Tibetan Thangka Paintings

14 Sep 2006 Category: Arts & Crafts, Features, Worldwide

Tibetan Thangka Paintings

While traveling in Tibet for a few weeks recently, I spent some time in the capital Lhasa, where there are many shops selling thangka (pronounced ‘tangka’): these are hanging scroll-like paintings which depict Buddhist themes and are used as a visual focus for meditation. Jiu Mei Yang Jing runs the shop ‘Tibet Thangka Art’ with her husband Drölma Ben, and I asked her a few questions about these fantastical images.

Written by Ashley Rawlings


Thangka artist Drölma Ben and his wife Jiu Mei Yang Jing

Could you tell me a little bit about how you set up your shop here in Lhasa?

It’s very new, we only opened last September. My husband is a thangka teacher from the north of Tibet, Amdo, the region now called Qinghai in Chinese. We met here four years ago and last year we got married. While I am Chinese, all my friends are Tibetan and we were inspired to open a shop here. We used to come here just in the summer to paint and sell, and in October we’d go back to our hometown to paint through the winter. I love thangka and I love Tibet, so we came to live here.


What kind of customers do you have? Where do they usually come from?

In the past it was only foreigners who liked thangka: only they knew about them, whereas only very few Chinese knew about thangka. In the winter, a lot of foreigners go to my husband’s hometown to buy and order thangka – they know a lot. But from this year, because of the railway that has just been completed, linking Lhasa to the rest of the country’s rail network, a lot of Chinese come here from all over the country and they love thangka very much. For some it’s the first time they come here and the first time they see thangka and yet they choose big, expensive ones, even though they can be priced at around 10,000 yuan (150,000 yen). One customer from Beijing told me they will be organising a thangka exhibition there next year and as he was impressed by the detail with which my husband paints, he has invited him to show in Beijing.

One of the bigger, more expensive thangkas, depicting Sakyamuni

Wow, it sounds like things have got off to a really good start! Is your husband teaching other family members, passing on his knowledge to the next generation?

Yes. My husband, his uncle and his grandfather were all thangka painters. He’s the eldest of three brothers and he teaches his brothers, cousins and other students. Altogether he has sixty students.

What’s his approach to making thangka? Does he teach in a traditional or modern style?

The basic structure of the pictures doesn’t change. My husband consults books on thangka and looks at the way they have been done before and keeps the style the same. For example, with the image of Sakyamuni, one hand always reaches down to the earth and the other hand always holds a begging bowl. This posture never changes. You can see with these two White Taras: they both sit in the lotus position and have seven eyes, on the forehead, and on their hands and feet. What goes on around the Buddha’s figure is up to the artist: whether you put a cloud here or there, or you add other Buddhas in the corners, it’s up to him. By not changing the main figure, anyone is able to recognize who it is straight away.

The White Tara (Drölkar) is associated with the day (while the Green Tara is associated with the night)

The White Tara is a female bodhisattva who represents longevity.

So, how are the paintings made?

The base is made of white cotton cloth, and my husband uses a stone to smoothe it down, which takes one day. Then, he uses a pencil to draw the outline of the picture and his students colour in the broad background areas, using mineral pigments.

The first stage of a thangka: the image outlined in pencil

After that, my husband paints on the detail – in particular the gold detail – and the final stage is to paint in the eyes. In the early morning, before doing that, he will pray. My husband prays a lot while he paints… but his younger brother prefers to listen to music! (laughs).

Drölma Ben’s younger brother Jue Ba working on a thangka (a paint brush under his shirt makes a funny shape)

While Drölma Ben prays when he paints, Jue Ba listens to his mp3 player!

The painting he’s working on at the moment is one of the Avalokiteshvara, the four-armed Boddhisattva of Compassion, which was ordered by an American customer. It has taken him a week to get to this stage and soon my husband will paint on the gold detail and fill in the eyes.

The unfinished image of the Buddha of Compassion

When the painting has been finished, what kind of customs are there about the kind of cloth that it is mounted on?

They are always mounted on silk, and having red and yellow borders running around the edge of the painting is essential. What colour goes around that to form the bulk of the mount is up to you, but blue is the typical colour. Tibetans like this silk mounting, but the Chinese tend to prefer having the painting framed in glass (laughs).


A thangka mounted on cloth, the Tibetan way

Framed thangka, the way many Chinese customers like them

And the colour of the curtain that hangs over the painting?

Yes, in Tibet, we raise the curtain in the early morning and lower it at night before going to bed. Red and yellow are the best colours, but recently a foreigner chose white – that was the first time someone ever chose white, so I remember it! (laughs). But it looks good!

The corner of the shop with antique thangka for sale

Lastly, could you tell me a bit about some of the older thangka that you have in the shop? Who painted them?

We don’t know for sure because thangka painters don’t usually put a date or their name on them. It happens sometimes with new thangka: if you want the date and name, my husband can write it for you, but normally he doesn’t. Thangka are Buddhist images meant for prayer, so it doesn’t make sense to have the artist’s name on it: he’s not the person you are praying to.

The oldest thangka in the shop, depicting the life and death of the Buddha

This one featuring the Sakyamuni is about 200 years old. In the bottom right hand corner it depicts him leaving his hometown of Lumbini in Nepal and going out into the world. In the bottom left hand corner, you can see him becoming a monk and in the middle left hand side of the painting he is becoming the Buddha. Above that he is teaching, and lastly, on the right hand side of the painting, you see the portrayal of his death. This story is 2500 years old, but it still fascinates people today.

It does! Thank you very much for your time!

36 Comments

  1. thats so inspiring :,)
    i must try some thangka myself!

    Posted by: 100kr on September 15th, 2006 at 1:27 am

  2. wow.. i love those colors man.. made me feel alive! :)

    Posted by: Pai on September 15th, 2006 at 11:02 am

  3. Interesting & informative.
    What could be the reason for smoothing down cotton?

    Posted by: Paavani on September 15th, 2006 at 5:29 pm

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  6. u are a very good artist there is a life in ur paintings, even i am also the artist……. god bless u go on…

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  7. really there is strong impression in the art works……there is a depth of sanity in it

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  8. Hi,I have a shop in Rebgong county of Qinghai province, China. It’s a place famous for Buddhism arts(it’s generally called Rebgong Art),especially thangka and barbolas. Just one month ago, I started my business on internet; it turns out great surprise to me, there are so many people interested in this kind of art. I have a stock of Thangkas and barbolas in my shop, and if there’s anyone interested in them, please feel free to contact me through: farlandarts@hotmail.com
    My website is: http://www.farlandarts.com

    Posted by: Miles Lyn on December 6th, 2007 at 9:29 pm

  9. Nice article! We’re currently in China with our stock of thangkas! I’ve noticed that Chinese people really love gold thangkas. I love the fact that Chinese people are becoming interested in this kind of Buddhist art again, it’s fantastic. Good luck with your shop!

    Gavin
    http://www.SacredThangkas.com

    Posted by: Gavin McCloskey on December 21st, 2007 at 11:50 am

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