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The Narrative in Art
Introduction to Eastern and Western Art

Narrative Art tells a story. It uses the power of the visual image
to ignite imaginations, evoke emotions and capture universal
cultural truths and aspirations. What distinguishes Narrative Art
from other genres is its ability to narrate a story across diverse
cultures, preserving it for future generations.
Retrieved from: http://lucasmuseum.org/collection/narrative-art

Béatrice Coron (France / USA), Le Monde de Christophe, 2011, Cut Tyvek,
30” x 40”

“My work tells stories. I invent situations, cities and worlds. These
compositions include memories, associations of words, ideas, observations
and thoughts that unfold in improbable juxtapositions. These invented worlds
have their own logic and patterns. Images are conveyed through words,
whether automatic writing or premeditated scenes. My creative inspiration
comes from a text, a poem, the news or from a philosophical concept
that can be reduced to a mere title. I research collective memories and
myths, questioning the notions of identity and belonging. For each theme, I
explore various narratives: one story leads to the next, and the
creation process weaves different layers of our relations to the world.”
“My silhouettes are a language I have developed over the years; my point of
view is both detailed and monumental. Cutting from a single piece of
material, the profusion of individual stories creates a coherent
universe. In my artist books and public art, where I play with full and empty
shapes, everything must fall in place: one’s place in the world, one’s place in
the city, one’s place in his or her body. In my graphic style, windows are
used not to see out but in, placing the spectator in an outsider/insider
situation. Shadows, reminiscent of film noir and voyeurism, leaves room for
multiple interpretations.”
Retrieved from: http://www.murielguepingallery.com/artists/beatrice-coron

Bird-headed Man with Bison and Rhino (Lascaux Cave, Dordogne, France)
15,000 BCE, Wall Painting on Limestone

● One theory about the cave paintings in Lascaux suggests that the
images communicate narratives (stories). While a number of the
depictions can be seen to do this, one particular image in Lascaux more
directly supports this theory. A bison, drawn in strong, black lines, bristles with
energy, as the fur on the back of its neck stands up and the head is radically
turned to face us.
● A form drawn under the bison’s abdomen is interpreted as internal organs,
spilling out from a wound. A more crudely drawn form positioned below and to
the left of the bison may represent a humanoid figure with the head of a bird.
Nearby, a thin line is topped with another bird and there is also an arrow with
barbs. Further below and to the far left the partial outline of a rhinoceros can
be identified.
● Interpreters of this image tend to agree that some sort of interaction has taken
place among these animals and the bird-headed human figure—in which the
bison has sustained injury either from a weapon or from the horn of the
rhinoceros. Why the person in the image has the rudimentary head of a bird,
and why a bird form sits atop a stick very close to him is a mystery. Some
suggest that the person is a shaman—a kind of priest or healer with
powers involving the ability to communicate with spirits of other worlds.
Regardless, this riveting image appears to depict action and reaction,
although many aspects of it are difficult to piece together.
Retrieved from: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/global-prehistory-
ap/paleolithic-mesolithic-neolithic/a/lascaux

Admonitions Scroll, China (Tang Dynasty / Six Dynasties), 6th
- 8th
Centuries,
Painting on Silk, 25 cm x 329 cm

● The Admonitions Scroll is traditionally ascribed to Gu Kaizhi (345-406), a court
artist who worked in Nanjing during the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420) and
who was known as the father of Chinese classical figure painting. The
painting is believed to be a fifth to eighth century copy of Gu's original work. It has
been executed in a fine linear style that is typical of fourth century figure painting.
● The Admonitions Scroll was originally used to educate ladies at court on how
to behave according to Confucian principles. It illustrates a poetic text
composed by the poet-official Zhang Hua (232-300).
● There were originally 12 scenes depicted on the scroll, but three were lost at
some point before it entered the British Museum's collection in 1903, leaving only
nine remaining. The nine scenes on The Admonitions Scroll represent
exemplary acts of historical palace ladies or address the daily life and
proper attitude expected of a court lady. The scroll's message regarding good
conduct for ladies at court draws on virtues associated with Confucian thought,
such as humanity, righteousness, loyalty and respect for one's parents, husband
and the emperor.
● The first surviving scene is known as "Lady Feng and the Bear." Lady Feng
was the consort of Emperor Yuan, who ruled during the Han Dynasty (206BC-
AD220) from 48BC to 33BC. In the scene, Feng and two palace guards place
themselves in the path of a bear to protect the emperor, while another consort
ignobly flees for her life.
Retrieved from: http://www.kaogu.cn/en/International_exchange/Academic_activities___/2017/0728/59065.html

Scenes of Tales by Genji (Edo Period, Japan), Six panel folding screen with ink, colors,
gold on paper (one of a pair)

This screen (one of a pair) was painted some 600 years after the
author of the story, Murasaki Shikibu wrote her novel, The Tale of
Genji, and some 400 years after the earliest surviving paintings of the
subject. There are hundreds of Genji images in collections all over the
world, in a variety of formats and styles, from handscrolls to writing
boxes, and from refined courtly paintings to irreverent spoofs in woodblock
prints. The subject was particularly popular during the Edo period, as
part of a revival of courtly aesthetics particularly among courtiers and
merchants in Kyoto. With increased literacy of the Edo populace, and
woodblock renditions of the story available relatively cheaply, more people
could read the book and were familiar with the standard images.

