STILL LIFE : Secessionist Movement and my impressions...

This Still life is about my recent visit to Vienna and enjoying some time with the creations of famous artists of early 20^th Century, specially the artists of Secessionist Movement. Below you will see what I found interesting and some of the paintings that touched me deeply. Vienna is famous for its many creative genius,  famous museums like Belvedere Museums, Leopold Museum etc. I hope you will enjoy the journey with my stills and little bit of information that I have provided here....

VIENNA - The city of creativity

Gustav Klimt the first president of the Secession wrote that it was ‘necessary for the Viennese are world to develop a more lively relationship with the progressive development of art abroad and to conceive exhibitions purely on artisitic merit, independent of market forces’. In the first ten years, it was thanks to the effort of the secession that contemporary European art could be seen in Vienna.

Joseph Maria Ofbrich: The secession building 

shortly before its completion 1898

The secession building: The intention was to exhibit art work by this group of artists in a building that was in keeping with the latest international trends instead of abiding by historical models. The initial reaction to Joseph Maria Olbrich’s building – ranging from ‘a cross between a blast furnace and a glace house’ and an ‘assyrian restroom’ to the grave of Mahdi’ – are an indication of just how exotic this novel concept of art was to the people of Vienna in 1898. 

The Secessionist Building as it is today

“To each age its art – to art its freedom” was the motto of Secessionists.

This has been written on the main entrance to the building

Yet the secession’s art temple – together with elaborately designed Secessionist’s Magazine ‘Ver Sacrum’ Sacred spring – was also to offer asylum and act as a ‘refuge from the turmoil and hardships of modern life where one can pause for a moment and have a contemplative dialogue with one’s soul’ as it was written. 

Gustav Klimt, the first president of Secession, spoke after year of silence on the controversy that his Faculty paintings (which he was commissioned to do in 1895) to adorn the great hall of the University of Vienna created. In 1905, he said, ‘ I want to free myself. I want my freedom back from all these unedifying and ridiculous matters which only keep me from my work. I want to stand up against the cavalier way artistic matters are dealt with by the Ministry of education in the Austrian state. Every opportunity is taken to discourage real art and real artists. Only the weak and the false get sponsored. We need a clearly defined separation. The state has no right to act like a patron of the arts when its hand-outs are paltry, nor does it have the right to act as intermediary and commercial factor; otherwise it is to leave all matters concerning artistic initiatives completely to the artists. The civil servants have no business in the art school...” Klimt words are as timely as ever... 

Now lets move on to some paintings that I enjoyed being with.. in Vienna.

The Cardinal and Nun - Egon Schiele c. 1912

The painting of the cardinal and the nun, also entitled by Egon Schiele – Not without sarcasm – as “tenderness” is a paraphrase of Klimt’s painting “the Kiss”, (Posted below) however the effect is a completely different one, Art Nouveau turned Expressionism. Schiele, provocatively breaks through moral confines and in a tight formal structure captures a stirring subject, the carnal primal instinct outside of all conventions and restrictions.

Egon Schiele (June 12, 1890 – October 31, 1918) was an Austrian painter. A protégé of Gustav Klimt, Schiele was a major figurative painter of the early 20th century. His work is noted for its intensity, and the many self-portraits the artist produced. The twisted body shapes and the expressive line that characterize Schiele's paintings and drawings mark the artist as an early exponent of Expressionism.

The Kiss - Gustav Klimt c. 1907

The Kiss (original Der Kuss) was painted by Gustav Klimt, and is probably his most famous work. He began work on it in 1907 and it is the highpoint of his so-called 'Golden Period'. It depicts a couple, in various shades of gold and symbols, sharing a kiss against a bronze background. In The Kiss, Klimt depicted a couple locked in an embrace. The rest of the painting dissolves into shimmering, extravagant flat patterning. This patterning has clear ties to Art Nouveau and to the Arts and Crafts movement and also evokes the conflict between two- and three-dimensionality intrinsic to the work of Degas and other modernists. Paintings such as The Kiss were visual manifestations of fin-de-siecle spirit because they capture a decadence conveyed by opulent and sensuous images.

