Periods of Tibet Thangka

We can roughly divide Tibet Thangka art into four stages bases on the time.

Periods of Tibet Thangka – First Period

The first period of Tibet Thangka is the beginning period of making Thangka from 7th century to 9th century, which is also the beginning period of Tibetan Buddhism. In this period, the composition of the picture is very succinct, and the picture almost painted by blue-green, yellow, red, and white four fundamental colors. The character statues almost are naked, only use Vatican Rope and eight Precious as the majesty. The main statue is very large, and the linellae almost is straight line.

Periods of Tibet Thangka – Second Period

The second period is about in 12th century, which is the later macro period of Tibetan Buddhism. There formed a local arts genre in Gyantse which is affected by the art style of India, Nepal, Han nationality and Tibet local art form. That is Gyantse Painting School. The paintings in this period are with moderate proportion of the statue, pay more attention to psychological performance, and the realistic methods which focus on personal characteristics.

Period of Tibet Thangka – Third Period

The third period of Tibet Thangka is in 15th century to 16th century, which is the prosperous period of Tibetan Buddhism art. The upper class in religion started to take part in the creation activities of Thangka, and there appeared famous "Menzhe Painting School", "Mensa Painting School" and Garmagong Painting School".

Period of Tibet Thangka – Fourth Period

The fourth period of Tibet Thangka is from 18th century to 19th century, which is the golden age of Tibet Thangka painting. The art style in this period mainly affected by the meticulous re-color technique in Han areas. Its development can be divided into two stages. The first stage is represented by the "New Garmagong Painting School" which created by hierarchs of Babang Temple, Duoqijue and Qujiniu, in 18th century. This school studied the tradition of meticulous technique from Han nationality, paid more attention to shading, contrast and outline. This art form not only uses its simplicity and concision style, but also uses shading technique to enrich the painting. The second stage is the "Han style" period in 19th century. The "New Garmagong Painting School" started to seek the elegance and fresh style of Han style paintings based on the splendid style of the first stage, and added some auspicious words on the painting, formed today's Thangka art style.