What are the artistic features of Regong art?

Regong art is an important part of Tibetan Buddhism art and a school with wide influence. It originated from the Longwu River Basin in Tongren County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province in the15th century. For hundreds of years, a large number of artists have been engaged in folk Buddhist plastic painting. The large number of artists and exquisite group skills are rare in other Tibetan areas, so it is called "the hometown of Tibetan painters", while the Tibetan language in Tongren area is called "Regong", so this art is collectively called "Regong Art". So what are the artistic features of Regong art? Then let's take a look with this article!

I. Historical origin

From the end of 10 to the beginning of 13 century, it was the "post-prosperity period" of the whole Tibetan Buddhism, the transition period of Tibetan Buddhist art and the origin period of Regong art ... During this period, the increasingly nationalized Tibetan Buddhism gained a wide range of beliefs. Therefore, Tibetan Buddhist art, as its image propaganda, has also begun to consciously change from foreign style to the direction that conforms to the national aesthetic habits.

The artistic remains of Tibetan Buddhism in the transitional period are relatively rich. As far as painting is concerned, murals such as Zamba and The Prince of Ariguge Kingdom are simple in shape, simple and steady in color, and show a strong cultural color of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. There are also decorative Thangkas, such as Nadangjian Temple Lama and Gongga Ji Ze Lama in Nadang Temple in Shigatse.

Regong art also originated in Tibet, the center of snowy culture, but it mainly comes from three aspects: first, the three brothers of Nian He Zhijian Cuo, who lived in Gladow, settled in Anduo Regong to spread Buddhist painting art after studying painting in Nepal; Second, in the 4th and 5th centuries, He Zhinawa of Sakya Sect and his disciples spread Buddhist painting art in Regong area; Third, when Sange Caipei built Labrang Temple in 17 10, his painting style of Mantang School spread to Regong area, so the painters of Regong art have their own characteristics because of different sources.

Regong art keeps going to the outside world. In the early years, artists painted everywhere, including Qinghai, Tibet, Gansu, Sichuan, Xinjiang and Mongolia, as well as India, Myanmar and Nepal. They have extensive contact with Tibetan plastic paintings, Ganzi woodcuts, Dunhuang murals and other ethnic groups or friendly countries, and absorbed rich nutrients. After summing up and refining, it gradually formed a delicate and vivid artistic style with local characteristics of Regong.

Regong art, which began in15th century or even longer, is an important school of Tibetan Buddhist art in China, mainly including Thangka, heap embroidery, sculpture, architectural colorful paintings, patterns, butter sculpture and other art forms. It is named after Regong (Tibetan "Golden Valley") which originated in Tongren County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. For hundreds of years, the men in the villages inhabited by Tibetans and Turks such as Wutun, Nianduhu, Gomari and Gazari in Regong have inherited the folk Buddhist painting art from religious temples, with a large number of artists and superb group skills, so they have the reputation of "the hometown of Tibetan painting". /kloc-After the 0/9th century, Regong art was in the near future. During this period, the works were bright in color and exquisite in brushwork, especially pursuing decorative interest. At the same time, a large amount of gold was used, which made the picture show gorgeous effect and warm atmosphere. The recent representatives are Geng Zang, Jian Mu Cuo and Xia Wucai Lang (/kloc-0 was hired by teachers to help Zhang Daqian copy Dunhuang murals in the 1990s). Their works are methodical in composition, rigorous and inflexible in character modeling, bright and harmonious in color, rich in decoration, with a sense of unity, liveliness and different artistic effects. Regong art, as a school of Tibetan Buddhist art, is different from other Tibetan arts and is also the most prominent in this period. Once the work is taken out, it will be called a masterpiece in Regong area.

