Learn about the processes and methods for creating Himalayan art that were developed over centuries, refined through collaborative efforts of patrons and artists, and encompass all known traditional art making media. To make three-dimensional objects, artists sculpt and carve in clay, stone, and wood, cast images in the round, and hammer repoussé reliefs in metal.
Textile artisans produce images using the appliqué technique, embroidery, and silk weaving and follow the same rules of proportion as the painters of two-dimensional works. Ordinary people also create objects, such as plaques made from molds using clay, and employ woodblocks to imprint images on cloth or paper to make prayer flags, amulets, and texts. Skilled painters create hanging scrolls called thangka using mineral pigments on prepared cloth or silk canvases.
Painting is the primary two-dimensional form for image making, but different media, such as woodblock prints and woven textiles, are also used to create similar compositions.
The making of all sacred figures, both two- and three-dimensional, is governed by strict rules of proportion, or iconometry, and dictated by religious texts that describe deities and their measurements. The colors of the deities are also determined by iconographic conventions and are highly symbolic. Other elements, such as the background and landscapes, are more open to an individual artist’s interpretation and tend to follow local or regional traditions.
Metal has become the predominate medium for producing religious sculpture in the Himalayas, primarily by way of hollow or lost wax casting and embossing.
The woodblock printing technique reached its height in Tibet during the eighteenth century, becoming an important means for transmitting artistic compositions across place and time. This process of reproduction entails carving a block of wood with an image based on a famous painting composition; that image is then imprinted on paper or canvas and painted. Individual artists can add further details to the foundational image and use pigments of their choice. This simplified process helped mass produce sets of paintings of popular subjects to decorate monasteries as well as spread stylistic conventions. The images above show a painting juxtaposed with the image of a print upon which it is based.
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