Luobusida

01 · Lineage & Regional School

A master's supervisor at the School of Art of Tibet University and a Chinese Arts and Crafts Master. He began learning Tibetan culture at the age of eight, and from the age of twelve to nineteen he studied Tibetan painting techniques with his grandfather. From 1995 to 1997 he studied art history and Tibetology at the School of Art of Tibet University. Within the regional tradition and school record of Tibetan Thangka in Tibet: The Tibetan thangka Mensar school, also called the New Mentang school, is known in ancient Tibetan texts and among the people as "Zangchi": "Zang" refers to the Shigatse area of Tibet, and "chi" means school of painting. The Mensar school of thangka painting is said to have arisen in the mid-17th century CE and is distributed mainly in Shigatse City, Tibet Autonomous Region, and its surrounding areas. The founder of the Mensar school was Zhugu Quyingjiacuo (Chokyi Gyatso), the personal painter of the Fourth Panchen Lama. Building on the Mentang school, he absorbed more of the forms, compositions, and techniques of Chinese fine-brush (gongbi) painting — figures, landscapes, and pavilions and towers — and added many individualistic elements. The art of the thangka Mensar school originated in the 17th century CE; by the 19th century it had matured and entered a flourishing period. Through decades of tireless work by renowned painting masters of earlier generations such as Gaqin Luosang Pingcuo, Dawa Dondrup, and Adun, young Mensar inheritors such as Luobusida were trained.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Tibetan, born in July 1967, a native of Lhaze County, Tibet Autonomous Region. He later studied for four years under Gaqin Lobsang Phuntsok and Gaqin Adun, the master painters who served the Tenth Panchen Lama, further improving his painting skills. He took part in the restoration and painting of murals in more than thirty ancient buildings, including the Potala Palace, a World Cultural Heritage site, and Tashilhunpo Monastery, and in the mural project of the joint reliquary stupa hall of the Fifth to Ninth Panchen Lamas. In 2012 he founded the Tibet Thangka Academy. His representative works include Tuwang Dundian and The Five Sakya Patriarchs. Within the documented technical tradition of Tibetan Thangka in Tibet: Historically, the Tibetan thangka Mensar school spread to Lhasa, Shannan, Chamdo, and other places; at its height it had more than a thousand painting workshops. His works in painting, craft, and sculpture are mostly held in famous palaces and monasteries such as the Potala Palace, Tashilhunpo Monastery, and Shalu Monastery. Mensar school thangkas have rigorous compositions, bright colors, richly varied lines, and meticulous gold outlining; the portrayal of character is especially natural and subtle. The school's imagery is strictly canonical; compared with traditional block-area modeling, it places particular emphasis on the use of line — neat, flowing lines, with lively, bright, richly varied coloring. The range of subjects is very broad, including portraits of religious teachers (lamas), buddhas, yidam (tutelary deities), bodhisattvas, and dharmapalas, as well as biographies, history, medicine, and folk customs. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Tulku Chöying Gyatso": The school arose in the mid-seventeenth century under Tulku Chöying Gyatso, personal painter to the fourth Panchen Lama, who on a Menthang basis took much from fine-line figure, landscape and architecture painting and added strongly personal elements. "Gachen Lobsang Phuntsok and Norbu Sidar": Mature and flourishing by the nineteenth century, the school was carried by masters such as Gachen Lobsang Phuntsok, Dawa Döndrub and Adun, who trained younger inheritors including Norbu Sidar. "Tsangtri, the Tsang school": The Mensar school, also called the new Menthang, is known in Tibetan texts and locally as Tsangtri, tsang meaning the Shigatse region and tri a school — hence its heartland around Shigatse. "Works kept in the Potala and Tashilhunpo": The school spread to Lhasa, Lhoka and Chamdo and at its height counted over a thousand workshops; its paintings, crafts and sculpture are mostly kept in the Potala, Tashilhunpo and Shalu.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

A representative bearer of Tibetan thangka (Mensar school), a fourth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Luobusida · National Representative Bearer Archive