Blind Mother - Egon Schiele

"The blind mother" painting by Egon Schiele is placed in front of slightly tilted wooden cradle, in an exceedingly uncomfortable position, a mother nurses her two children. This position was inspired by Rodin’s bronze figure ‘Crouching woman’ from 1880/82. This image symbolizes the hopeless fate of a blind mother.

Adele Bloch-Bauer - Klimt c. 1907

Klimt's paintings have brought some of the highest prices recorded for individual works of art. In November 2003, Klimt's Landhaus am Attersee sold for $ 29,128,000, but that was soon eclipsed by prices paid for other Klimts. In 2006, the 1907 portrait, Adele Bloch-Bauer I, was purchased for the Neue Galerie New York by Ronald Lauder for a reported US $135 million, surpassing Picasso's 1905 Boy With a Pipe (sold May 5, 2004 for $104 million), as the highest reported price ever paid for a painting.

Lovers - Koloman Moser

Koloman Moser (March 30, 1868 – October 18, 1918) was an Austrian artist who exerted considerable influence on twentieth-century graphic art and one of the foremost artists of the Vienna Secession movement and a co-founder of Wiener Werkstätte.


MY IMPRESSIONS...

Now I leave you with some of the paintings that I loved during my roaming around the museums... as well as some of my impressions of the atmosphere there....If you like to have further information on the paintings, let me know...

Couple in the fields
Richard Gerstl 1883 – 1908

Elf at the Brook
Joseph Maria Auchentaller (1865 – 1949)

Two Children on the Beach c. 1904
Edvard Munch 1863 – 1944

High Valley in Upper Styria c. 1924
Ludwig Ferdinand Graff 1868 1932

Indian fairy tale 1907
Rudolf Kalvach (1883 -1932)

Woman with a fan 1910
Marie Vassilieff 1884 – 1957

An interesting image
How real life reflects the painting

Female Cellist of Gustav Hessing
And The girl with bag

Between the Acrobat and Lovers
The girl in golden hair

The sign at the Leopold Museum Souvenir Shop says it all...

Hope you all have enjoyed the journey....
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ॐ नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya

READER : Paul Brunton - The man who brought the best to the west: The Secret Path

The Secret Path - Paul Brunton

One of the very interesting books, I read from yester years is "The Secret Path" by Paul Brunton (October 21, 1898 - July 2, 1981) who was a British philosopher, mystic, traveler, and guru and the book I am discussing here was first published in 1934. It’s an interesting book which gives a simple path of attaining many powerful things through the power of Meditations.

If Brunton can not be credited with introducing Yoga to the West because of the existence of other previous luminaries such as Blavatsky, Vivekananda and Yogananda, at least he holds a preeminent position in bringing to the West the best the Orient has to offer: the doctrine of Mentalism. No other writer but Brunton has declared Mentalism to be the esoteric doctrine of the Orient. Brunton is also the only writer to differentiate Oriental Mentalism from Berkeley's.

As the theory of relativity, according to Einstein, brings space and time together so does mentalism unite spirit and matter; this phenomenon is explained by Brunton as being inherent in imagination.

Paul Brunton expounds the doctrine of mentalism in his magnum opus, first in part one which is introductory and preparatory titled The Hidden Teachings Beyond Yoga and last but not least in a revelatory work named The Wisdom of the Overself. According to Joscelyn Godwin, "...Since discovering Brunton's work in the 1960's I have found no reason to discard their philosophical principles."

So here it is for the readers to see for themselves if it leads to Nirvana or an empty High.

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Image and text curtsy: Wikipedia - Click here to read more...

