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The most interesting aspect of Naxi art is their Dongba religious art that includes not only the pictographic script, some times nicely coloured, but also ceremonial paintings, dances, etc.
We introduce some web sites where enjoy the art of the Naxi nationality.
Selections from the Naxi Manuscript Collection
Selections from the Naxi Manuscript Collection features ceremonial writings of the Naxi people of Yunnan Province, China. The Library of Congress's Naxi collection is the largest outside of China and is considered one of the finest in the world. The Naxi language is the only pictographic writing system still in use today. The Dongbas created two scripts for ceremonies--pictographic and syllabic (phonetic). Many of the individual symbols, totaling 276 sound complexes, are compounds and are read as a phrase in which verbs and other parts of speech are supplied from memory. In addition, the Naxi language has four tones; each sound complex has many different meanings based on its tone. The Dongba language is influenced by the Tibetan-Burman language family and the tonal and symbolic aspects of Chinese. This online presentation features 185 manuscripts, a 39½ -foot funerary scroll, and an annotated catalog of the entire collection.
With many colour reproductions of beautiful Dongba scripts.
In the Internet we can find also the works of some contemporary Naxi artists:
Naxi painter Zhou Lin (1902-1977). One of the most famous modern Naxi artists, with important links and positions in the local government.
Several of his most famous paintings.
A second web exhibition of his paintings
Zhao Youheng
We can see his painting: Girls in Jade Lake.
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