Painting Tradition: Khyenri Main Page
Painting Traditions & Styles- Art History
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Videos:
- Khyenri Style Painting
- Khyenri Style Painting (HAR on Patreon [18 min.])
- Painting Set 3: Palace Museum
The Khyenri painting tradition & style (中文) is a central Tibetan artistic movement originating with the painter Khyentse Chenmo of Gongkar Chode Monastery (15th century). The original Khyenri painting tradition is most closely associated with and influenced by the murals of Gyantse Kumbum and Monastery. There are two very common subjects of Khyenri painting, (1) peaceful deities and teachers and (2) wrathful deities. Khyenri painting style is known for a bright palette, attention to small detail, portrait like faces and almost perfect circles of light or flame surrounding the deities. Transparent halos are often found with the various Khyenri mahasiddha and arhat paintings sets.
Study Topics:
- Original Khyenri
- Late Khyenri
- Variations, Mixed Styles & Palpung Khyenri
Study Topics (Alternate):
- Original Khyenri
- 16/17th century Khyenri
- Painting Sets
- Late Styles, Variations & Palpung
Jeff Watt 5-2000 [updated 1-2016, 5-2017, 4-2020, 6-2024]
Bibliography:
Essay: REEXAMINING KHYENTSE CHENMO AND HIS PAINTING TRADITION by Tsechang Penba Wangdu, translated by Tenzin Gelek.
Khyenri Painting Style by Shawo Dorje. PhD Dissertation. MUC, Beijing, 2015(?).
Gongkar Chode Monastery. Luo Wen Hua. Palace Museum, Beijing. dPal gong dkar chos sde’i ldebs ris: Bod brgyud nang bstan ri mo’i lo rgyus kyi lam tshad rdo ring / Gongga Qude si bi hua : Zang chuan fo jiao mei shu shi de li cheng bei / 贡嘎 曲德寺壁画 : 藏传佛教美术史的里程碑. Beijing: Gu gong chu ban she / Forbidden City Press,
A Revolutionary Artist of Tibet: Khyentse Chenmo of Gongkar by David P. Jackson and Mathias Fermer. Rubin Museum of Art, November, 2016. (Book Review Video)
The Gongkar Lamdre: Masters in Khyenluk Style. Mathias Fermer et al. Dehradun, Gongkar Choede, 2024.
A Study of mKhyen brtse chen mo dge bsnyen rnam rgyal, his mural paintings at Gong dkar chos sde and the mKhyen lugs school of Tibetan painting (*Translator's note: This article is a revised version of Penba Wangdu's research on Mkhyen brtse, first published in Tibetan language, without illustrations, in Journal of Tibet University, 2010, 4:112-117. Penba Wangdu. Summary translation by Amy Heller).
(The images below are only a selection of examples from the links above).