INTRO

Paul Brunton (October 21, 1898 - July 2, 1981) was a British philosopher, mystic, traveller, and guru. He left a journalistic career to live among yogis, mystics, and holy men, and studied Eastern and Western esoteric teachings. Dedicating his life to an inward and spiritual quest, Brunton felt charged to communicate his experiences about what he learned in the east to others. His works had a major influence on the spread of Eastern mysticism to the West. Taking pains to express his thoughts in layperson's terms, Brunton was able to present what he learned from the Orient and from ancient tradition as a living wisdom. His writings express his view that meditation and the inward quest are not exclusively for monks and hermits, but will also support those living normal, active lives in the Western world.

He served in First World War, and later devoted himself to mysticism and came into contact with Theosophists. In the early 1930s, Brunton embarked on a voyage to India, which brought him into contact with such luminaries as Meher Baba, Sri Shankaracharya of Kancheepuram and Sri Ramana Maharshi. Brunton's first visit to Sri Ramanasramam R. took place in 1931. 

Brunton has been credited with introducing Ramana Maharshi to the West through his books "A Search in Secret India" and "The Secret Path".

The following thoughts that I have had got me thinking from the book which I thought will be good to share with my friends….

_________________

“The Secret Path”

Paul Brunton

• Kant said “there were two outstanding wonders of God’s creation. The starry heaven above and the mind of man within.

• The solar system turns without thine aid, Live, Die! The universe is not afraid. - By Zangwill 

• Why is that the thing which interests every man most is – himself? 

Because self is the only reality of which we are certain. All facts of the world around us and all thoughts in the world within us exist for us only when our own self becomes aware of them. Self see the earth and the earth exists. Self is conscious of an idea and the idea exists. (Thoughts of Descartes)

• Berkeley, by the process of acute thinking arrived at the same position. He showed that the material world would be non-existent apart from some mind to conceive it,

• Self is the ultimate – the first things we know as babies; it will be the last thing we shall know as sages.

• First seers, watching the wanderings of thought within their own minds, discovered that there was something which came into action when thinking momentarily stopped. That something was the first faint intimation of the soul

• Eckhart – God is centre of the man

• Thomas A Edison – The hours that I have spent with Mr. Edison have brought me the real big returns of my life; to it I attribute all I have accomplished.

• The morning thinking (meditation) creates a current of spiritual wisdom and strength which will flow beneath the whole of the day’s activities and thoughts. Those who think it folly to attend to our spiritual attitude before we have attended our worldly concerns put second things first and first things second.

• Meditation will produce most results by being regular every day, rather than in fits and starts, because its something that gradually soaks in by repeated. Daily effort.

• The next point to observe is that certain physiological and psychological conditions are advisable if success to be attained with les difficulty. An easy body posture put the mind at ease. A body in discomfort tends to make the mind uneasy.

• There is mysterious quality in twilight which links it with the great spiritual currents that nature releases in regular rhythm.

• Thought control is hard to attain. Its difficulty will astonish you. The brain will rise in mutiny. Like the sea the human mind is ceaselessly active. But it can be done.

• The senses fight and try to cling on to the material world as it’s the nature of senses to be attached to the physical world. The power to hold on to a train of thought with great tenacity, to grasp it with scorpion-ic claws and not let go, is the power to concentrate and makes MEN. Masters of thought are true masters of Men.

• When the moral weakness and emotional unbalances are conjoined with mystical practices, the result is not elevation of mind into spirituality but degeneration of mind into mediumship. The practice of meditation without the cultivation of ethical and intellectual safe guards can lead to self deception, inflated egoism, hallucination and even insanity.

A Technique for self analysis - A great adventure of self-enquiry

A key to success in practice of self analysis is “think very slowly” Second is to formulate your words mentally. 

First watch your own intellect in its working. Note how thoughts follow one another in endless sequence. Then try to realize that there is someone wo thinks. Now ask: Who is this thinker?

Therefore, to know oneself is to find that point of consciousness from which observation of these changing moods may take place. 

