Features of the restoration of Buddhist thangka

Цель статьи — познакомить реставраторов и исследователей с традиционными и современными методами реставрации буддийской живописи на холсте, c оборудованием и материалами, которые применяются в лаборатории научной реставрации восточной живописи Государственного Эрмитажа. Актуальность данной работы продиктована развитием реставрационной практики буддийской живописи в последние десятилетия. В исследовании показано, как появление новых высокотехнологичных материалов, оборудования и методов исследования памятников позволяет реставратору более эффективно работать с ними. Также в данной работе показаны результаты изучения и исследования двух тангка. Комплексное исследование тангка, проведенное силами специалистов научно-исследовательских лабораторий, позволило правильно выбрать методики реставрации. Кроме этого, в работе приводятся краткие исторические сведения об иконографии и технологии создания тангка. В статье проводится анализ реставрационных методик и их выбора, рассматриваются этические проблемы, связанные с допустимой степенью вмешательства в структуру памятника. На примере сравнения подходов к реставрации двух буддийских тангка, реставрированных в разные годы (тангка «Образ буддийский Дорджэ Лэкпа» в 2018 году и тангка «Махакала синий шестирукий, трехглазый, стоящий на слоне с человеческой фигурой» в 2021 году), описаны различные методики. Анализ проведенных реставрационных мероприятий включает в себя описание проведенных исследований памятников до реставрации и методов отчистки поверхности, укрепления красочного слоя, восполнения грунта, выравнивания основы и восполнения утрат красочного слоя. В статье показана практическая значимость и результативность применения различных материалов, оборудования и методов реставрации буддийской живописи. Обобщены результаты реставрации обоих памятников. The aim of the article is to acquaint restorers and researchers of Buddhist painting on canvas with traditional restoration methods combined with modern equipment and materials that are used in the Laboratory of Scientific Restoration of Oriental Painting of the State Hermitage Museum. The relevance of this work is dictated by the development restoration practice of Buddhist painting in recent decades. It is shown in the study how the emergence of new high-tech materials, equipment and methods of studying monuments allows the restorer to work with them more effectively. Also in this paper, the results of the study and study of two thangkas are shown. Comprehensive the thangka study conducted by the specialists of research laboratories made it possible to choose the right restoration techniques. In addition, a brief work of historical information about the iconography and technology of creating a thangka is provided. The restoration techniques and their choices are analyzed in the article. Also the ethical problems related to the permissible degree of interference in the structure of the monument are examined. Using the example of comparing approaches to the restoration of two Buddhist thangkas restored in different years: the “Dorje Lakpa Buddhist Image” thangka in 2018, and the “Mahakala blue, 6-handed, 3-eyed, standing on an elephant with a human figure” thangka in 2021, various techniques are described. The analysis of the restoration measures carried out includes a description of the studies carried out on the monuments before the restoration, and methods of cleaning the surface, strengthening the paint layer, replenishing the soil, leveling the base and replenishing the losses of the paint layer. The article shows the practical significance and effectiveness of the use of various materials, equipment and methods of restoration of Buddhist painting. In conclusion, the results of the restoration of both monuments are summarized.

