Terra sebv s acta mvsei sabesiensi s

The East and the West: From Holism to Dialogue through Confrontation 

 

109

centuries changed Europe both socially and politically, and the Napoleonic 

wars modified ideas of how Europe might develop. The concept of nation 

came to the fore in Europe in relatively modern times. In each European 

country, a national consciousness awoke that had been virtually absent until 

then. The isolation and restraint of states and nations decreased with the 

growing sense of national identity that characterised the 19

th

 century. It 

could be said that Europe became unified only through the development of 

national identities in during this period. From that point onwards, there was 

an ongoing movement towards the formation of political unions with 

multiple states. 

The world wars of the 20

th

 century contributed to this process even 

more forcefully. Many countries around the world were brought into the 

global political and economic system. If the First World War drew old 

European powers into a violent global interaction, the Second World War 

brought to the fore many other countries that had previously been cut off 

from global processes. World Wars led to 

“the end of Europe as a monopoly of culture, as a closed global province, 

claiming to be the universe. It brought the East and the West into closer 

contact than they had ever had previously in history.”

11

 

The interaction of Western civilisation with the East did not begin 

with the world wars. The crisis of European culture and the search for a 

way out encouraged the European creative elite to begin considering not 

only the origins of European art, but also the traditions of the East. This 

crisis was, in part, caused by the scientific and technological revolutions of 

the 19

th

 century, which changed the European world view but left its 

methods of artistic reflection unchanged. As such, the appeal of Eastern 

culture was associated primarily with the search for new methods and forms 

for the creative reflection of reality. 

Eastern culture was well known long before the crisis. During the 

17

th

-18

th

 centuries there was a passion for Eastern countries, as a result of 

which Europeans became acquainted with the cultural heritage of the 

Orient. But there was no comprehensive understanding of the East by the 

West at that time; indeed, such an understanding would have been 

impossible, as it was the West’s first attempt to perceive the culture of the 

East. We can say that the Orientalist myth of the East as a fabulous, 

mysterious and distant corner of the earth was formed around that time. 

The European world began to act like or imitate the East. Nevertheless, this 

was still in the context of Enlightenment thinking, in which the idea that 

only Europe was “civilised and cultural” was entrenched. 

                                                 

11

 Berdyaev 1990, p. 106-110. 

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R. R. Muhametzyanov 

 

110

The end of the 19

th

 century saw a qualitatively new stage in the 

interaction of civilisations. European artists were attempting to understand 

the creative principles of the Eastern masters, as is reflected in the works of 

a number of Impressionists.

12

 The works of such masters as Edgar Dega, 

Oscar-Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh are imbued with Oriental 

motifs and colours. For example, Matisse was convinced that “the East 

opened up new aesthetic patterns for creating artistic imagery.”

13

 If at first 

this was mere imitation, artists nevertheless gradually began to develop a 

new understanding of line and colour in the visual arts. However, only in 

the first half of the 20

th

 century do we see the emergence of the most 

interesting results of Oriental influence on the forms and methods of 

Western creative traditions. In Western Europe during this period, a desire 

emerged to truly know the world of Oriental culture and, through this 

understanding, to approach the creation of new cultural forms. Thus, from 

this period we can speak of a deeper interaction between the cultures of the 

East and the West. 

As an example, consider theatre and cinema. European theatre of that 

period was experiencing a rather difficult period of reorientation, partly 

associated with the general cultural trends of the century, but also to do 

with the emerging role of theatre directors, who began to search for new 

forms and methods of expression. In Russia, one founder of a new theory, 

Vsevolod Meyerhold, believed that theatre needed movement and plasticity 

but not dialogue, and that the element of movement should dominate 

theatrical performances. He felt that a work was is ideal if you can perform 

it without words, as a pantomime.

14

 In Europe, Antonin Artaud, following 

the ideas of Meyerhold, wrote that the theatre should be  

“not just a reflection of the written text, not a physical representation of 

what is expressed in words, but a fiery projection of everything that can be 

extracted from gesture, expression, sound, music, and their relations.”

15

 

It should be noted that during this period, the European public was 

only just becoming acquainted with the theatre traditions of the far East 

(China and Japan). In 1928, Japanese Kabuki theatre was toured in Russia. 

This was the first time Russian theatre audiences had been introduced to 

Oriental theatre, and the tour turned out to be a sensational event for the 

Russian intelligentsia. Representatives of the dramatic arts were amazed to 

see this distinctive Japanese theatrical form, so different from the Russian 

theatrical tradition. The Kabuki plays had a great impact on the works of S. 

                                                 

12

 Breuer 2010, p. 17-20. 

13

 Zavadskaya 1970, p. 82. 

14

 Zingerman 2001, p. 8. 

15

 Polyakov 2000, p. 64. 

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