This was the celebrated attitude of Descartes. 

He maintained that there mere act of thinking involved the existence of a thinker, of the one who carries on this reflective activity. “Je pense, done je suis”(I think therefore I am), was his famous philosophical proposition. It was a tremendous claim and found its powerful opponents. And its logical result was compelled to infer that this thinking, this “I” was intrinsically immaterial and therefore independent enough to have its own existence apart from the fleshly body with which its nevertheless so intimately bonded. T

Mind is like a restless monkey, but chain it to the post of a single object, tether it to the stake of one line of thought; then only will the monkey recognize you as its master, and be more ready to obey your orders.

Though the man is with the higher power which may be called God, the fact remains that he has lost the consciousness of this unity. And unless he makes observation, or in true prayer, to detach himself increasingly from his external existence, it is unlikely that he will recover this divine consciousness.

Thinking is power which may bind us or set us free. The average man unconsciously uses it for the former purpose; the meditator of self inquiry uses it to gain freedom.

Intuition: Immediate understanding. 

• Rational thought provides us with a splendid instrument wherewith to comprehend life and the world up to a point, but it is a mistake to imagine that it is there for the only instrument available to us. Intuition is one such instrument and many times it works without any conscious effort on our part. 

• When the reasoning, thinking intellect subsides its activity, the intuition has a clear field in which to manifest itself. It’s therefore necessary to find some means to reduce the constant agitation of the intellect. This can be done by a twofold process.  

1. The first consists of an effort to direct thoughts along a single channel of certain kind i.e. concentration upon an exalted abstract idea (Meditation) 

2. Control of breathing: The reason is there exists a profound connection between breath and thought. The movements of breath beat time, in a most remarkable fashion, with the movements of thought. Most people undervalue the powers of the breath but the early Jesuits in the west and the early yogis in India knew better, for they embodied the breathing exercise in their system of training.  

The breathing exercise mentioned here by Paul Brunton is similar to the one as in pranayam, so here I am giving a link of pranayam technique for you all, if interested to follow.

Awakening to the Intuition 

Humility is the first step on the secret path – and it will also be the last. For before the divinity can begin to teach him through its own self-revelation he must first become teachable, i.e. humble.

Intellectual ability and learning are admirable things and adorn a man, but intellectual pride puts up a strong barrier between him and that higher life which is ever calling to him, albeit silently. Hitherto, the entire student’s effort at finding the true self have been positively directed, personally willed, conscious and voluntary. He is now almost at the point where there should be a complete reversal of procedure, where the personality must cease making any further efforts because it has reached the end of its tether.

The whole process of mediation is simply to select this one higher topic of self enquiry out of the multitude of ideas, to think firmly up that alone and of nothing else. Then when the attitude and the quality of concentration are thus strongly developed, the student drops even this special line of thinking withdraws inward and a question who it is that is thinking. One inevitable result of all these practices will be that your attitude towards things, people and events will gradually change. You will begin to express the qualities which are natural to the over self, the qualities of noble outlook, perfect justice, the treatment of one’s neighbour as oneself.

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ॐ नमः शिवाय 

Om Namah Shivaya

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Soundarya Lahri                                                    Thus Spoke Zarathustra

DESIGN STREET: Eames - A Legendary Designer

Charles and Ray Eames were American designers, who worked and made major contributions to modern architecture and furniture designs. Eames chair and Lounge chair with Ottoman, has become one of the iconic furniture in modern times. He and his wife, Ray Eames also worked in the fields of industrial design, fine art, graphic design and film.

Since I have been fortunate to work with Herman Miller, who were the manufacturer of his most of the iconic furniture designs, which gave me insight into his other creative sides which are not so well known to the people outside the industry. In this feature, I am going to take you on a journey to this legendary genius’s less known creative side, which was his passion for photography. But before I take you through to his photographic genius, I would like to show you two other side of his creative style.

