Painting Set: Gesar Life Story (Sichuan Provincial Museum)
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There are only two early paintings sets known to exist (at this time) that depict the life story of Ling Gesar. They are both from the late 19th century and are of the same composition and design. The first belongs to the Sichuan Provincial Museum, Chengdu, China. That set is complete with eleven paintings in total. The other known painting set belongs to the Guimet Museum, Paris, France. It only has two of the eleven compositions. The whereabouts of the missing nine paintings are currently unknown.
The central image of the main painting is that of Ling Gesar Norbu Dradul. The central figures in eight of the paintings belong to a group known as the Eight Werma, or Eight Gods of Ling.
The colour image of Gesar below is from the painting on display in a gallery at the Sichuan Provincial Museum. The black and white images below are from the publication: Rolf A. Stein, Peintures Tibetaines de la vie de Gesar, Arts Asiatiques, Vol.4, pp.243-271, 1958.
From the Treasury of Tibetan Pictorial Art: Painted Scrolls of the Life of Gesar. Editor-in-Chief, Zhang Changhong. Forward by Leonard van der Kuijp. Article by Jeff Watt. Sichuan Museum, July 18th, 2012. ISBN: 978-7-101-08513-6. (Book Review Video).
A new publication highlighting a set of eleven paintings depicting the life story of Gesar has been published by the Sichuan Museum of Chengdu, China. The large format coffee table style art book has full page images of the eleven paintings along with innumerable details of each. The text is primarily in Tibetan and Chinese language with three English language articles by prominent Western scholars. The well known R.A. Stein article in French on the Gesar painting set has been translated into English and Chinese. Dr. Amy Heller discusses the historical and art historical context and HAR Director and Chief Curator Jeff Watt contributed an article on the art and iconography of Gesar.
Jeff Watt [updated 10-2017]
