Tanba Ramdan, A Tibetan Artist on Traditional Thangka Painting in The Dimension of China National Artist

Abstract

Many scholars now conduct research on the aesthetic ideology of Thangka, and have not conducted research on the dimension of the living inheritance of intangible cultural heritage. This article takes the life of the inheritor of the Thangka Miantang painting school of China as the context, allowing readers to better understand the cultural identity and negotiating identity in the historical development of Thangka painting. It is more substituting than just discussing the two concepts separately. This study uses qualitative research methods. The data was originally based on the researchers ’fieldwork in Lhasa, China, and the oral interviews with Mr. Tanmpa Rao Dan and his family. And found in research that his works of Thangka paintings and the way of life of the artist are so outstanding that they are a representation of the Tibetan minority culture. Because his works reflect the identity of Tibetan culture very well. This is because the life and art work of Tanba Ramdan through the context of Tibet as the Tibet Autonomous Region, the beginning of Tibet's peaceful liberation, the period of ethnic reforms in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Researchers will divide the analysis into four periods. The first period is before Tibet's peaceful liberation (1872-1956), the second period is after Tibet's peaceful liberation (1956-1959), and the third period is after Tibet's democratic reforms. (1959-1980), the last period was after China's reform and opening up (1980- 2021). The model of this study is applicable to representative ethnic artists in each country, and other scholar can also refer to it.