No. 1 (36) (2025), Art of the 20th – 21st centuries
No. 1 (36) (2025)

The heritage of Tibetan and Buryat Buddhist painting in the oeuvre of contemporary thangka artist Alex Kocharov

Art of the 20th – 21st centuries
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46748/ARTEURAS.2025.01.016
Published 2025-03-31
Victoria V. Demenova
Ural Federal University, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2348-8817
eLibrary ID
vikina@mail.ru
Anastasia M. Shishmintseva
Ural Federal University, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation
https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5740-1786
eLibrary ID
anshiku241@yandex.ru

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, the Buddhist artistic tradition of Buryatia, which was formed in the region during the 18th to early 20th centuries, has been gradually reviving after decades of religious persecution. In the past thirty years, Buryat Buddhist painting has developed through active interaction with the entire Buddhist world, with a particular focus on the Tibetan tradition. This can be seen in the oeuvre of Alex Kocharov, one of Russia's first professional thangka painters of the modern generation of Buddhist figures. However, his oeuvre has not been the subject of significant art historical research until now. This article examines the life and work of Alex Kocharov to analyse the main stages of the revival of the Buddhist artistic tradition in Buryatia, specifically in its interaction with modern Tibetan painters. The article traces Kocharov's path from his initial meeting with his teacher, Zhimba-Zhamso Tsybenov, in Buryatia (Russia) to his studies at the Ven. Sangye Yeshe School of Tibetan painting in Dharamsala (India), and finally to his role as a mentor and renowned master of thangka painting in the Republic and abroad. Through a stylistic analysis, the article examines Kocharov's thangkas and identifies the signs of his own artistic language, which is based on the continuity of traditions from both Tibet and Buryatia.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.46748/ARTEURAS.2025.01.016

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