can be understood cannot be the “Primal” or “Cosmic” Tao, just as an idea that can be expressed in words cannot be the infinite idea.” That said, the expression given in many of the objects on view do certainly enlighten the Western eye and mind to what the Chinese ancients were engaged in.
When translated with greater understanding today, Taoist doctrine encompasses much of what Western scientific and philosophical thought has become. Fortuitously, many of these expressions are on view until the 5th of July. Have a look – you won’t regret it.
La Voie du Tao, un autre chemin de l’être at the Galeries nationales, Grand Palais
3, avenue du Général Eisenhower
75008 Paris
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This article was contributed by guest writer, Thomas Rugani, a private dealer of art and design presently residing in Paris.