Regong art has gradually refined and developed into a unique national art in hundreds of years of history. His works are accurate and vivid in modeling, exquisite and beautiful in meticulous brushwork, rich in color and strong in decoration, giving full play to the rhythm, movement and three-dimensional sense of lines and emphasizing the perfection of the whole. Simple painting style, even and harmonious colors and vivid expression fully embody the splendid culture created by the Tibetan people and are rare artistic treasures in China's cultural heritage. Many works have been exhibited in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tibet, Gansu, Qinghai and other places, and have achieved great success and praise.

Tibetan Buddhist art has added new colors to the ancient China Culture and Art Garden, and Regong art is a dazzling flower in this hundred flowers garden. Artists reflect their understanding of life through unparalleled art and centuries-old historical traces, which is the product of mutual reflection between different regions in Tibet and between Tibetan and Han nationalities. Although it has experienced many twists and turns and ups and downs, it has a bright future, and it will certainly draw the essence from the vast national folk art and innovate constantly, so that the "pearl" of Regong art will shine.

Second, the artistic features

In terms of categories, Regong art includes painting (mural painting and scroll painting are called Thangka in Tibetan), sculpture (clay sculpture and wood carving), pile embroidery (embroidery and pile cutting), architectural color painting, pattern, sand painting and butter sculpture. The content mainly includes the biography of Sakyamuni, the biography of Bodhisattva, the biography of dharma protector, the biography of Buddhist stories, the biography of immortal statues and so on. The early works of Regong art are extensive and simple, with simple colors and typical Indian and Nepalese styles. Its style is bold, people, landscapes, flowers and birds, grass insects are lifelike, and the picture gives people a sense of grandeur. By the middle of the17th century, the craftsmen of Regong were becoming more and more skilled, with simple and smooth line drawing, vigorous and powerful, heavy color with meticulous brushwork, solemn and calm, fresh and rich colors, even and harmonious, and the painted figures were both in form and spirit, and the painting style tended to be gorgeous and fine. At the same time, they began to pay attention to the decorative effect of the picture, which became the glorious heyday of Regong art and a bridge connecting the past with the future. After centuries of ups and downs, many excellent paintings and sculptures in the early and middle period no longer exist, but you can still see the magnificent giant murals and exquisite thangkas left by craftsmen in the early and middle period in Rongwo Temple, Nianduhu Temple and Wutun Temple sporadically.

Third, the type of art.

Thangka painting is a scroll painting (translated from Tibetan into Thangka), which is a kind of painting that is easy to hang and collect, and is mounted with colored satin. This kind of painting has obvious national characteristics, strong religious color and unique artistic style, and has always been regarded as a treasure by the Tibetan people.

Tangka themes in Regong area are very extensive, and the common ones are: Sakyamuni, Infinite Life, Bodhisattva, Manjusri, Guanyin, White Tara, Luohan, the founder and famous monks in various periods. In painting skills, it is similar to the meticulous painting of the Han nationality. Generally, the technique of single-line flat painting with a little baking and coloring and color block filling is adopted, and the technique of scattered perspective is used for composition. The gods, buddhas, landscapes, flowers, pavilions, birds and animals on the screen are all painted in detail and vivid, especially some exaggerated and deformed tantric statues with distinct personalities and different shapes. Some sit still, some dance wildly, some smile, some are angry, some are kind, some are blue-faced and fangs, which is really ever-changing. The characters in Regong Thangka's paintings are exquisite and vivid; Writing animals, flowers and birds are good at sketching, paying attention to color setting, with vivid posture, strange rocks and mountains, and magnificent momentum; Painting palaces, pavilions and pavilions, with steady style and magnificent layout. Wide field of vision in framing layout, not limited by time and space. It combines things with the same theme at different times and places to make a cartoon-like work, which makes the picture feel thousands of miles away and has a strong appeal. Regong Thangka's unique skills make it unique among similar arts and become a style of Tibetan painting.

1, sculpture art

Sculpture occupies a prominent position in regong art, mainly including clay sculpture, wood carving, brick carving and stone carving, among which clay sculpture is the most developed. Clay sculpture can be divided into monochrome clay sculpture and color clay sculpture, which is the main body of Regong sculpture. The maturity of clay sculpture art is from the middle of17th century to the beginning of19th century. The sculptures in this period are vivid and vivid, with simple and smooth pleats, rich texture, exquisite elegance and generous color contrast, which makes monochrome clay sculptures and colored sculptures integrate into one.

