Ten years ago, if tourists to Chiang Rai wanted to find the sprawling, eerie residence of Thai National Artist Achan Thawan Duchanee, they had to be hooked into the Chiang Rai art scene, taken there by a local, or stumble upon it accidentally. Today, dozens of tour vans visit the campus and museum, known as Ban Dam (The Black House), every day. A newly widened, paved road cuts through the museum's small village, and gift shops and coffee spots abound where domestic gardens and chickens once dominated. Even with its new accessibility and visibility, visitors to Ban Dam leave awestruck and confounded—often wanting to know more about the meanings and motivations behind the creation of the fifteen-acre compound where Thawan's paintings and personal wunderkammer are on display.
As the only substantial English-language publication on the life and works of the artist, Russell Marcus's new book can help to inform those confused tourists. While it may not completely answer their questions, it will at least orient them toward what types of questions they may want to ask. Marcus's book is an enhancement and expansion of his earlier and shorter work on the artist, which was published at a time when Thawan was one of the most well-known Thai artists in the world.Footnote 3 Since his death in 2013, Thawan has been nearly deified by the Thai art world and recognized as one of the most important domestic artists of the twentieth century. Probably the most comprehensive exploration of the artist's life and work is a Thai-language work by Chalong Phinitsuwan.Footnote 4 This book was published following the artist's death, and distributed at the 100-day memorial for the artist held at Ban Dam and the Art Bridge art center in Chiang Rai. Chalong was a lifelong friend of Thawan, with whom he cofounded the Sala Tai Yuan artist group, which emerged in Chiang Rai in the 1980s and established the neo-traditional “Lan Na” style for which Chiang Rai art is now known.
While Marcus's book lacks the deep biographical context and personal touch of Chalong's book, it fills the need for an English-language publication on the artist. Other English-language sources on the life and work of Thawan are limited, with only a few scattered exhibition catalogues and magazine articles and a paltry Wikipedia page.
Throughout the book, Marcus presents Thawan's work in primarily Buddhist terms. The first three chapters, “The Dhammapada,” “The Battle of Mara,” and “The Last Ten Lives of the Buddha,” respectively, all couple Thawan's work with Buddhist verses, stories, and concepts and include analysis from the author. These chapters, along with the rest of the book, are richly illustrated with Thawan's paintings and drawings. The images, however, lack basic citation information such as titles and years of production, which some readers may find frustrating.
Chapter 4, “Seeing What Is Visible,” gives a reading of the catalogue for Thawan's 2005 retrospective exhibition Traisun (Trinity) through Buddhist concepts of existence.
Chapter 5, “Buddhist Meditation Room,” provides photos and brief analysis of Thawan's murals in the meditation room at the Hatzfeldt family castle near Friesenhagen, Germany.
Chapter 6, “The Biggest Work of the Painter Is Not a Painting” gives an overview of the campus at Ban Dam. It focuses on the architectural elements and craft collections found within the over forty structures at Ban Dam, while providing some explanation of the larger concepts that influenced its creation. This information was based on interviews Marcus conducted with Thawan in 1993.
Chapters 7 and 8, “Styles and Media,” and “The Artist's Own Words,” will be valuable to anyone looking to understand more about Thawan and his personal philosophy and style. These chapters are comprised of long excerpts from the interviews Marcus conducted with the artist between 1971 and 1972.
Chapter 9 closes the book with a short biography.
Those interested in Thawan and his own beliefs about art and Buddhism will find plenty of fodder in Thawan Duchanee: Modern Buddhist Artist to get them started. Hopefully this book will inspire continued study of Thawan—his life, his work, his personal style, and, most importantly, his influence on the development of Thai modern and contemporary art.
