George Breeden Blog 4

Reading: Sacred and Profane Beauty, by Gerardus Van Der Leeuw

Profusion

Van Der Leeuw touches on the idea of profusion in his section about the art of building. He writes: “Profusion is a nuance of the massive and monumental. I do not mean multiplicity, motley richness, but the fascinating inclusion which we find primarily in Indian art. The endless rows of identical stupas in the Boro Budur attempt, through repetition, to express the holy.” (p. 207) Van Der Leeuw brings up a fascinating point here. That is the idea that repetition is such an important conception in the art of the east. He mentions India, but the reality is that profusion can be found all across Asia. In China and Japan temples are built with a certain sense of repetition. This is especially the case in Japan where countless Torii can signal the entrance into sacred space. The question here is why is this profusion rarely seen in the building of the west? Why are we content with a single representation in most cases? It could be because of the influences of religious traditions that do not subscribe to the idea of meritious energy, but that is simply a guess. Nevertheless it is interesting.