Dongba Painting

Dongba painting originated from the ancient Dongba hieroglyphs (pictures representing words) as well as from the various Dongba religious activities. For instance, during the sacrificial ceremonies, the ceremony masters had to dress like Buddha or gods, or animals and plants, or even demons. Dongba artists then would draw these images down onpaper, creating a primitive form of today's Dongba painting. Dongbascroll paintings as well as the art of Dongba painting are invaluable treasures in the ethnic gallery.

Dongba painting boasts hieroglyph's five classic artistic characters: the Beiye scripture form, exquisite lines, beautiful colors, dynamic expression and sharp features.

Dongba paintings, as an important part of Dongba culture, were mainly about the gods andghosts who Naxi people believed to exist. The paintings also reflected various aspects of the people's social life.

Dongba paintings fall into different categories, with each one retelling one or several moving stories. According to the forms employed, the paintings can be categorized into five kinds.

Bamboo-pen paintings, the first kind, were mostly used for the bindings and illustrations of Dongba scriptures. These paintings were painted on a piece of bark-made paper by artists using a tipped bamboo plate as a pen with ink on the tip.

Wooden plate paintings, the second kind , were a special kind of Dongba painting that was used for sorcery activities. On a flat wooden plate, a Dongba artist would first draw the sketch with a brush and then add colors to finish the picture. Usually with ingenious designs, odd appearances, vivid expressions and bright colors, this type of painting possesses a unique artistic style.

Preservation Efforts by the Chinese Government and Communities

As with all other ancient pictographs, the Dongba language is facing extinction. With a population of only 320,000, the new generations of the Naxis are preoccupied with the mainstream education, and placed less emphasis on their own culture.

Realizing the predicament faced by this important piece of the Chinese culture, the government and local communities took immediate action to promote and preserve this Dongba heritage with the setup of the Dongba Culture Research Bureau. A more recent development is the construction of the "Dongba Kingdom" - a newly completed tourist attraction at the foot of the Yulong (Jade Dragon) Snow Mountains close to the ancient town of Lijiang, occupying 100,000 square meters of area showcasing Dongba history, religion, culture and arts.

New Generation of Creative Dongba Artists - Contemporary yet Traditional

At ArtsInAsia, we have brought to you another aspect and expansion of Dongba talents. Featured here are the unique forms of contemporary Dongba paintings by local Naxi artists He XiangYun and He RuWei. Using vibrant colors and thick brushstrokes on coarse and rugged handmade dongba paper, the artists have extended the distinctive Dongba pictographs to express the many spiritual, traditional and harmonious religion of the Naxi people in a sophisticated, fluid and lively presentation that is both bold and modern.

Artists He Xiangyun and He Ruwei are both of Naxi descent. He Xiangyun's paintings were highly sought after during an exhibition in the US in 2004. He uses very coarse handmade Dongba paper with untrimmed edges that gives his paintings a strong and unique texture. His student He RuWei is a young artist in his late 20s who is not only talented in painting but is also accomplished in woodcarving. Bright colors and imaginative exaggeration of the Dongba pictographs is one of his distinct trademarks.