● This pair of screens illustrates scenes from four chapters of Japan’s classic literary
work, The Tale of Genji, written by a female courtier by the name of Murasaki
Shikibu in around the tenth-eleventh centuries. It is a romantic novel that
follows the relationships of a legendary Prince Genji and the generation
following him. Divided into 54 chapters, the English translation by Edward
Seidensticker takes up 1,090 pages. It is required reading in Japanese schools
today.
● The book is full of palace intrigue, but more important is the attention Murasaki
paid to describing the beauty and emotions of the story, from the perfect kimono
ensemble to the sprig of plum blossom attached to a bittersweet love letter. The
Japanese have a term for this—mono no aware, a pathos for the fleeting
moments of beauty, joy, even heartbreak that are part of being human. These
emotions and actions are portrayed using subtle means in the pictures. For example,
once we know that the figures on the boat are lovers stealing away together, the
inclining of their heads towards each other takes on new significance. On the other
hand, the scene in the lower left represents a woman trying to deflect unwanted
advances.
● The book was first illustrated in handscroll form, with sections of text
interspersed with select images. It was painted in a consciously Japanese style
called yamato-e. The text was written in Japanese—during Murasaki’s day, men
generally studied and wrote poetry in Chinese, whereas women excelled in writing
verse and prose using their native language and script called kana.
Retrieved from: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-
asia/art-japan/edo-period/a/scenes-from-the-tale-of-genji

Bayeux Tapestry (Medieval period), England / France, 1070 CE,
Embroidery on Linen, 20 inches x 230 feet

The story of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, as least as seen from
the Norman side, is depicted in this unique object, the Bayeux Tapestry. Although
more than 900 years old, its images are still gripping. It is a colored embroidery,
70 meters long, full of vivid action, and also much that is unexplained and
enigmatic.
There are short running captions in Latin and a wealth of fantastic activity in the
upper and lower margins. The heart of the story is the struggle between Duke
William of Normandy and Harold Godwinsoin to succeed Edward the
Confessor as King of England.
It was clearly designed by an artist capable of detailed and close observation. For
example, the Tapestry shows how the Normans and the English could be
identified immediately by their haircuts. The English have shoulder-length hair and
moustaches but no beards, while the Normans are clean-shaven and have their
hair razor-cut dramatically high at the back. In Anglo-Saxon England it was only
the priests who were fully clean shaven. This explains the legendary story that,
when King Harold's scouts first saw the Normans camped outside Hastings, they
reported back that "they have sent an army of priests!"
William of Normandy never accepted that Harold was a rightful king. As one
French chronicler put it, Harold was only a "pseudo-king". The Bayeux
Tapestry tells the story from this point of view.
Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ahistoryoftheworld/2010/08/the-bayeux-tapestry.shtml

Duane Michals (Contemporary American Photographer), Things are Queer,
1973, Gelatin Silver Prints

This 1973 series of nine photographs by Duane Michals (1932 -)
is a short narrative piece with a twist at each step, a discovery of an
unexpected level of reality at each new shot. Somehow obscure in its
meaning, the work questions the perception of photographed reality
and simply tricks the viewer's mind making him or her wander through
different layers of representation. Scale and frames are the key factors
which come into play in the construction of this beautifully orchestrated yet
utterly simple sequence.
Retrieved from: http://socks-studio.com/2015/04/23/things-are-queer-by-duane-michals-1973/

Navin Rawanchaikul (Thailand), Places of Rebirth, Acrylic on Canvas, 7' 2.5” x 23'
7.5” (219.7 x 720.1 cm), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Collection

● Navin Rawanchaikul’s Places of Rebirth (2009) was inspired by the Thai
artist’s first visit to Pakistan, the birthplace of his ancestors, in
November 2008. As part of the South Asian diaspora, the artist’s family
moved to Thailand in pursuit of opportunity in the region, and in the
aftermath of 1947’s partition of South Asia which had forced millions to
migrate out of political and religious exigency. By train, ship, and foot, his
mother and great-grandfather traveled from Gujranwala (the Punjab region
that is now Pakistan) and India to Chiang Mai in Thailand to arrive at the
place of his family’s “rebirth.” During this period, Chiang Mai was a city of
many migrants, who came from India, China, and Burma (now Myanmar).
The fluid nature of this migratory history is familiar in South and
Southeast Asia and often results in the exchange and adaptation of
cultures, giving its participants a trans-geographic identity.
Retrieved from: https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/31233

● In Places of Rebirth, Rawanchaikul narrates his family’s migration and
his own cross-border and cross-cultural negotiations. Painted in the
style of the Indian movie posters that fascinated the artist as a child, the
work’s self-conscious populist aesthetic reflects an artistic practice that
moves from billboard painting to sculpture and pulp comics. Produced in
collaboration with former cinema billboard painters, this panoramic display
blends multigenerational images of the artist’s family and friends with
those of people he encountered in Pakistan, and historical images from
the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan. As a portrait of a community’s
passage through time and space, his navigation of regional geopolitics is
represented through his imaginary journey as a Thai artist in a local taxi
(onomatopoeically known as a tuk-tuk), that transports him, along with his
Japanese wife and their daughter, across the famous Wagah border dividing
India and Pakistan. The painting underscores the way in which the idea
of nation is defined by historical narrative, while layering that narrative
over the personal and the imaginary. The painting is peppered with
upbeat and optimistic messages of brotherhood, friendship, and
togetherness that stand in stark contrast to the nations’ present divide. This
reimagining and blurring of identity reflect the artist’s desire for a
communion based on a dismantling of borders between nations and
individuals.
Retrieved from: https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/31233

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Narrative in Art

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