Well that's me with Eames Chair, at Herman Miller Office

First and foremost is his iconic piece of furniture like Lounge Chair, The mesh chair and the ottomans etc. Here is some of the images of his iconic design to give you a feeling of his design range. The person on the lounge chair here is Charles Grandson Eames Demetrios.

Eames Demetrios on the lounge chair

Secondly, which has more to do directly with India, he is the genius behind thought process of creating the National Institute of Design (NID) at Ahmadabad. The, then, prime minister of India Pt Jawaharlal Lal Nehru called on him to prepare a report on creating a world class design university. After visiting several places and understanding India by travelling around for 3 months, Charles Eames came up with the report that is called “India report” which formed the basis of NID Ahmadabad.

Interestingly, In this report, Charles Eames presented a very interesting discussion on the design conceptualization based on the design of our very own small water carrying vessel known as “LOTA”.

Here is what Eames says about Lota

(From the India Report)

“Of all the objects we have seen and admired during our visit to India, the Lota, that simple vessel of everyday use, stands out as perhaps the greatest, the most beautiful. The village women have a process which, with the use of tamarind and ash, each day turns this brass
into gold.

But how would one go about designing a Lota? First one would have to shut out all preconceived ideas on the subject and then begin to consider factor after factor.

The optimum amount of liquid to be fetched, carried, poured and stored in a prescribed set of circumstances.

Of course, no one man could have possibly designed the Lota. The number of combinations of factors to be considered gets to be astronomical — no one man designed the Lota but many men over many generations. Many individuals represented in their own way through something they may have added or may have removed or through some quality of which they were particularly aware.” – Charles Eames

For full discussion on this aspect, please have a look at the India Report – Click here

Opening shot of "Power of ten"

Now coming over to his Photographic genius, first and foremost is, and in my opinion very interesting, the movie called “Powers of 10”. You need to see it to believe it, that the whole movie was shot in studio of Eames and this one movie gave Hollywood a new camera shooting technique which is still used in the industry.

The other not very well known of this creative genius is his fascination and passion for Photography. His photographs form a significant part of MoMA, New York. Since I was working with Herman Miller, I was fortunate to travel with his grandson Mr. Eames Demetrius for the exhibition what is called “The Gifted Eye of Charles Eames” in Mumbai and at NID Ahmadabad.

Here I am showcasing some of the images from the exhibition that Charles Eames took over a period of many decades. As I travelled with Charles Eames Grand Son to give presentations, discuss and generally talk about his life, I could see a personal side of Eames, that is not generally known ... for example, when he was courting his would be wife, he wrote a letter full of interesting pictures and pictograms to make her understand his love for her “Ray” who partnered with him all his life to create such beautiful products and designs.. well that is another story altogether...

So here you have some of the beautiful images from the Gifted eye of Charles Eames

Exhibition at Taj's Land's End Hotel in Mumbai

Me and Eames Demetrius - With the presentation at Mumbai

If you are interested in seeing more of his pictures from the "Gifted Eye of Charles Eames" please comment me at this post or email me, I will send more.... Cheers!!!
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ॐ नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya

18th Edition of Shadow Dancing with Mind

Welcome to 18^th Edition of “Shadow Dancing With Mind”. This Edition has the following topics.

FEATURE
My thoughts and quotes from the books that I have been reading...

Soundarya Lahari "Waves of Beauty" - Adi Shankaracharya

Recently, in a discussion, I came across a view that the art, sculpture and writings of ancient India many times were inspired by the kings and emperor’s lustfulness. Examples of Ajanta Ellora caves, Temple sculptures of Konark, Kaam Sutra etc were mentioned... In this context, I am hereby reproducing some interesting examples of how the beauty of Goddess Parvati, consort of Lord Shiva, was described by one of the sages in a very famous literary Book “Soundarya Lahari” in explicit but beautiful terms, full of devotion..

