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The Electronic Sketch Book of Tibetan Thangka Painting

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The Electronic Sketch Book of Tibetan Thangka Painting 1 Introduction Among the many expressions of Tibetan art that we have come to admire are the paintings known as "Thangka." Typically, images on Thangka paintings, like those expressed in stone and metal, represent the various deities that populate the Ti- The electronic betan artistic pantheon (Tucci 1949; Pal 1983). Blazing with symbolism, their purpose is to trans- sketch book of port the viewer into the supernatural and para- Tibetan Thangka disiacal world of the deity, a world conceptualized by theologians and visualized by artists for count- painting less generations. Visually expressive and stimulating as these images are, the depiction of the various deities on Thang- Ranjit Makkuni kas is regulated by precise rules of composition. Some of these rules of composition are represented System Sciences Laboratory, Xerox Palo Alto in canonical treatises describing verbally the basic Research Center, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA iconography of the various deities. Other rules are expressed visually through proportioning diagrams and sample sketches of deities. The sketches dem- onstrate, for example, various compositional The electronic sketch book of Thangka schemes of Thangkas: the postures of deities, the painting project is conceived as a way of gestures that deities make with their hands, the using interactive video and computing symbolic objects that their hands clasp, the render- technology to preserve and disseminate ing of the deities' garments and accessories, and the craft of Tibetan Thangka painting - landscape elements that echo the deities' spiritual a 2000-year-old art form now threatened qualities. These rules of composition are timeless, with deterioration. This paper first pro- as they were passed down from master to pupil vides a description of the project and then through successive generations, the medium of examines the research questions about the transmission consisting of proportioning diagrams, relationship of electronic technology and sample sketches, and verses in Tibetan canonical design craft. Second, it illustrates the pre- treatises. liminary work towards the construction of Today a variety of forces threaten the practice of a prototype electronic Thangka sketch Thangka painting, moving the craft towards book. The sketch book enables novice stu- irrevocable simplification. As a part of a monu- dents of Thangka Painting to explore mental task to preserve the artistic heritage of Ti- Thangka-related topics. Its multimedia bet, the remaining Thangka painters, at the request database includes video records of finished of the Dalai Lama, have become wanderers, travel- Thangka paintings, compositional tech- ing the world as a living archive, and carrying with niques, sample sketches, catalogues of them the knowledge of the ways of Thangka paint- painting elements, curatorial analyses, and ing. The electronic sketch book of Tibetan Thang- scences of Tibetan cultural life. The sketch ka painting project is conceived as a way of using book's interface permits novice students to computing and video representations to preserve explore the database at their own pace, Thangka imagery and the cultural context in which through direct interaction with diagrams it is created, and as a way to use these representa- and images of Thangka paintings. tions to reveal the process of composing Thangkas. The project is a collaborative effort between Senge Key words: Tibetan Thangka painting - Lama, one of the last two living artists of the "Kar- Visual language - Hyper media - Repre- ma Gadri" style of Thangka painting, Xerox re- sentation of design process - Craft preser- searchers, the curators of the Asian Art Museum vation - Craft dissemination - User inter- of San Francisco, and the Tibetan community. face The sketch book has two roles: a passive preserva- tion role and an active dissemination role. In the passive role the sketch book takes form as a chroni- The Visual Computer (1989) 5:227-242 Springer-Verlag1989 227 Fig. 1. Thangka painting of Goddess Green Tara, 15th century, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J.H. Wade Fund, 70.156 cle, an audiovisual diary of Thangka imagery like sations, computational graphic representations, its traditional predecessors expressed by manu- video-based re-enactments of compositions and script illuminations and narrative paintings. In the sketches, and video stills. The content of the data- active role, the sketch book is a medium of trans- base serves to expose the beginning painter to the mission, connecting the Thangka master and be- various deities of the Tibetan pantheon, their my- ginning painters, mediating between painters and thologies and symbolism, proportioning and ren- the records in the diary in electronic form, and dering skills, the practice of Thangkas as a cultural re-integrating the historical practice with contem- activity. The scenes of action are complemented porary tools. Related work on interactive educa- by scenes of Tibetan life, folk songs, verbal invoca- tional media projects are available