In Tibet, there is a wonderful art, which is thangka.
Thangka, which means a cloth silk scroll painting that can be spread out and viewed.
Designed for the Tibetan people, this is the most distinctive cultural product of Tibet.
Thangka is a kind of moving deity, it is easy to carry, not easy to damage, easy to hang, easy to collect, can be admired anytime and anywhere, adapted to the plateau nomadic life, transportation is extremely inconvenient special living environment.
The earliest appearance of thangkas was in the first half of the 7th century AD. In the historical materials of the Tibetan people, it is recorded that Songtsen Gampo painted a statue of the god "Ban Dian Ram" with his own nosebleed. Ban Dian Ram is also commonly known as the auspicious goddess statue of our Han people, and later this thangka was used by a living Buddha as the core of the Tibetan Pan Dian Ram statue in the abdomen.
Pandim Ram is the only female protector of the eight protectors of Tibetan Buddhism, the protector of Lhasa and jokhang temples, and the protector of women and children. It can be seen from this that thangka had already arisen during the Songtsen Gampo period, but the real beginning and mass adoption of this form was around the Ming Dynasty.
Thangkas are extremely rich in content, including Buddha statues, bodhisattva statues, gods, Dharma diagrams, religious figures, historical figures, religious monasteries, doctrines, customs, medicine, folklore, Buddhist scripture stories, myths, fables and major events. On the whole, religious characteristics are strong, and the picture scrolls reflecting religious content account for more than 80%.
There is a rare ancient thangka preserved in the Tang and Song dynasties, and there is a thangka called "Sangjie Dongxia" in Sakya Temple, which is painted with thirty-five Buddha statues, and the simple and elegant style is very similar to the murals of the same period in the Dunhuang Grottoes, and it is speculated that it may be the Thangka of the Tubo period. Three paintings of the same era have been preserved in the Potala Palace.
Thangka, although limited by religious themes, the content is similar, but when produced, it does not take one model as the standard, the same theme, through the creation of different artists, whether from the form or composition are different.
The composition of thangka must be based on the requirements in the "Sutra of Statue Measurement", rigorous, symmetrical, plump, virtual and realistic, lively and changeable, beautiful and colorful, reflecting social and historical life customs, as well as astronomical calendars and Tibetan medicine.
According to the background color, the painting thangka is divided into color thangka, golden thangka, cinnabar thangka and black thangka. The painting of the thangka painting usually after the preparation of the picture frame and canvas, generally has to go through the process of sketching, ink line, color application, smudge dyeing, using color lines to draw lines again, blending dyeing, gold, opening eyes and so on. The organic combination and wonderful variation of lines and colors is the main technique of painting thangkas.
Gold thangkas and black thangkas are unique and distinctive, characterized by the use of longer lines and an effect similar to a white stroke. In these two forms, the base color is usually a large area of monochrome, that is, gold or black, while the shape is all outlined with white lines, and the shape is particularly eye-catching under the contrast between the base color and the line, with a three-dimensional three-dimensional space effect. The lines are natural and fluid, reflecting superb artistic skills, which is breathtaking.
Drawing thangkas is a complex and elaborate process. The first stage is to start preparing materials. The first step is to select the cloth; The second step, the upper box; The third step is to lay the bottom; The fourth step is sanding. Generally, thangka is based on linen or wool cloth, and silk is the most precious. Before painting, the edge of the satin bottom cloth is worn with twine thread, it is stretched on a special wooden frame, and then the animal brain and a fine white mud powder on the plateau are mixed into a paste to evenly coat the base cloth, eliminate all holes, and after smearing well, the paste is scraped flat and polished with mussel pieces, and the bottom cloth is completely dry before painting. First use the charcoal stripe to draw the outline of the image, generally inside and then outside, the middle main image is drawn into the attachment part of the surrounding area.
The second stage is to draw: the first step is to determine the center point of the picture; the second step is to start the drawing; The third step is to hook the black line; The fourth step, coloring (coloring step gathering: 1, drawing thangka to take the heavy color method and pastel method; 2, first dark color, then light color; 3, first wear the color of the clothes, then the color of the face): the fifth step, the color double line; Step 6, depict gold; The seventh step is to write a text description and number.
The pigments used to draw thangkas are opaque minerals and plant raw materials, plus some animal glue and cow bile. Due to the scientific formulation of raw materials and the dry climate in Tibetan areas, the painted thangkas are bright and bright even if they have been hundreds of years.
The third stage is lining: the first step, with cotton satin trim; The second step, in order to cover the dust and protect the heart of the thangka, add a veil to the front of the thangka; The third step is to install the sky pole; The fourth step is to draw the core.
The fourth stage is to hold a light opening ceremony to officially announce the official opening of the thangka.
In terms of texture, it is divided into cloth, silk, and paper. Painted pigments are mainly gold, silver, cinnabar, male yellow and other mineral pigments, followed by plant pigments. Generally thangka is a vertical rectangle, the central picture is called "myron", the picture is surrounded by colored satin, and its red and yellow frame is called a rainbow, which is a symbol of the spirit of the spirit. Both ends plus hardwood shafts have high artistic value.
