Page 17 - Tibetan Thangka Painting Methodsand Mat, Jackson

Skilled and famous painters could and sometimes novice painter, were essential if we were to understand
did enrich themselves by peddling their work for the their world. Thus in the end we came to view our
highest possible fees. Such artists provoked the satire teachers as remarkable not only for their knowledge and
of the 16th-century mad yogi 'Brug-pa Kun-legs, and the skill as artists, but also for their kindness and generosity.
following is a loose rendering of his diatribe against
them:
And as for those "divinely emanated" painters of
religious images - Phooey!
Their crooked images possess neither correct shape
nor proportions - Phooey!
Without making clear the "eye-opening" of the
deity by means of their colors and shading,
They do shading with dark and dilute lac dye -
Phooey!
Not thinking of the payment offered by the
patron as being a basis for gathering a stock of
merit,
They fIx a price of one bre for each deity -
Phooey!
Without restoring the murals of old temples
They sell for a profIt the thangkas that they lazily
paint - Phooey!
I have still more gossip of various kinds about such
painters.
Even if I do not utter it, I would like to! 3
Although perhaps not all Tibetan painters can
escape the criticisms of 'Brug-pa Kun-legs, the ones that
we knew best were conscientious in their dealings with
patrons and not avaricious. Being basically religious in
their outlook, they took care to paint images with 'Brug-pa Kun-legs, from a modem Bhutanese thangka.
correct proportions, and they did not unduly inflate
their fees. It is easy for someone who does not paint to Notes to Chapter 1
overlook the tremendous amount of time and work that
goes into a fine painting. 1. We owe to Daniel V. Thompson, The Materials of
Among Tibetan painters there is still another Medieval Painting (London, 1936), our inspiration
personality type that deserves to be mentioned. There for this way of introducing a tradition of painting
existed a small number of brilliantly talented artists who by describing the general wealth of arts and crafts
in the culture to which it belongs.
were very reticent about their work. Not only did they
not appreciate the prying eyes of foreign visitors, but 2. Mi-pham-rgya-mtsho, Bzo gnas nyer rnkho za rna
they were said to object even to their own relatives tog, Collected Writings (Gangtok, 1975), vo1.9,
watching while they worked. One such artist whom we pp.7l-l38.
met in India was sometimes even said to be a "divinely 3. The Tibetan text of these lines is:
emanated fashioner of images" (sprul pa'j lha bzo). Such
artists had a reputation for taking no students, and often /sprul sku lha bris pa rnarns kyang e hong/
/tshugs dang thig tshad rni ldan pa'i/
they would die without passing on their knowledge.
/ya na yo na'i gzugs brnyan e hong/
Secretiveness was in fact characteristic of many Tibetan
/tshon rndangs spyan 'byed rni gsaI ba'i/
artists, as well as of many doctors, astrologers and other
/rgya tshos nag bla'i (=sla'i?) rndangs 'byed e hong/
specialists.
/dge rtsa 'i yon du rni bsarn pari
Our main teachers, however, were not excessively
/lha rer bre re 'i gongrgyag e hong/
secretive, nor were they miserly in teaching students. /lha khang logs bris rni gsa ba'i/
We heard of painters who put their students through flag dal thang sku 'I khe tshong e hong/
demanding apprenticeships, not revealing the secrets of Ida rung kha 'chal sna tshogs yod/
the craft until many years had passed. Yet we were /rni lab byas na'ang lab snying 'dod/
fortunate in fInding teachers who took a pleasure in
See John A. Ardussi, '''Brug-pa Kun-legs, the Saintly
imparting their knowledge. In addition to teaching us
Tibetan Madman," M. A. Thesis, University of
the details of painting techniques and materials, they
Washington, 1972, p.251. In the same text 'Brug-pa
often described at length their former way of life as Kun-legs also gives amusing criticisms of cobblers,
artists in old Tibet. In so doing they introduced us to weavers, silversmiths and blacksmiths. See ibid.,
many things which, though of no practical use to a pp.163-l65.
TIBETAN PAINTERS 13