in the references tions and chanting of deities, and conversations (Morrel and Trigg 1987; Yankelovitch et al. 1988; with Senge and experts on existing Thangkas. The Wilson 1988). sketch book's user interface models the content of This paper first exposes the research questions the diverse elements in the database and provides about the relationship of technology and craft. Sec- navigational mechanisms. ond, it discusses preliminary research into the con- The student painter interacts with the Thangka struction of a prototype sketch book for instruc- sketch book, calligraphically using a diagrammatic tional use within the craft environment for Thang- language. The diagrammatic language provides a ka painting. The sketch book contains a database means for presenting the content of the database, of sounds and images of the process of Thangka as well as a means for indexing and retrieving cate- composition, including audio recordings of conver- gories of elements in the database. The interaction 228 / Fig. 2. Proportioning Diagram of Goddess Green Tara, drawn by Wangdrak, Copyright 1988, Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca language provides a basis for examining themes The word "Thangka" literally means "something of continuity and change as it bridges between that is rolled up"; hence, a rolled-up image or a Thangka representations in traditional media and painting scroll. process-oriented representations in electronic me- The center stage of a Thangka painting is usually dia. The remainder of this paper is organized into occupied by a deity. In this painting, the Goddess, three sections: (1) the project's motivations and re- sumptously bedecked with jewels, is sitting in a search questions; (2) database of Thangka imagery; relaxed posture with one leg locked and the other and (3) diagrammatic user interface. leg pendant on a double lotus pedestal. A lotus supports her pendant right leg for, indeed, her feet cannot rest on the physical earth. Her right hand 2 Motivations and extends over her knee with palm facing outwards research questions in the gesture of "reassurance." Similarly, her left hand, expressing the gesture of "exposition," holds To glance for the first time at the painting illustrat- a blue lotus flower. Positioned around the perime- ed on Fig. 1, is to be transported to an evocative ter of the throne and flanking the Goddess are world charged with fantasy and symbolism. The elephants, deers, lions, and mythical animals, image depicted is not a portrait, but a symbol of whose purpose is to emphasize the majesty of the the Goddess Green Tara, the mother of all the Bud- central personage. For example, on top of the dhas. The painting is called Thangka. throne behind the goddess is a mask of a mythical 229 animal biting on two serpants; and below it are vision on successive generations. However there is a fatal weak- two crocodile-like mythical animals with their tails ness of communal art: it has no power to resist the corruption from without. It is beautiful by habit, rather by intention, so in curvilinear foliation. The Goddess is enthroned a single generation under changed conditions is sufficient to inside a tiered temple with three stupas on top. destroy it. Surrounding the temple are numerous trees among which are bannana, palm, and the ficus religiosa, The annexation of Tibet in 1959 caused the exodus the tree of enlightenment. A small figure of a monk of Tibetans from their homeland. Tibetan monas- on the left is possibly the donor of the painting. teries, once the rich repositories of Thangka paint- These symbols of expressive postures, gestures, or- ings and other cultured artifacts, were impover- nate thrones, and landscapes form a rich visual ished and many of their paintings were destroyed. language, which is the accepted medium of commu- Many of the painters and other craftsmen were nication between the painter and the viewer. scattered in various refugee settlements all over the Despite the bewildering complexity of the painting, world. In a battle to preserve and reconstruct the the technical basis for Thangka paintings is a series cultural continuity, Tibet's temporal leader, the of rectilinear diagrams (Fig. 2). The depiction of Dalai Lama, has asked painters and craftsmen to the various deities on Thangkas is regulated and disseminate the traditions in the West. Thus the ordered by very precise rules of composition, painters have become wanderers, traveling the among them the theories of the bodily proportions world as a living archive. It is in these painters, of the various deities that make up the Tibetan more than in collections of Thangka paintings in artistic pantheon. The rules of composition, museums, that we find the knowledge of the ~ handed down generation after generation from of painting." master to pupil, have been the means of transmit- We understand craft is a communal process of ting the craft for the last 2000 years. These theories making artifacts in which the designers are in- are not the work of one artist or generation, but volved with the whole process of design, especially the work of generations of craftsmen, the fruit of in the development of tools and supportive tradi- communal thought.
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