The document discusses the history and development of art in Nepal from ancient to contemporary times. It begins by describing how ancient Nepali artists were inspired by religious devotion to carve stone sculptures of deities. It then outlines how various art forms like metalwork, woodcarving, and painting evolved under royal patronage. The document also discusses how contemporary Nepali art has been influenced by Western styles but still draws from traditional and global themes. It notes how contemporary art now has more freedom of expression and is supported by art galleries and online platforms.

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There can’t be art without inspiration. It is the first canvas, studio or
workshop of the artist, and that is where it shapes before the display.
arun KHanna
cover story
There can’t be art without inspiration. It is the first canvas, studio or
workshop of the artist, and that is where it shapes before the display.
There can’t be art without inspiration. It is the first canvas, studio or
workshop of the artist, and that is where it shapes before the display.
InspirationsInspirationsInspirations
Arts
craftsmen coloring the world
heritage stupa at Boudhanath
ArtsArtsInspirations
ArtsInspirations
and

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undertook to work with his chisel or brush. Not only
the theme was religious but the artist imbued with a
feeling of religious devotion rendered also his task in
that spirit”
This devotion has permeated through time and lies at
the core of the arts and their inspiration in Nepal.
In a contemporary sense of the word inspiration
has travelled many roads to the same destination
- fulfillment of the creative urge carried through
intellect or emotion. Inspiration has its sources in
diverse thoughts and experiences. For some it lies
in ordinary conversation itself. For others the stark
nakednessofbeingordinarycancomeasahugesurge
for doing something distinct. Many see inspiration
in the power to overcome disabilities, the relentless
head on collisions with hurdles which creates awe in
those who watch. Again some see it in relationships.
For instance an adult who has seen his parents in love
since childhood, is sure to think love affairs do move
towards happy endings!
Deep down, traditions of Nepalese culture and
expression are not based on the ideas of proven fact,
but on the unquestionable acceptance of something
that has always been done by faith. Faith is above
substantiated fact. Objects associated with daily life
- a terracotta oil lamp, a metal receptacle or a stone
water spout hewn in the shape of a makara hold this
veryfaiththatpoursitselfintoart.Andyetitisnotjust
the tangible which brings moments of inspiration,
but the huge repository of intangible heritage. The
continuing flux of oral traditions, folklore, songs and
dance forms add to the arts and its inspiration on a
regular basis.
Traditional
Faith even makes the Gods and deities preside
over the arts themselves. Kathmandu alone has
over thirty-two temples for Nasa Dyo, the Newari
god of the performance arts, music, dance and
drama. Community celebrations have always been a
source of inspiration. The week long Bhidyo Boyegu
ceremony, as an example, is a Newar tradition - now
in decline - when Bahas in the valley display Paughas
paintings for public worship. Scrolls have been the
W
hat could have been the primordial
urge which perhaps made a farmer
leavehislushfields,afamilymanleave
his wife and children at the break
of dawn, or maybe a young man detach the twined
hand of a beloved, to walk across cool dewed grass
trails in search of a meaningless cold rock? Carry it
back, and somewhere in secluded quite incessantly
hammer it for days. Come back to it again and again;
wedge it open, chisel it, till a chipped scarred shape
would stare out from the rock. And what would
that shape be, which he would again spend days to
burnish, with delicate, aching, intimate force?
The place perhaps might have been Lalittapatan,
or Patan. And the rock may well have been carried
from the highlands of Chobar or Kirtipur which have
been know for durable stone quarries. Stone was the
first medium of expression by such people whose
work today is called art, as known from the stone
sculptures of the 4th
century Lichavvi era of Nepal
So what were these shapes?
Above all, deities and their personifications.
And what was the inspiration, the urge?
The historian D R Regmi put it succinctly, “The artist
applied himself to his task as a man of devotion who
cover story
Left
Sindoor Jatra,
Bhaktapur
Middle
A Newari
musician
Right page
Ranju Awale at
his sculptor

