The Kham region in southeastern Tibet gave rise to several artistic traditions, with two prominent ones being the New Gardri, or “New Encampment Style,” and Khamri, or “Kham Style.”
The Kham region in southeastern Tibet gave rise to several artistic traditions, with two prominent ones being the New Gardri, or “New Encampment Style,” and Khamri, or “Kham Style.”
In the eighteenth century, in the New Gardri Style, landscapes gained a greater sense of depth, the relative size of the figures to the landscape became smaller, and large areas of canvas were left unpainted. The Khamri Style is a hybrid of the Gardri and popular Menri styles. Its paintings are usually dominated by the heavily pigmented rich colors of the Menri with certain compositional and landscape elements borrowed from the Gardri Style.
The Amdo region in northeastern Tibet is a large, diverse area that has been home to many artist communities over the centuries. It had five local centers of art, each with its own distinctive traditions. In recent centuries, most of Amdo’s painting styles were derived from the Menri styles rooted in central Tibet. However, over time these styles became distinctively local with their own palette and aesthetic.
Select each work to learn more.
Kham Region, Eastern Tibet
19th century
The scholar and artist Situ Panchen (1700–1774) is largely credited with reviving the Encampment Style (Gardri) in his native Kham after it was nearly eclipsed in central Tibet due to civil war. Situ’s role as a commissioner of paintings is commemorated through this portrait of him as patron. In 1736 Situ composed a long inscription, which would have appeared in this painting in the large blank scroll held up by goddesses:
I have followed the Chinese masters in color, in mood expressed, and form, and I have depicted lands, dress, palaces, and so forth as [I have] actually seen in India. Even though all the discriminating skill of Menthang—[both] New and Old—and the Khyen[ri] tradition followers, Jeugangpa and the Encampment masters are present here, I have made [these paintings] different in a hundred thousand [particulars of] style.
Situ names all of the major Tibetan painting traditions (Menri, Khyenri, Jeugangpa, and Encampment) as represented in his work to suggest the all-encompassing nature of his artistic vision. His mention of things he had “actually seen in India” refers to his firsthand experiences with the culture of the Indian subcontinent during his first pilgrimage to Nepal in 1723. Two painters sit in the bottom-left corner, brushes poised, as if awaiting Situ’s instructions.
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