Regong clay sculpture is combined with temple architecture to show its extensive content. Statues are also made of various materials. Besides the sun, moon, stars, mountains and rivers, vegetation, birds, animals, insects and fish, they often create colorful images according to the needs of Buddhist stories or classics, such as grotesque dharma protectors, green-faced king kong, gods with red hair on their horses' heads, some riding lions, dancing with guns and sticks, and some wearing necklaces made of human skulls, dancing wildly? Different expressions make people respect each other. Regong clay figurines choose a general instantaneous expression and body dynamics, which makes people think of its cause and effect from the static image, thus indirectly grasping the potential connotation associated with this object form, which is a great success. In addition, there are quite a few wood carvings, brick carvings and stone carvings. Wood carvings are mainly decorative carvings on warp boards, lintels and stigmas of printing supplies, and there are also a considerable number of wood carvings of Buddha statues. Brick carvings are mainly found in buildings, such as flowers on the roof, dragons and phoenixes, lions, kisses from animals on cornices and reliefs on walls. Patterns are decorative arts attached to buildings, indoor furnishings and daily appliances, which are mostly found in Buddhist temple buildings, and are mostly used in portraits, books, murals, dados, doors and windows, columns, algae wells, painted beams, carved buildings and so on. This pattern is symmetrical, clear, elegant and solemn, and it is square, round or other geometric figures. Then use different colors and expressions, as well as techniques such as density, gathering and scattering, straightness, length and size to make changes. The same flower shape can produce various forms and form colorful patterns.

2. Graphic arts

Pattern art has largely jumped out of the category of Buddhist art, from religious utensils and household utensils to carpets and fabrics, there are dazzling things everywhere, which are characterized by stronger local flavor and national color and high practical value.

3. Embroidery art

Pile embroidery is a special art, which uses the techniques of "cutting" and "piling" to create images. From the technological point of view, it can be divided into "velvet cutting" and "embroidery", and velvet cutting embroidery in Regong area is mainly velvet cutting. When making velvet embroidery, artists choose silks and satins of various colors according to the needs of content expression, cut them into tasks, animals, flowers and birds of a certain size, press them on the pre-cut patterns with colored silks and satins, and then paste them from coarse to fine. Because the middle is more prominent, the three-dimensional sense is very strong, just like the color relief of silk. The material of pile embroidery is mostly Buddhist stories, mainly characters, and generally does not show big scenes. It pays attention to the shape and expression of characters, and pays attention to the configuration of various silks and satins. Because the main Buddha statue stands out, with bright colors, sharp contrast and strong three-dimensional sense. Pile embroidery is the innovation of embroidery art and the combination of embroidery and relief. A pile of embroidery is silk color relief.

4. Wood carving art

Wood carvings are mainly decorative carvings on warp boards, lintels and stigmas of printing supplies, and there are also a considerable number of wood carvings of Buddha statues. Buddha statues are generally divided into monochrome wood carvings and color wood carvings, both of which are excellent works, with diverse styles, flexible and vigorous knives, rich in changes and strong national characteristics. They are unique in the art of regong wood carving and are famous all over the world.

5. Art theme

Regong art painting has a wide range of themes, and the world centered on religion is all-encompassing, involving all aspects of social material life and spiritual life such as politics, economy, history, folk customs, literature and art. Generally speaking, it can be divided into Spaho, biographical painting, idol painting, historical painting, genre painting and story painting.