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most favored mediums maybe that made it easy to
carry them, transport them and make frequent use of
them in teaching religious precepts.
Congregationsofpeoplesharingthesamewaysoflife
and celebrations gave adaptability to the people and
with it a great tradition of religious tolerance. “They
gave birth to a culture nurturing animist practices,
orthodox Shaivism and ritual Mahayana Buddhism”
says Dilli Ram Regmi.
Lying on the trade route between India and Tibet,
Kathmandu in particular, ingested many external
influences. This influx sustained ethnic diversity and
gave a surge to cross generic arts. But not to overlook
that the serving of arts was also on distinct caste
based roles.
The caste based work particularly in the arts became
stronger during the Malla period, from the thirteenth
century onwards. The traditional side of arts and
artists has been influenced by these demarcations,
and inspiration has often sprung from the pride in the
lineage of the artist.
Distinctions are evident in the same ethnic and
geographic spaces. For instance dance forms show
both Buddhist and Hindu traditions among the
Newars.TheHinduNewarcelebratethe Lakhedance,
a demon dance, the Budhhist newar - the Chariya
cover story
Royal patronage came to Nepalese arts
in a big way during the reign of the Malla
Kings. And with that came the impetus.
Dieties &
wooden masks
Below
Puppetry,
intangible heritage
Model: Soniya Sharma
Photographer: Rajiv Shrestha
Make up & Hair: Sophie
Location: Soaltee Crown Plaza
Wardrobe & Accessories: Neelima’s Studio, City Centre, 4011622

4. 41june 2011 • vivacity magazinewww.vivacitymagazines.com
Naritaya, a combination of worship, meditation
and performance. In the art of Painting, Thanka is
Tibetan, Paugha is the Newari. Similar parallels can
be drawn in many other aspects of social life.
Royal patronage came to Nepalese arts in a big way
during the reign of the Malla Kings. And with that
cametheimpetus.Artgotthestagetodisplayitself,no
longer just in temples but in magnificent palaces and
citysquares.Bytheendofthe15th
centurythedivision
of the valley into three independent kingdoms,
brought a sense of competition for the display of
artistic grandeur. Art got documented and preserved.
(Unfortunately, some experts believe many priceless
specimens of various art forms got lost in the very
recent past. Half of Kathmandu’s art work from the
last 2000 years, has been lost in the last 50.)
The craft of metal art which had almost disappeared
from India by the 13th
century due to the iconoclast
Muslim rulers not only got preserved in Nepal but
went on unimpaired in its own distinct craftsmanship.
The height of its skill is evident from the methods that
are still followed in the techniques. Cire perdue or ‘lost
wax’ method was being followed in Nepal more than
a thousand years ago. In the method, a wax model
is made into the required shape, coated with clay,
creating a cast. Wax is then melted and drained out
through a few holes in the cast, replaced with molten
metal. Finally the cast is broken and the shaped metal
embellished or coated. Metal work was most popular
in the Buddhist tradition of work therefore many
metal images of the Buddha proliferated at the time.
Art work in terracotta dates as far back as the 3rd
century AD. By the medieval period it reached an
outstanding level of perfection. Temples gave space
to the work, with narrative of Hindu epics as its
main subject. Such work got perfectly expressed as
nagbands, stretching around historical temples – the
gate way to Taleju temple in Hanuman Dhoka, the
Maya Devi temple in Patan are good examples.
Wood craft - Forte of the Newari artist. The skill is
visible not just in the form but the technique. No use of
nails or glue. Among thousands of incredible pieces the
strut images in courtyards of palaces and the temples of
Pasupati, and Changu Narayana are some of the best.
cover story
Top
A photographic
exhibition at
Mangal bazaar,
Patan
Below
An exquisitely
carved wooden
pillar at a Durbar
building in Patan
Right page
Thanka artist,
Bikash Karki,
Immersed in
meticulous details
40 vivacity magazine • june 2011

