Yarto Jiu Gangpa

CHINA, Tibet, Lhoka

Born in Yarto, Lhoka, to an aristocratic artist family, Yarto Jiu Gangpa studied and became proficient in the arts at a young age. As an adult, he traveled around Tibet in search of artworks, and was regarded by those who encountered him as “roaming like a bird,” hence his name Jiu, meaning bird.
Yarto Jui studied folk and Newar art in depth, which was at that time prevalent in most parts of Tibet. He eventually established the Jiu Gangpa school, also known as the Gyantse school or Jiu school. He displayed a sense of nature in the expression and motion of the figures he painted. Yarto Jiu also pioneered the use of motifs in the background of paintings to represent the earth, water, fire, and wind, in addition to images of animals.
At present Yarto Liu’s works are collected in regions around Tibet including Sakya, Shelkar, and Ngamring. Among his paintings are the thangkas of Atisa and Disciples, Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen, Amitayus Buddha, and Dharma Protectors, each of which were painted in ancient Indian Buddha measurement guidelines and Tibetan dyes.