Contemporary Asian Artist －Ⅴ
Paubha Painting in Nepal

The Fukuoka Asian Art Museum is pleased to present “Paubha Painting in Nepal” as the fifth exhibition of its Contemporary Asian Artist Series.

The Contemporary Asian Artist Series features today’s leading artists in Asia and seeks to explore their outstanding creativity.

Paubha is a painting that depicts Hindu and Buddhist gods and mandala produced by artists of the Newar, the indigenous people in Nepal.  From its origins in the 11th century, Paubha has created a unique style of its own and continued to develop while also influencing the formation of Tibetan Buddhist Thangka.  Even today, it is still actively produced mainly in three cities, Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur.

Paubha painting is regarded not as “contemporary art”, but as “traditional painting” also in Nepal.  However, while traditional technique lies at the basis of their work, the artists attempt to create a new kind of Paubha painting by adopting other methods such as the Western chiaroscuro and oil technique.  These attitudes of the Paubha artists demonstrate one way of being artists in Asia today.

This exhibition presents the world of contemporary Paubha paintings with 51 works by 31 artists.  The splendid figures of gods and deities depicted with exquisite techniques that require several months to complete one painting will surely attract our viewers.  Furthermore, we hope that this exhibition will provide a great opportunity to understand Nepalese culture.