In Women, Art, and Power, Linda Nochlin investigates the power status of women as depicted in a group of paintings created between the late 18th and 20th centuries. Nochlin's exposé of the relations between women, art, and power represented in these images plays a role in a greater project, of which Nochlin is a pioneer: a non-intentionalist, critical theory of art, which examines the iconography found in the art of a particular culture by referencing the culture's ideology. This excavation and interpretation of a work's iconography in terms of the ideology of the culture surrounding the work's creation is a non-intentionalist endeavor because, according to Nochlin, the very nature of an ideology stipulates that the beliefs it comprises be "assumed to be self-evident… [and, when represented in art,] relatively invisible to most contemporary viewers, as well as to the creators of the paintings" (Nochlin 72). Clearly, appealing to an artist's conscious intentions in creating a work of art can tell us nothing about the work on the level of ideology when this level of understanding is completely inaccessible to the artist. Employing Nochlin's non-intentionalist method to form an understanding of Brass Standing Figure of a 1000-Armed Avalokitesvara with 11 Heads (Avalokitesvara), I will examine the extent to which both the artist and the iconography of the work were directed and determined by the ideologies 18th century Tibet, and of Mahayana Buddhism.
Nochlin's Non-Intentionalist Method
Nochlin's exploration of paintings in which gender differences are represented by images of powerless women demonstrates that iconography, or the set of representations belonging to a particular culture, serves as a discourse on generally accepted assumptions when interpreted on the level of ideology, which in Nochlin's project are assumptions of power and gender difference (Nochlin 71). Using Delacroix's Death of Sardanapalus to demonstrate how culturally-held beliefs determine representations in art, Nochlin examines the ideology of early 19th century France:
…one must keep in mind that subtending the vivid turbulence of the text of Delacroix's story…lies the more mundane assumption, shared by men of Delacroix's class, that they were naturally 'entitled' to desire, to possess, and to control the bodies of women. (Nochlin 75)
It is clear from the painting that the wives of Sardanapalus, in being destroyed along with Sardanapalus' horses and other possessions, are thought of as mere property of the ancient Assyrian ruler (Nochlin 75). Nochlin explains that the painting was created not "in a vacuum but in a particular social context, granting permission… for certain kinds of behavior" (Nochlin 75), and she helps the reader understand the extent to which social context determines what is represented in a work by suggesting the absurdity that would arise from interchanging the roles of men and women in works similar to Delacroix's; the eccentricity of these conceptual works stands as a convincing example of ideology manifest in iconography.
Tibetan Cultural Ideology
When interpreting the Avalokitesvara, Nochlin's non-intentionalist method of evaluating a work's iconography in terms of cultural ideology allows us to interpret a work of art steeped in esoteric imagery. We employ this method to understand imagery explanatory of assumptions that the creator of the Avalokitesvara held but could not have given conscious assent to; this notion of non-intentional, hidden assumptions comports with Nochlin's conception of ideology. Once the iconography of the Avalokitesvara has been examined at this level, we can understand the factors that determined what the artist depicted in the work and how, independent of information about the artists intentions. Also, we can realize the extent to which both the actions of the artist and the iconography of the Avalokitesvara were directed and determined by the ideology of 18th century Tibet.
The Avalokitesvara is a representation of the Buddhist deity Avalokitesvara, a figure depicted in Tibetan mythology as the patron deity of Tibet (Kavearna 257). Avalokitesvara is also seen as the creator of the clans of Tibet (Beyer 4), and the Dalai Lama, one of the greatest symbols of Tibetan culture, is thought to be a reincarnation of Avalokitesvara (Kavearna 257). Understanding what is represented in the work in the context of Tibetan culture, we see that the iconography of the work, namely the deity Avalokitesvara portrayed by the statue, marks the convergence of the history, customs, and politics of 18th century Tibet. These influences form the ideology of 18th century Tibetan culture, and knowledge of this ideology allows us to perform a non-intentionalist analysis of the work.
We are led to believe that the creator of the Avalokitesvara had very little authority over the final work; the creative process may have been left entirely to the artist's discretion, but the final representation of the most important cultural figure of Tibetan culture is shaped first and foremost by the ideology of the culture, and only in small part by the artist. For example, the artist would have been unable to portray Avalokitesvara as malevolent because this perspective would not have agreed with generally held assumptions about the Dalai Lama as a benevolent figure. Nochlin's non-intentionalist perspective is valuable because it allows us to understand the work in a cultural context, and to appreciate how the ideology of a particular culture influences art.
Buddhist Ideology and Social Hierarchy
The degree to which the artist and the iconography of the Avalokitesvara were directed and determined by the ideology of Mahayana Buddhism, the religion of Tibet (Banerjee 16), is tremendous; therefore, examination of this influence is crucial to a contextualized understanding of the Avalokitesvara. Created by a monk to express and teach the doctrines of Buddhism (Snellgrove 281), it is clear that even the smallest detail of the Avalokitesvara was influenced by the ideology of Mahayana Buddhism.
Buddhism forms the essence of the life, culture and literature of the Tibetan people. …they look upon the persons who do not lead religious lives as semi-human or as belonging to a low class – not to be condemned, but pitied. (Banerjee 16)
Banerjee helps to make explicit some of the assumptions that compose this ideology, especially the belief that those who do not follow Buddhism are semi-human, belong to a low class, and are to be pitied. This relation between religious and secular members of Tibetan society is a component of cultural ideology similar to Nochlin's power imbalance between men and women depicted in 19th century European art. We must be aware of the ideology surrounding representations in art in order to understand the iconography of a culture; this knowledge allows us to form a better understanding of works that participate in this iconography, and, necessarily, this ideology.
Language as Ideology
Appeal to artists' intentions cannot inform us of the ideology manifest in art because the assumptions and beliefs that make up the ideology of the culture in which the artist is a participant are transparent to the artist, and are likewise transparent to the patrons and consumers of the work. Much transparency of ideology in the case of the Avalokitesvara is made opaque by the realization that the principle language of Tibet is founded upon Buddhist doctrines:
Almost the whole of the Tibetan language (Tibeto-Burman) was developed from Buddhist religious texts from India, so to this day it is difficult to construct even a single sentence in Tibetan that does not make use of Buddhist terms as a base. (Banerjee 20)
It is no stretch to infer that because Tibetan language is founded on and determined by Buddhist ideology, Tibetan thought is founded on and determined by Buddhist ideology as well. The integration of opinions into the language and thought of a culture is to build an ideology, and language and thought are media that render even the most counter-intentional assumptions transparent. Nochlin's non-intentional method of understanding art is useful for exactly this reason; it reveals the assumptions held by but hidden from the artist.
Conclusion
By examining the extent to which both the creator and the iconography of the Avalokitesvara were directed and determined by the ideologies 18th century Tibet and Mahayana Buddhism, we are made aware of the assumptions involved in the creation and appreciation of the work within the cultural context of the Buddhist nation of 18th century Tibet. These assumptions, which permeated the actions, language, and thought of the participants of this culture and determined the culture's iconography, offer us a way of understanding the Avalokitesvara that was inaccessible to those participants because of their ideological proximity to the work. This determination of iconography illuminates the constraints put on the creator of the Avalokitesvara, and this explicit knowledge of ideology manifest in iconography transcends explanations of the artist's intentions and strengthens our understanding of the work.