Картина мира в графике бурятского художника Ц.-Н. Очирова

The article deals with the artistic heritage of the outstanding Buryat artist Tsyren-Namzhil Ochirov (1920–1987), whose artistic phenomenon is based on the specific combination of the life philosophy, “naive” simplicity of depiction and the poetic love to his motherland called the Tonto Nyutag by the Buryat people. The public interest to his art was raised during the artist’s lifetime. In the early 1970s, several articles dedicated to his art were released in local newspapers. His unique artistic manner was studied by a group of young amateur artists who were members of the Republican Center of Amateur and Folk Arts in Ulan-Ude. Serious research work on his rich artistic heritage conducted by art critics and scholars started after his death. In the late 1980s and the early 1990s Svetlana Tsybiktarova, the art critic and the science assistant of the Khangalov Historical Museum in Ulan-Ude, together with her elder colleague from Leningrad Natalya Iofan, released the article entitled “The artist from Mogsokhon”. The name of Tsyren-Namzhil Ochirov was introduced to the world of art experts for the very first time. The authors revealed the correlation between his art and the traditional Buddhist painting. Tatyana Boronoeva in her monography “Graphic art in Buryatia” made a partial analysis of Tsyren-Namzhil Ochirov’s art in the chapter “Art of self-taught painters and the problem of ethnicity in the Buryat graphics”. Larisa Nikolaeva in the article entitled “The art system of the Buryat amateur painter Tsyren-Namzhil Ochirov (1920–1987)” shared with readers some interesting facts from his life. In her article, she also underlined some similar features of the traditional Buddhist painting in his art. In 2019, the year prior to the 100-th anniversary of the artist, the family of Tsyren-Namzhil Ochirov published an album of his graphic works. The content of the album was compiled by his granddaughter S. Tarnueva. One hundred and fifty drawings were selected from the family archive and were introduced to the wide public. The rich art heritage of Tsyren-Namzhil Ochirov numbering about five hundred works includes thirty manuscripts and wooden items of the decorative and applied art. The author of the current article makes an analysis of the graphic works of Tsyren-Namzhil Ochirov from the funds of the National Museum of the Republic of Buryatia and from the private collection of the artist’s family. Of a great importance for the author of the article is the definition of his art’s origin, which is, on the one hand, derived from the traditional Buddhist painting, and, “the Buryat Zurag” on the other. The latter is the painting created in a specific artistic manner that reflects the world perception of the Buryat people. For the better description of the topic, the author publishes the conversations with the daughter of the artist Roza Tsyrenovna, with the painter Alexander Moskvitin, his close friend and the speech of the Buryat artist Zandan Dugarov at the event Round Table dedicated to Tsyren-Namzhil Ochirov’s art in 2016. The author of the article uses artistic methods and elements of the historic approach as the complex tool in her research work. Статья посвящена творчеству выдающегося художника Цырен-Намжила Очирова (1920–1987), чей феномен заключается в своеобразном синтезе народной философии, «наивной» простоты графического изображения и возвышенной любви к своей малой родине «тоонто нютаг». Факты биографии буддийского самодеятельного художника, близость его творчества буддийскому наследию установлены в исследованиях 1980–1990-х годов, а в 2019 году впервые опубликовано около 150 произведений Очирова из личных архивов семьи. В настоящей статье представлен впервые проведенный анализ графического наследия Ц.-Н. Очирова на основе материалов из фондов Национального музея Республики Бурятия, а также частной коллекции из семьи художника. Определены истоки творчества мастера, связи с традицией буддийской графики, бурятским мировоззрением, стилем «буряад зураг». Автор впервые приводит материалы личных бесед с членами семьи и коллегами художника. В исследовании использован комплекс искусствоведческих методов и элементы историко-описательного метода.

Restoration and storage of Buddhist painting from the Khara-Khoto collections of XII–XIV centuries

The paper is devoted to the conservation and early stages of maintenance and storage of the unique collection of Buddhist painting that was gathered by P. K. Kozlov in Mongolia in 1907–1909, 1926 and now belongs to the State Hermitage museum. History of its primary conservation is reconstructed using previously unexplored archival data. Of special interest are conditions of maintenance and actions taken to protect the monuments before they were given to the Hermitage. The article also analyses reasons why damage was caused to them. All this information is essential for fi guring out modern methods for their restoration that is a job of the Laboratory of scientifi c restoration of eastern painting of the Hermitage. The research goes beyond local museum practices as it helps to defi ne general problems in restoration of Buddhist painting

The image of the god of wealth Namsarai in the Buryat Buddhist painting of the XVIII – early XX century

В статье рассмотрена коллекция тхангка с образом Вайшраваны (санскр.), или Намсарая (бур.), хранящаяся в фондах Национального музея Республики Бурятия и датируемая XVIII началом ХХ века. Намсарай бог богатства, бодхисаттва и дхармапала, относится к одному из наиболее почитаемых божеств в бурятском буддизме, и его иконография представляет собой сложный собирательный буддийский образ. Анализ данных тхангка позволяет выделить локальные традиции бурятской тхангкописи, отметить отличительные особенности и влияние иноэтнических традиций в разные периоды истории буддийской живописи Бурятии. The focus of the article is a collection of Thangka with the image of Vaishravana (in Sanskrit), or Namsarai (in Buryat), stored in the funds of the National Museum of the Republic of Buryatia and dating from the 18th early 20th centuries. Namsaray is a god of wealth, a Bodhisattva and Dharmapala, one of the most revered deities in Buryat Buddhism, and his iconography is a complex collective Buddhist image. An analysis of these Thangkas allows us to highlight the local traditions of Buryat Buddhist icon painting, to note the distinctive features and influence of foreign ethnic traditions in different periods of the history of Buddhist painting in Buryatia.