Artists & Patrons

Historically, artists in the Tibetan tradition have been mostly laymen who passed down artistic practices within families. Groups of artists in workshops run by one or more master artists also produced many artworks. These master artists would design works or compose initial sketches, while apprentices and artisans assisted with specific techniques or specialized aspects of artistic production, such as gold work or ornamentation. This hierarchy and collaboration of artisans allowed workshops to produce large-scale works with highly polished results. From the seventeenth century on, artists in central Tibet were organized into guilds that required artisans to undertake specific tasks for government projects for part of the year. This entailed the systemization of artistic practices among them, such as rules of figural proportions (iconometry).

While the names of artists are sometimes preserved on artworks or in historical sources, most artworks do not bear the names of their creators, and typically little is known about them. This does not mean that artists were historically anonymous—in monastic collections that remain intact, the great artists’ names are remembered and their works recognized.

Because much of this art has been lost or removed from its original context, often through violent social upheavals, this local knowledge is lost. In a few cases, details about famous artists who founded influential painting or sculptural traditions, or were in the employ of courts, are recorded in historical sources.

Images are important to religious practices, so the arts are included in Tibetan monastic training as one of the minor fields of knowledge. Some religious figures who showed an interest and aptitude for image making  became famous for their art. Their lives were often documented, including the stories of their artistic careers, because of their significance in religious lineages. Due in part to their religious status, their works became models for later artists, inspiring specific artistic movements. Some of these talented religious masters also used their knowledge to become great patrons of the arts (fig. 1).

In Nepal, caste-related traditions of metalworking, wood carving, stone carving, and painting established family lineages of artistic practice. The caste system was codified during the religious and cultural reforms of the Malla Period (1200–1769). Thereafter, one’s caste and clan titles governed traditional occupations, including artistic practice. This arrangement established family lineages of production that distributed the creation of art objects across caste groups. More importantly, it ensured each caste group had a vital role in the construction, maintenance, and restoration of temples and monasteries in the Kathmandu Valley. While contemporary artistic practice has seen a break in the strict caste and gender categories, family workshops and ateliers producing traditional religious art are still rooted in the legacy of caste-related artistic inheritance.

Monasteries with vast resources were an important source of artistic patronage and their own workshops. More often they employed traveling artists from other regions, like the Newars of the Kathmandu Valley, who were renowned painters (fig. 2), wood carvers, and statue casters.  Sometimes inscriptions on objects, biographies or local histories, record the names of abbots and other prominent members of the religious community who commissioned artworks (fig. 3).  Some religious masters who took special interest in image making were closely involved in their art commissions, directing the artists and in some cases even designing compositions.

Everyday people commission more modest paintings and sculptures for personal reasons, including individual devotional practice or to honor the passing of a loved one (fig. 4), often on the advice of a religious teacher. Patrons also use art to commemorate their sponsorship of rituals (pujas), festivals, or celebrations, serving as a historical record of these activities.

Artists in Tibetan, Himalayan, and Inner Asian traditions work both individually and collectively to produce works, mostly religious in nature, for large monastic institutions, royal courts, and a wide range of individual patrons. While artists were often historically laymen, who passed their traditions down through families and workshops, religious masters who excelled in the arts are often the best known as a result of their exalted religious status, and their works (figs. 5 and 6) became models for emulation and even gave rise to artistic traditions.