Spaho, namely "Life and Death Diagram" or "Six Master Diagram of Karma Wheel", aims to express the abstract teachings of Tantric Karma and Samsara. In addition to the "wheel of life and death" pattern, there are often images of the sun and the moon, three bodhisattvas, lotus and peanuts, Zong Kaba, seven treasures and eight treasures, which embodies the Buddhism of Dalagni's true words. Countless worlds on the screen are divided into three concentric circles. Each picture reflects the corresponding part of the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism from different aspects. Among them, there are eight cold and eight hot hells, and there are also seven treasures and eight treasures, and the pure land of lotus blossoms. The whole wheel of life and death is surrounded by a monster from the outside. Similar to Spaho, there are other themes, such as Xumi Mountain, the wind of four continents, fire, earth, celestial movement, world formation, Tancheng, pure land and so on.

6. Biographical painting

In biographical paintings, there are biographies of Tibetan kings (Songtsan Gampo, Chisong Dêzain, Chireba Towel, etc.), in addition to Life Story of Buddha and Biography Story of Buddha, which show Sakyamuni's various good deeds and past lives. ), French kings (Basiba, Zong Kaba, the Fifth Dalai Lama, etc. ) and masters (Lotus Peanut, Adi, etc. It vividly reflects the spreading process of Buddhism in Tibet.

7. Idol painting

These idols mainly include Buddha (Sakyamuni Buddha, Tathagata Buddha, Maitreya Buddha, etc. ), Bodhisattva, Lohan, Four Heavenly Kings, Tara, Dharma God and many other Buddhist gods, as well as portraits of historical figures, such as Bhrikuti Devi, Princess Wencheng, Lu Dongzan, Tammy Sambuza, Lotus Peanut and Zong Kaba.

8. Historical paintings

Taking history as a painting and narrating history by painting is a major feature of Tibetan Buddhist painting. In a sense, the history of Tibet since the Tubo Dynasty is a religious history of Tibetan Buddhism from its birth to its peak. There are biographical paintings such as Biography of the Tibetan King, Biography of the French King and Biography of the Master, among which the famous ones are Princess Wencheng's Visit to Tibet, Celebration, Recognition of Uncle before Banquet, Biography of Basiba, Prison Meeting of King Dabao, and Meeting with Shunzhi by the Fifth Dalai Lama.

9. genre painting

These paintings reflect the daily customs and life of the Tibetan people, including productive labor, cultural entertainment, sports competitions, weddings, funerals and mass religious activities, with strong national and folk colors.

10, story painting

The most famous thing is that monkeys become people. It is said that in ancient Tibet, a macaque married a rock witch, gave birth to six monkeys, and then bred 500 monkeys, so that they could be fed by the gods. "The hair tails are getting shorter and shorter, and the tails are becoming more human, so they become human." They became the ancestors of Tibetans. It reflects the simple understanding of the Tibetan people on the materialist evolution theory of human origin, and has a typical "prototype" significance.

Because Tibetan Buddhism requires that "all works should be hidden according to law, all murals should be hidden according to scriptures, and sculptures should be hidden according to secret spells", after all, the essence of Regong art is subordinate to religion rather than aesthetics, and piety is more important than artistic spirituality. The essence of art lies in creation, but regong art, like other schools of Tibetan Buddhist art, is a "copy" under extremely strict norms. As a production method, the so-called "three classics and one sparse" (respecting the classics, Buddha's classics, painting the classics and respecting the classics) certainly marks the peak of this art, and it is easy to get started because of its evidence. Although these methods are helpful to promote the overall rise of Tibetan Buddhist art, they leave an extremely narrow space for craftsmen to exert their creativity. What's more, most artists are monks and followers of Tibetan Buddhism, and their religious feelings always limit their creativity intentionally or unintentionally.

Fourth, the significance of inheritance.

Regong art, with its exquisite design, gorgeous colors and fine lines, is not only popular in areas where Buddhism is prevalent, but also increasingly welcomed by art lovers in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and all over the world. In the past ten years, it has a prosperous trend. However, with the death of old artists (four masters of painting died before and after the turn of the century), the constant impact of market economy and commodity consciousness, and the continuous prosperity of tourism, there are fewer and fewer regong art products and the market is flooding.

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