| Description |
Bhutanese paintings are quintessential of the arts and crafts tradition known as Lhazo. Bhutanese paintings are religious in their orientation and are not created in
isolation. The traditional painters are called Lhadrips (one who makes drawings of lha - higher beings). A lhadrip paints and decorates a new house with traditional symbols, paint a chosham (an altar) or a Thangka or Thongdroel with the images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and deities with strict adherence to the already accepted norms. Another striking feature of Bhutanese paintings is anonymity. Bhutanese lhadrips would never sign on their works. It is, however, the names of the patrons who are mentioned on the paintings, if mentioned at all. By the same token, it is believed that the traditional painters gain lots of merits by the act of painting these religious arts. These paintings are aimed at providing spiritual lessons to the viewers and therefore assume meditative functions.
The painters use naturally pigmented soils that are obtained from different parts of the country. The yellow colours are found in the districts of Gasa and Bumthang while the red colour is found in Wamrong under Trashigang District, black soil comes from Phuentsholing and Trashigang and white soil from Paro.
Lhadrip apprentices learn to paint a wide range of images including simple motifs like the eight lucky signs and gradually move on to more complex subjects such as thangkas – large painting scrolls. Thangkas are complex because they depict various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and the deities and saints with their follower and appropriate backgrounds. They are often painted on canvas and then stitched in silk frames. Traditional paintings are classified into four categories:
a. Mural Painting:
The mural painting is called debri.The inside walls of the temples are usually filled with mural paintings of different kinds. The surfaces of the inside walls are first
smoothened and plastered with fine clay and then left to dry. Sometimes they use another technique by carefully laying a fine sheet of cotton cloth over the plastered
walls which is not easily visible. The mural paintings vary from the images of Lord Buddha and Guru Rinpoche and their activities, bhavacakra (sidpa khorlo) or wheel of existence, varied icons of deities (lhatshog), adepts and saints. We also find the paintings of Mandala. These frescos are, therefore, strictly religious and strikingly
beautiful.
b. Statue Painting:
Statues are either moulded from clay or cast out of bronze and metal. Once they are completed, then the lhadrips paint them using appropriate colour. The clay
statues are painted all over while the metal statues are painted only on the face, often with gold.
c. Scroll Painting:
Scroll (thangka) paintings are different from mural paintings as they are painted on canvas for hanging on the walls. Scroll paintings can be kept folded in a safe place and unfolded and displayed on auspicious occasions. In order to make a thangka, the painter fixes a damp piece of canvas onto a wooden frame. Then a mixture of lime and gum is scrubbed on the surface. The surface is then polished and smoothed. The artist then draws a grid to guide him. When the colour is applied these lines disappear.
A thangka is stitched with silk and brocade border of appropriate colours and has two frames fixed to the upper and lower borders to suspend and stretch. Thongdroel is a much larger version of a thangka. It is believed that merely seeing the painting can liberate sentient beings from samsara. Thus, it brings merit not
only to the believers but for the painters as well.
d. Wood Painting:
Shing tshon (Shing means wood and tshon means colour painting) is done on the wooden structure. The outside walls of the temples, monasteries and farm houses are normally whitewashed while the wooden structures are painted with varied patterns and symbols often in accordance with different names accorded to different
parts. These are bow, phana, pem, choetsi, norbu and bagam. Although the choice of colours may vary from one painter to another, often depending on the choice
of the owner or main architect, the style of paintings are generally uniform. Paintings on the walls depict the traditional patterns like flowers, traditional symbols,
eight lucky signs or Tashi Tagye (eight lucky signs), and the four lungta signs of Tag Seng Chung Druk (Tiger, Snow Lion, Garuda and Dragon).
The painting of the Four Friends is popular on the walls. Some walls are also painted with phalluses. In order to paint on the wooden walls, the method called ‘pounce
and spray’ is used. A painter uses an outline of a pattern or the design on a piece of paper to be painted on the walls. The outlines have pricked holes through which
a powdered colour contained in a cloth is pressed to produce dotted pattern of the original patterns on the paper. The painter then traces these outlines to paint.
|
