L'expression de la sensibilité dans l'art khmer/ Expressing Feelings in Khmer Ancient Arts
by Madeleine Giteau
"Harmony, gentleness and endearment" in Khmer statuary and sculptural art.
Publication: Arts Asiatiques, Vol. II, n. 3, pp 209-228 (EFEO/JSTOR)
Published: 1955
Author: Madeleine Giteau
Pages: 20
Language : French
Excerpt: "Si l'on écarte quelques scènes assez froides, quelques bas-reliefs un peu secs, il faut bien reconnaître que des multiples images se dégage une atmosphère d'harmonie, de douceur et même de tendresse qui ne tient pas uniquement à l'expression des personnages ou au choix des sujets, mais qui naît des lignes, du modelé, de la composition, une atmosphère qui existe bien réellement mais qu'il serait vain de vouloir analyser trop à fond. Le génie d'Angkor Vat est de ceux qu'on ne dissèque pas."
Main photo: Sugriva lamenting the death of his half-brother Valin (Photo M. Giteau)
Tags: women, Khmer art, sculpture, statues, art history
About the Author
Madeleine Giteau
Art historian Madeleine Giteau (1918, Nantes - 2005) was the Curator of Cambodia National Museum (then Musée Albert Sarrault) from 1956 until 1966.
A member of École française d'Extrême Orient (EFEO) from 1956 until 1981, she taught Southeast Asian art and history at Sorbonne University until her retirement in 1985.
Invited back to Cambodia for several research tours in the 1990s, she helped in the reopening of Battambang Provincial Museum (the foundation of which she had supervised in 1963) in 2000 at the invitation of the Royal Archeological Faculty of Cambodia.
Madeleine Giteau is the author of numerous studies in Khmer and Mon arts and architectural history, some in collaboration with Henri Parmentier. She contributed to Marc Riboud's acclaimed photography book, 'Angkor, Sérénité bouddhique'.