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Photoby:RajivShrestha

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Perhaps the greatest show of international respect
to the Nepalese artist is preserved in the Yuan
history of China. Balbahu the architect, sculptor and
painter, who later came to be known as Arniko by
the Chinese, was summoned to Tibet at the request
of the Emperor Kubali Khan in 1246 AD. He led a
delegation of eighty artists to carry out architectural
work. Besides work in Tibet, the white pagoda or the
Pai Ta Sze in Beijing stands as one of the great works
of Arniko. Another of his famous work is the Archway
of Yungtang. The artist lived and died in China, and
during his lifetime was honored by the title of “Duke
of Liang”, by the Chinese Emperor. In 2010, the
Chinese-American actor Robert Lin, even brought up
the subject of making a movie on Arniko.
The Pagoda style of building which spread from
ChinatootherpartsoftheworldisindeedaNepalese
invention. “Now we have definite information from
the Chinese sources, of the style to have travelled
from Nepal to China and other countries are
acceptable. It was during the seventh century that
the advent was made by this style into Tibet mainly
through Nepalese efforts”, writes D R Regmi in his
book, ‘Ancient Nepal’.
Contemporary
The simplest definition of contemporary art would
be which mirrors contemporary society and gives
creative meaning of living in it. As a precursor to
contemporaryartinNepal,thefirstwesterninfluence
came under the Rana rulers. Jang Bahadur Rana
during his visit to England took along the Newari
artist Bhaju Man, and established the importance
of not just the Nepali artists, but the preference of
incorporating western style into the arts. This was not
justlimitedtoneoclassicalVictorianarchitecture,but
from furniture to fashion everything had anglophile
preferences.
Paintings,likearchitecture,sawamixofthemedieval,
religious and western themes during the Rana rule.
Deities and mandalas gave way to regal portraits - a
desire of the rulers for palace wall hangings. The first
official exhibition of an individual artist in Nepal -
Chandra Man Maskey’s - was held in 1928 and the
motivational character of contemporary art forms
began to show a shift from fiefdoms of patronage
to personal expressions that spoke out for the artist
itself.
Contemporary art is radically different from more
traditional art values in the sense that it includes
expressions and forms that are globally motivated
in themes, ingesting traditional, contemporary and
technological techniques; it can often be deliberately
unconventional taking advantage of a much wider
and instant audience.
Left
Embellishing
Monasteries at
Lumbini
cover story
contemporary and technological techniques
One big advantage of contemporary art is the
physical and cyber space it gets. Art galleries and On-
line platforms have changed the way art is displayed,
appreciated, reviewed and even sold.
Dwindling physical spaces in galleries and the
costs of holding onto a space might have the right
answer on-line. As an example of interconnectivity
– one happened in Janurary 2011, an on line art fair
called ‘View in Private’, VIP, it had about 8 million
viewings from over 146 countries, and included 140
prestigious art galleries! And an artist can always
create one’s own site
Radical ?
Interestingly, the same neighborhood where the
scrutinizing eyes of an artist draws the devotional
Contemporary art is radically different from
more traditional art values in the sense that it
includes expressions and forms that are globally
motivated in themes, ingesting traditional,
pictorial sequence of Buddhist deities on a Thanka
painting, also houses the insistent buzz of a precision
tattoo machine, which delicately drills dyes into
the human skin, drawing icons and patterns from
human skulls to angelic wings. Taking the analogy
further the symbols of tattoos can be tantric codes,
Maithili art, medieval esoteric secrets or seductive
infringements on erogenous zones of the human
body. A convergence of not just icons, but eclectic
arts & attitudes too. The contemporary has better
freedom than the traditional.
April 2011 saw the hosting of the Nepal Tattoo
Convention, the first ever international convention
of its kind in Nepal. An interesting example of
the so called radical art form in the land of ancient
conventional heritage.

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Time magazine, way back in 1970, reported - “As
an art, tattoos have been traced back 4,000 years
to the Egyptians.” In contemporary times “they
have adorned the arms and chests of sailors,
roustabouts and construction workers. Now, after
a decade or two of decline, tattoos are enjoying a
renaissance. They have become the vogue of the
counterculture.”
But the fact is tattooing has been a part of many
ethnicculturesinNepalsincecenturies,particularly
theTharus,andtosomeextenttheNewars.Cultural
organizations as UNESCO too have recognized
their cultural presence among sections of Nepalese
society.
Contemporary art in Nepal as elsewhere globally,
is not just limited to the conventional art forms.
Galleries in Kathmandu alone are witness to works
of many budding and seasoned artists showing work
from traditional to modernist and post Modernist.
Be it photography, multimedia or installation art
forms, there is a platform for exchange, criticism and
appreciation.
cover story
Tattooing,
esoteric
inspirations