Buddhist Painting in Cambodia

Courtesy The Buddhist Art News, August 25, BE2553, AD 2009 Year of the Ox

This lavishly-illustrated book documents the rich Buddhist cultural heritage of Kampuchea (Cambodia in English) after centuries of wars and destruction culminating with the genocide and cultural annihilation of the Khmer Rouge.

After a discussion of Buddhist art in general, the authors highlight the most important mural paintings and discuss their function, as well as the architecture of the temples in which they are housed, painting techniques and narrative systems.

A detailed study of paintings illustrating episodes of the Life of the Buddha and the ten Jatakas follows, together with an in-depth analysis of the Rama Epic in Cambodia. Paintings on scroll canvas (Preah Bot) are also reviewed.

The second part of this book includes descriptions of over 100 viharas with mural paintings throughout Cambodia that the authors were able to visit over a period of five years. 630 colour photographs illustrate diverse mural paintings, many of which have never been published before.

With more merit being gained from donations to new viharas rather than the restoration of old ones, this book is a beautiful and important record of Cambodian Buddhist painting, both traditional and modern.

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