The Soundarya Lahari is not only a poem. It is a tantra textbook, giving instructions on Puja and offerings, many yantras, almost one to each shloka; describes tantric ways of performing devotion connected to each specific shloka; and details the results ensuing there from.

Click here to read more...

TALKING POINT

The thoughts, talks and viewpoints that have captured my imagination....

Brene Brown: The power of vulnerability

Some times, I get things come to me, on its own and this one talk by Brene Brown on "The Power of Vulnerability" just popped up in my cyber space wandering. It gave me a lot of food for thought and views that I could relate to... hence I thought of sharing it with my friends here. It’s a beautiful TED Talk about love, belongingness and shame... if you don’t have time to hear and see her speak, then probably you can read the transcript that is provided at the end...

Click here to read more...

Vande Matram...

On 15^th August – Independence Day of India, I reproduce lyrics of ‘Vande Mataram’ as well as the beautiful Vande Mataram song sung by A R Rahman, (Oscar winner). The Song Vande Matram is well known as the National Song of our country written by Bankimchandra wrote the 7th November, 1875.

Click here to read more...

STILL LIFE

My impressions from the places, which I have captured through my roving lenses...

Creativity all around - Vienna

In month of July, I was in Vienna to fulfil my long time desire to see in person the most reproduced painting in the world ‘The Kiss’ by Gustav Klimt as well as to see the famous museums and Danube River. I have always believed that the creativity is another form of meditation and wanted to soak in the atmosphere of the city that gave many creative genius’s like Klimt, Schiele.. This post has some of my impressions from few days I have had spent there...

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So close to nature - Poland

On one of my recent business trip to Europe, I have had an opportunity spend few days in Poland, visiting one of the largest office furniture manufacturer "Nowy Styl" in Europe and their Factory in Poland. This post carries some of my impressions from the journey... Hope you will enjoy it.

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WHISPERS

Some of my whispers of heart, expressed in forms of poetry, Haiku and free verse..

Nature and life...

Some of my Haiku this week..

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Rain, Rain... Rain again

Some of my Haiku from past... 

This one post is about passionate nights of love... the desires that grow within one’s purity of love, cast by the chaos of mind... sometimes one is not able to control what one wants to do and what one desires in its deepest passionate thoughts...

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WANDERLUST:
My spiritual wandering’s across life...

The long walk to Rishikesh - Kanwarias

Every year the roads to pilgrim places like Haridwar, Rishikesh, Gangotri or Gaumukh (the glacier from where the Ganga originates) in Uttaranchal turns into flaming orange color with Kanwars – the saffron clad devotees, who’s mission is to collect holy ganges water from these holy places and consecrate the Shiva Linga’s at their villages and homes. 

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In search of Krishna - Mayapur and Navdweep

A beautiful journey to Navdweep and Mayapur... a spiritual place for Krishna devotees

Here is a journey to Navdweep in West Bengal, where the Bhakti Movement was started by Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and then later on taken to international shores by International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), which is headquartered nearby in Mayapur....

Click here to read more...

MANTRA YOGA

From this Edition, I am starting another topic, which is all about Mantra Yoga – A meditation system that I have been following for some time. In this process one uses specific Mantra with breathing technique for manifesting health, wealth, Love, peace and wisdom in one’s own life. First of the series is a very powerful Mantra of Lord Shiva

Om Namah Shivaya - A powerful mantra to attain wisdom

If you are following me on various social media like this blog, Face Book, Twitter or have received email from me then I am sure that you have come across my signature sign off...

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

And many times, I have been asked what it means. This post explains the meaning of the mantra as well as some very powerful recitations of the mantra chant – One a great Indian classical singer Pandit Jasraj and the other one by a great Krishna devotee Krishna Das which I love listening to....

Click here to read more...

Hope you would enjoy this edition of my ‘Shadow dancing with Mind’ Please leave a comment on the pages you visit and I will be very grateful if you click the follow button, so that we can be in touch...
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Shashi
ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

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