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The Arts
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Painting
Classical Thai painting was
confined to temple and palace interiors
and book illustrations. Mural painting
was developed to a high degree in the
belief that walls should enhance the
beauty of the religious and royal objects
they surrounded.
Mural painting cover the walls of many temples
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Traditional Thai painting was
typically Asian in that conventional
perspective was ignored and figures
were large or small depending on their
importance. Shadows were unknown
and space was neutral rather than
atmospheric. Figures were two dimensional and landscapes were merely
sketcily-treated backdrops for detailed
action. A technique of pictorial
composition called "apportioning areas"
was employed, comparable to the "bird'
a eye view" of Western painting. By this
method, the positions of the key
scenes were assigned first and then
closed off with "space transformers"
that effectively isolated them from
considerations of perspective by doing
away with any surrounding intermediate
or middle ground.
The traditional Thai painter
had five primary pigments, the close
equivalent of scarlet lake, yellow ochre.
ultramarine blue, pipe clay-while, and
pot-black. With these he was able to
produce many other colours. All were
tempera colours, finely ground powders
that were stirred into bowls containing
a glue binder, using sticks to work it to
the desired strength and consistency.
With these colours the traditional artists
created uniquely beautiful compositions
in the form of temple murals, cloth
banners, and manuscript illustrations.
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Murals depict the life of the Buddha and other religious subjects.
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The earliest surviving murals are characterized
by earth colours made from natural pigments. They
depicted excerpts from the Jataka stories, episodes
from the Buddha's life, scenes of Buddhist heaven
and hell, rows of gods, and scenes of
contemporary Thai life. The murals in
Bangkok's Wat Suthat and Thonburi's
Wat Suwannaram are particularly fine examples.
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Wall paintings flank Buddha images in a temple
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The traditional painting technique
continued into the Bangkok period.
when colours became richer thanks to
pigments imported from China. Around
the middle of the 19th century, artists
began using chemical pigments and
Western perspective. Spatial values were
eschewed for atmospheric affects and
opulent gold leaf and bold primary
colours radically altered the delicate
harmony of the old subdued earth colours.
Perspectivc was introduced to Thai painting in the 19th century (Fua Hariphitak)
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Noted Thai painters of today
are sometimes recognized and awarded
the status of "National Artist." Among
those who have achieved this
distinction are Fua Hariphitak. Chalerm
Nakeeraksa, Sanil Dispandha, and
Tawee Nanthakwang.
A contemporary Thai painting of water lilies (by Tawee Nanthakwang)
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