In order to protect the thangka picture from being old and new, it is usually covered with a silk curtain, which is unveiled when viewing, and there are two equal-length ribbons on the curtain, called "Longnan" in Tibetan. Some thangkas have the middle below the frame set with a red square satin called "Tongjiu". The length is generally about one meter, the width is sixty or seventy centimeters, and the very small ones are only a few tens of centimeters, and there is no mounting. The largest is 50 or 60 meters wide and 30 or 40 meters wide.
The structure of the thangka can generally be divided into three parts: the center is the Buddha-figure, that is, the object of the devotee's offering, and the upper part of the Buddha-figure is the void boundary, and the lower part is the earth boundary, also known as the mortal world. Some of the layouts represent a theme in a single frame, while others are spelled out in a "zigzag" shape with Tibetan characteristics. Most of them adopt symmetrical techniques, close to flat unfolding, the layout is vivid and not chaotic, each thangka has a certain storyline, there are single pictures, and there are several or dozens of whole stories connected, such as the biography of Shakyamuni.
There is another phenomenon in thangka, that is, the annotation diagrams of natural science, such as the celestial movement charts collected by the Potala Palace, and the animal figures of the planets with symbols of the Twenty Heavenly Palaces all move regularly according to their respective orbits. In the Norbulingka collection, there is a set of Tibetan medicine thangkas, a total of more than sixty paintings, including medical principles, human body structure, meridian acupuncture points, medical devices, and various drugs, which is also rare in the history of world medicine.
In Tibet, people refer to thangka painters as "Laripa", which means the person who painted Buddhas or gods.
There was a painter named Dopa Tashi Jepo, and two of his disciples, one named MianLa Dunzhu, founded the Mian Tang School in the middle of the 15th century; one called Chinze Chinmo, who founded the Chinze School. In addition to these two schools, the most famous is the Karmagazi School, the founder of which is generally believed to have been active in the South Katashi in the second half of the 16th century.
At present, the main thangka schools are:
Nepali school: popular in the 11th to 13th centuries. Welcomed by Songtsen Gampo to invite Princess Chizun into Tibet, the Nepalese artist who followed the princess into Tibet, has the characteristics of strong Nepal's extremely warm colors, the main figure in the center of the picture occupies a very prominent position, other condescending and dependent bodhisattvas are arranged in a neat small square around, the shape is simple and simple, the body is relatively simple and simple, and the ornaments are very heavy.
Qigang School: The founder is Yadui Qiwugangpa Living Buddha, popular in the 13th century in the Weizang region, the school of painting absorbed the painting style of the Nepalese school, is the art of the partition period after the Tibetan tantra of Tibet, with the angry Buddha statue as the biggest feature. He is short in stature and has a very large head. The figure painting shape is natural and smooth. The decoration is relatively meticulous, the brushstrokes are delicate, and the part of the picture occupied by the main figure is very large. The surrounding background space is relatively small. The background is mainly red, green and blue.
Chinzepai: The founder is Gongga Gangdui. Chinze Chinmo, popular in the mid-to-late 15th century. In the picture, the content of the bluestone green and heavy color brush appears, the expression of the composition of the green landscape and the delicate line of the cloud are all absorbed into the appearance of the han Dynasty's landscape and water rights.
Karma School: The founder of the Karma Kachi School was the Rinpoche of Nanku Tashi, who was born in Yadui in the 16th century AD, and was a thangka that absorbed a large amount of Han Chinese style, and was also a court painting school at that time. The characters in the painting are completely immersed in elegance and romance, and the proportions of the characters are perfect, and they have a wonderful artistic conception.
Mian Tang School: The founder is Mian La Dun Zhu, which is the most influential thangka painting school after the 15th century. Since the 17th century Quying Gyatso invented the Metric Sutra in Thangka painting, painting thangkas in units of measurement. The proportion of the length of the painter's own fingers made the Buddha portrait appear regulated, adapting to the demand for a large number of Buddha thangkas at that time.
Thangka's painting method adopts a single line of flat painting, which is solemn and solemn, with a well-proportioned posture, a lively dance form of the characters, graceful and colorful, and the image is vivid. If historical stories and genre paintings are drawn, the aerial perspective method is used, and the background of the figures and buildings is depicted in geometric structures, which is strongly decorative. The tone is either intense, elegant, rich, or light, and the brushwork is simple and delicate.
Depicting gold and silver is a special technique of Thangka, in addition to the common use of thin lines such as hair, but also like to use a variety of techniques such as partial whole pieces of gold, so that the picture looks magnificent and brilliant.
Before painting the thangka, the painter has to bathe and change clothes, burn incense and pray, calm down, and adjust himself to the most pious state of mind.
Behind each thangka, the artist's heart is revealed.