The Great Image Has No Form, or On the Nonobject through Painting

by François Jullien, Jane Marie Todd (Translator)

In premodern China, elite painters used imagery not to mirror the world around them, but to evoke unfathomable experience. Considering their art alongside the philosophical traditions that inform it, The Great Image Has No Form explores the “nonobject”—a notion exemplified by paintings that do not seek to represent observable surroundings. François Jullien argues that this nonobjectifying approach stems from the painters’ deeply held belief in a continuum of existence, in which art is not distinct from reality. Contrasting this perspective with the Western notion of art as separate from the world it represents, Jullien investigates the theoretical conditions that allow us to apprehend, isolate, and abstract objects. His comparative method lays bare the assumptions of Chinese and European thought, revitalizing the questions of what painting is, where it comes from, and what it does. Provocative and intellectually vigorous, this sweeping inquiry introduces new ways of thinking about the relationship of art to the ideas in which it is rooted.

Genres: Art, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Theory

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

François Jullien, né en 1951 à Embrun (Hautes-Alpes), est un philosophe, helléniste et sinologue français. Ancien élève de l’École normale supérieure et agrégé de l’université (1974), François Jullien a ensuite étudié la langue et la pensée chinoises à l'université de Pékin et à l'université de Shanghai (1975–1977). Il a été ensuite responsable de l'antenne française de sinologie à Hong-Kong (1978–1981), puis pensionnaire de la Maison franco-japonaise à Tokyo (1985–1987).
Il a été successivement président de l'Association française des études chinoises (de 1988 à 1990), directeur de l'UFR Asie orientale de l'université Paris-Diderot (1990–2000), président du Collège international de philosophie (1995–1998), professeur à l'université Paris-Diderot et directeur de l'Institut de la pensée contemporaine ainsi que du centre Marcel-Granet.

Reviews

[Iacopo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uno dei libri più interessanti che abbia letto, nonostante non sia sempre stato di facile comprensione.
Ho protratto la lettura per qualche mese, è stato un libro impegnativo anche se ne ho letti di peggio. Alla fine non è neanche così tanto insidioso. Però è stato un percorso lungo. Alla fine ne è valsa la pena.
Le mie difficoltà a parte, è un libro molto interessante che riflette e interpreta la distanza culturale tra la filosofia e il pensiero Cinese con quello Europeo (greco). Soprattutto su come la differenza di pensiero si riflette sulla produzione artistica-pittorica e su come la lingua: il linguaggio e la scrittura ci portino a pensare e interpretare il mondo e ciò che ci circonda in maniera differente gli uni da gli altri.
Davvero un bel saggio, che purtroppo non è facile da reperire in Italia, almeno non lo è stato per me.
Vi auguro una buona lettura!

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One of the most interesting books I have read, even though it has not always been easy to understand.
I continued reading it for a few months, it was a challenging book even though I have read worse. After all it is not even that insidious. However, it was a long way. In the end it was worth it.
My difficulties aside, it is a very interesting book that reflects and interprets the cultural distance between Chinese philosophy and thought and European (Greek) thought. Above all, on how the difference in thought is reflected in artistic-pictorial production and on how language: speech and writing lead us to think and interpret the world and what surrounds us differently from each other.
A truly beautiful essay, which unfortunately is not easy to find in Italy, at least it was not for me.
I wish you a good read!

4⭐

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has taken me several months to read. I have persisted through various types of frustration with the prose style of the author and the elusiveness of the concepts about which he writes.

I persisted because I found the idea of a conception of visual reality, quite apart from the reality of surfaces, profoundly stimulating. It has led me to question my own making of visual imagery, and has sent me down previously unimagined paths.

I have the impression that I have only skimmed the surface of ideas that have deeper resonance than I can appreciate. I think I will be returning to it again after some time away trying to see the world with less habituated eyes.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jullien is such an astoundingly perceptive and interesting philosopher. This book is deeply enlightening to me, letting me see my own culture in a new and more relevant light. I want to recommend it to every philosophers, or anyone interested in actually learning about other cultures.

I will write more about the topic hopefully soon.

[Víctor Soho · Rating 5 out of 5]

o improbable combo de ser, ao mesmo tempo, un dos meus libros favoritos sobre cultura chinesa, sobre ontoloxía, sobre pintura e sobre paisaxe. a capacidade de presentar unha análise transveral a estas cuestións é absurda. o meu ensaio favorito do que levo de ano.

[Will Buckingham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps not as wide-ranging as some of Jullien's other books (such as In Praise of Blandness), but there are some beautiful and compelling moments here, and I have a sense that some of these ideas may resonate for a long time. A book worth returning to.

[Moodrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed, very challenging to get through and hard to pay attention but non the less an amazing book.