Patron and Painter Situ Panchen and the Revival of the Encampment Style
February 6, 2009 - August 17, 2009
Much like religious princes, the Karmapas, heads of the Karma Kagyu, one of Tibet's principal schools of Buddhism, traveled for centuries in large monastic tent encampments. These courts, which included portable temples, a community of monks, and skilled artists and artisans, produced their own distinctive painting style, known as the "Encampment style" (Gardri). The painter Namkha Tashi founded the style in the court of the Ninth Karmapa (1555-1603) in Central Tibet. He looked to Indian figural models and placed them in landscapes inspired heavily by the works of Chinese court painters.
Most of what we know of this painting tradition belongs to its eighteenth-century revival fostered by the great scholar-painter Situ Panchen (1700-1774) in Kham Province, Eastern Tibet, with its new artistic center at his monastic seat, Palpung. Even more important to the history of Tibetan art than Situ Panchen's role as a painter is his role as a patron and designer of paintings, many of which continue to be copied to this day. For the first time anywhere, this exhibition traces the career and artistic legacy of one of the great patrons and artists in Tibetan history.
Patron and Painter press release
Exhibition Resources
Situ Panchen: Creation and Cultural Engagement in 18th-century Tibet
A conference hosted by the Rubin Museum of Art
Exhibition Catalog
Patron and Painter
Situ Panchen and the Revival of the Encampment Style
David P. Jackson
with an essay by Karl Debreczeny
Patron and Painter focuses on the life and work of an important historical artist, Situ Panchen Chokyi Junge (1700-1774) and his revival of a great Tibetan painting tradition known as the Karma Gardri or Encampment Style. It is clear, precise, and spacious, with marked Chinese influence evident in the use of pastel colors and prominent stylized features of landscape. David P. Jackson has unlocked Situ's diaries and journals and mapped his journeys, recounting some of his encounters with the military, political, and religious leaders of this time and recording some of his amazing achievements in fields ranging from art to medicine. This publication begins to visually tell the story of Situ's paintings and his role as a patron and designer of paints, many of which continue to be copied to this day.
Publisher: Rubin Museum of Art, New York
Distributer: University of Washington Press, Seattle and London
Published: 2009
Binding: Cloth and Paperback
Pages: 304; 190 color illustrations
ISBN: Cloth 978-09772131-4-6; Paper 978-0-9772131-3-9
