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Sacred Art in East and West, 1st Edition
Defining the meaning and spiritual use of sacred art through its symbolic content and dependence on metaphysical principles, this work is wide in scope, covering Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Islamic, and Taoist art.
217 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
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About the author
Titus Burckhardt
82 books104 followersTitus Burckhardt (Ibrahim Izz al-Din after his Islamic name), a German Swiss, was born in Florence, Italy in 1908 and died in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1984.He devoted all his life to the study and exposition of the different aspects of Wisdom tradition.
He was an eminent member of the "Traditionalist School" of twentieth-century authors. He was a frequent contributor to the journal Studies in Comparative Religion along with other prominent members of the school.
Burckhardt was the scion of a patrician family of Basel. He was the great-nephew of the art-historian Jacob Burckhardt and the son of the sculptor Carl Burckhardt. Titus Burckhardt was a contemporary of Frithjof Schuon – leading exponent of traditionalist thought in the twentieth century – and the two spent their early school days together in Basel around the time of the First World War. This was the beginning of an intimate friendship and harmonious intellectual and spiritual relationship that was to last a lifetime.
Burckhardt was, as his grandfather, a connoisseur of Islamic art, architecture and civilisation. He compiled and published work from the Sufi masters: Ibn Arabi (1165–1240), Abd-al-karim Jili (1365–1424) and Muhammad al-Arabi al-Darqawi (1760–1823).
He was an eminent member of the "Traditionalist School" of twentieth-century authors. He was a frequent contributor to the journal Studies in Comparative Religion along with other prominent members of the school.
Burckhardt was the scion of a patrician family of Basel. He was the great-nephew of the art-historian Jacob Burckhardt and the son of the sculptor Carl Burckhardt. Titus Burckhardt was a contemporary of Frithjof Schuon – leading exponent of traditionalist thought in the twentieth century – and the two spent their early school days together in Basel around the time of the First World War. This was the beginning of an intimate friendship and harmonious intellectual and spiritual relationship that was to last a lifetime.
Burckhardt was, as his grandfather, a connoisseur of Islamic art, architecture and civilisation. He compiled and published work from the Sufi masters: Ibn Arabi (1165–1240), Abd-al-karim Jili (1365–1424) and Muhammad al-Arabi al-Darqawi (1760–1823).
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 2, 2020
ترجمه ی خیلی ثقیلی داره به نظرم یکی باید دوباره ترجمهش کنه
June 26, 2016
Burckhardt shows here a summary of what make art sacred, namely being a medium for contemplation, and knowing it's place.
Also, sacred art doesn't use a material for what it is not, for example, a rock (to be sculpted) is a static thing, not made to represent movement. A surface (to be painted) is two dimensional - therefore the absence of optical illusions and "tricks".
I have always found the likes of Picasso and others to be highly annoying, seems like I begin to understand now why... This makes me think also of "artists" intellectualizing and explaining their works, when the work itself falls into the dark pit of total subjectivity (I express myself) and individualism (only the one who made it "understands" it, and sometimes they themselves don't).
When you stand in front of a Sumerian statue in a museum or see a chinese depiction of a demon, you instantly feel that it is meant to overwhelm you, to scare you sometimes even, no need for an "art critic" to explain anything.
Art for art's sake is, in fact, a degeneration and the sign of a lack of center.
From wikipedia :
"Ironically, the term [Art for art's sake] is sometimes used commercially. A Latin version of this phrase ("ARS GRATIA ARTIS") is used as a motto by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and appears in the circle around the roaring head of Leo the Lion in its motion picture logo." Heh, funny...
Also, sacred art doesn't use a material for what it is not, for example, a rock (to be sculpted) is a static thing, not made to represent movement. A surface (to be painted) is two dimensional - therefore the absence of optical illusions and "tricks".
I have always found the likes of Picasso and others to be highly annoying, seems like I begin to understand now why... This makes me think also of "artists" intellectualizing and explaining their works, when the work itself falls into the dark pit of total subjectivity (I express myself) and individualism (only the one who made it "understands" it, and sometimes they themselves don't).
When you stand in front of a Sumerian statue in a museum or see a chinese depiction of a demon, you instantly feel that it is meant to overwhelm you, to scare you sometimes even, no need for an "art critic" to explain anything.
Art for art's sake is, in fact, a degeneration and the sign of a lack of center.
From wikipedia :
"Ironically, the term [Art for art's sake] is sometimes used commercially. A Latin version of this phrase ("ARS GRATIA ARTIS") is used as a motto by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and appears in the circle around the roaring head of Leo the Lion in its motion picture logo." Heh, funny...
September 27, 2013
The body of this book is interesting and I learned a lot from it, but the author's introduction is the most extraordinary gem. It gave me a much better understanding of the purpose of sacred art than anything I have read before or since.
April 21, 2025
Livro muito bom, li numa tradução brasileira (Editora Attar).
Os capítulos, pelo o que pude notar, não foram escritos pensando num todo, mais se assemelham a ensaios soltos - o que possibilita uma leitura fragmentária e mais livre:
minha recomendação pessoal é ler os textos em blocos e por regiões (hinduismo/budismo/oriente, cristianismo, e terminando com o texto sobre a arte islâmica, claramente o capítulo com viés mais elogioso).
Os capítulos, pelo o que pude notar, não foram escritos pensando num todo, mais se assemelham a ensaios soltos - o que possibilita uma leitura fragmentária e mais livre:
minha recomendação pessoal é ler os textos em blocos e por regiões (hinduismo/budismo/oriente, cristianismo, e terminando com o texto sobre a arte islâmica, claramente o capítulo com viés mais elogioso).
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews