Thangka, before Gyatso in Lausanne, was a scattered work dedicated to temples by folk painters. Since the Fifth Dalai Lama, an institution equivalent to an art academy has been established, and Thangka's creation has entered a period of professional creation. The 7th Dalai Lama, Ge Sang Gyatso, established the "Lali Baiji Club", which is an official painting academy. This undoubtedly promoted the development of Thangka art, and there are many schools of Thangka painting, the most influential of which is the "door hall" school. All the painters in the hospital have professional titles, and the highest painter is called "Wu Qin". The last "Wu Qin" in the history of Tibetan painting is Mr. Tashi Tsering, a master of Thangka painting, and Tashi Tsering is also the only living "Wu Qin".
Thangka's drawing requirements are particularly strict, and every drawing procedure must follow religious ceremonies. In addition, the Statue Survey Sutra clearly stipulates the content, coloring and size of each Thangka, and the painter shall not overstep it.
Symbolism in images
To interpret Thangka, besides understanding the history of Tibetan Buddhism and the different characteristics of various Buddha statues, the most important thing is to understand the symbolic significance of many gods and patterns. The soul of Thangka art lies in giving symbolic meaning to all images, colors and shapes of the picture, and conveying spirit and thoughts.
In the scriptures of weights and measures of Tibetan Buddhism, the scriptures of body, mind and weights and measures state the facial implication of the Buddha statue: the oval shape of the face indicates solemnity, beauty and charm; Square represents anger; Ellipse means courage; Teenagers look younger. The expression of wrath god is: charming clothing and skin color; Proud to be a hero, glaring; Smile with joy; Hold high weapons as terror; A man's beard standing upright is a manifestation of the god of anger.
In Tibetan Buddhism, causality and ethics are often preached with the help of Thangka art, turning abstraction into concreteness and thoughts into symbols. For example, Guanyin, Manjusri and Jingangpani are often depicted in the same picture, which respectively represent the three most important qualities and strengths of compassion, wisdom and courage in Tibetan Buddhism.
Decoration on the image
Not only the composition, color and shape of Thangka are constantly being beautified and improved, but even the Buddha statue is very decorative and beautiful. General Thangka's dharma, stupas and various symbols are also classified and integrated into various forms in a symmetrical way, thus completely decorating and patterning Buddhist theory and having profound implications.
Thangka's mysterious content from heaven, colorful and wonderful images and unique forms are amazing and admirable. These thangkas are characterized by rich decorative effects and spatial patterns that are not restricted by thinking. Generally speaking, Thangka has heaven above it, and land, Buddhism or sacred circles below it. All kinds of gods and ghosts are in their places according to this norm. The center of the picture is naturally reserved for various gods and gods.
The main location of Thangka is reserved for Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and various ghosts and gods, and the rest space is reserved for magical nature and various Buddha statues with various mascots. All need to be expressed in color. If all kinds of Buddha statues are based on all kinds of surveying classics, then all backgrounds, environments, and pictures and texts are created and brought into play by the accumulation of experience passed down from generation to generation and the experience and observation of painters. This phenomenon becomes more and more obvious with the genre and localization of Thangka.
The backlight of the early Buddha statues was extremely simple, even just a rainbow. Later, after development and evolution, it was polished and gradually enriched. In the 17th century, Thangka really developed this feature to the extreme, and the composition was extremely relaxed and lively, stretching naturally. Even because the French king and the monks who lived in the center moved to one side, they left a lot of space for nature and made people feel full of vitality.
What I want to mention here is the extensive application of Tangka art to gold and silver. Some precious thangkas are decorated with gold and silver from the face, body, costumes, lotus platform, backlight and other natural scenery of the Buddha statue.
Thangka's drawing must be carried out in strict accordance with religious rituals and the classification of the Classic of Statue Measurement, and under the inheritance of the guru. The first measurement is based on natural objects; Secondly, taking the human body as a unit, measuring classics not only provides a basis for painters to create images, but also becomes a reference for identifying the state and physical appearance of various objects. This visual recognition is not only a vivid and detailed description of the body, clothing, appliances and strict installation. This is also one of the biggest characteristics of Thangka.
Over the past 1000 years, with the spread of Tibetan Buddhism, in addition to numerous Tibetan monks and vulgar artists, the creative skills of Tangka art have also spread to the Tu, Mongolian and Han areas in China, becoming a kind of culture and art shared by multi-ethnic resources and skills.
Thangka's drawing is extremely complicated and the materials used are extremely elegant. Pigments are all mineral plant raw materials, with bright color and long-lasting color fastness. The manufacturing process is briefly summarized as the following steps:
Make curtains
First, several pieces of white cotton cloth with the same size are sewn together and stretched on the wooden frame with inelastic rope. The whole canvas should not only be flat, but also be stitched seamlessly. Traditional curtain painting requires special attention. First, sew the canvas tightly on four bamboo poles, and then stretch it in a larger wooden frame with inelastic rope. The inner and outer frames can make the canvas more symmetrical and compact. Nowadays, most of the painted curtains are sewn on hollow iron frames and thick wooden strips.
slurrying
Sew white cloth, and then paste it with homemade Niu Pijiao and gypsum powder. When the pulp is dry, gently sprinkle a layer of water and polish it repeatedly with smooth stone or porcelain until the cloth is smooth. Then, use a large wooden guide to Fiona Fang correct the canvas to ensure that it is square and elastic, and then draw lines on the canvas. Line drawing is to arrange patterns with lines according to the size of canvas, and line drawing is the first step of painting.
Today, there are still some painters who do not use ink to construct lines, but split the stumps of poplars or willows and burn them with charcoal. Generally, when composing a large Thangka, they will draw the outline with charcoal pen first, and then draw some details with pencil or charcoal pen to finalize the sketch. When constructing sketches, they have to mix a proper amount of glue and musk (antiseptic) to make juice.
Sketch includes: measuring size, drawing bare skeleton, drawing clothes and treasures, drawing landscapes, clouds, flowers, animals, houses and other backgrounds, drawing ink lines and erasing redundant lines. This process requires Thangka artists to understand and be familiar with the historical background of Buddha and Bodhisattva, and master the layout of characters and background patterns.
colour
Color the sky and the earth first, and then color clothes, skin, clouds, flowers and trees, pavilions, cloisters, offerings, etc. On the other hand. In addition, attention should be paid to the content of glue in the pigment when coloring. If there is too much glue, glue particles will ooze from the back of the canvas. If there is too little content, when you wipe the picture with your hand, your hand will be stained with color. According to the observation, you should add glue at any time. This requires artists to master the skin colors of figures such as buddhas and bodhisattvas, as well as the color matching and coloring skills of utensils, animals and plants, blue sky, sea, snow-capped mountains, vegetation and moats.
Thangka is a meticulous painting, and drawing lines is the most time-consuming and eye-catching process. Sketching is the basic drawing method of tracing pictures with a thin pen, and it is also a unique painting technique in Tibetan painting art, such as clothes folds, facial contours, petal shapes, mountains and rivers, changing curves and so on. Need to be hooked. Full characters and thick curves are required. The ups and downs are rough, crazy and powerful, and the harmony is smooth, including the fine depiction of nose, ears, eyes, mouth and hook gold thread. The so-called "hook gold thread" refers to mixing gold foil and water evenly, and then sketching out backlights, clothes, etc. Use the finest brush (the painter can make it according to his own needs) to further decorate the portrait.
Tangka artists in Dege, Tibet are good at sketching, and most of the Tangka models in Regong are from Dege. Thangka artists in Changdu insist on drawing Thangka with pure natural mineral fuels, which is famous for its long-lasting fastness, colorful pigments and colorful colors, while Regong Thangka is famous for its gold painting skills such as gold painting and gilding.
Opening eyebrows is the most important step in the process of Thangka drawing, and the success or failure of a Thangka often depends on the success of opening eyebrows. Some old artists regard the skill of eyebrow opening as a stunt, which is passed down from generation to generation and is not easy to show. A good eyebrow eye can make the finishing point, and at the same time indicates the final completion of a Thangka painting.
The expression of joy is that the eyes are arched and the pupils are in the center of the arch, giving people a feeling of facing up to the front and being happy; The two ends of the bow droop, indicating that the Buddha is meditating; The ends of the bow are upturned, indicating that the Buddha is smiling.
The expression of compassion is that the eyes are barley-shaped, and drawing half a pupil in the center will show the image of compassion.
Sadness is manifested by the drooping of both ends of the upper eyelid and eyebrows, and only half of the pupil is seen.
Anger is manifested in thick eyebrows, upturned hair tips and large and round pupils.
After Thangka finished painting, silk and satin were sewn around the picture, and the bottom edge of Thangka was rolled up with a round wooden stick as support. Its length is basically the same as that of Thangka, and both ends can be several centimeters longer than the width of Thangka. The upper horizontal bar is a flat wooden stick with a string in the middle for hanging. Such a complete Thangka is presented to the world.
The lining of Thangka can be cotton, silk, satin and so on. Some thangkas are loaded on the back. But after mounting, a flip cover was made on the back of the picture so that you can see the words written on the back of Thangka. In this case, the back of Thangka picture and the two bottom edges of the lining are usually fixed together, but people have to open the lining page to see the characters on the back.
Next, we invite our friends to enjoy a set of Thangka with the number 158- 125927: