Tibetan Treasures: The Rezk Collection of Tibetan and Nepalese Art. October 28, 2011 through January 27, 2012. Altoona, PA. USA.

"Loretto – The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Loretto is pleased to announce the opening of Tibetan Treasures: The Rezk Collection of Tibetan and Nepalese Art. The exhibition, which includes approximately 70 objects of Tibetan and Nepalese art spanning eight centuries, opens October 28 and will remain on view through January 28."

"The Museum’s Rezk Collection is one of the major collections of Tibetan and Nepalese art in the United States. This exhibition marks the first time the collection has been shown to the public in more than fifteen years. Tibetan Treasures features approximately 90 objects, all made within the context of Tibetan Buddhism, including thangkas (scroll paintings), block prints, sculpture, and ceremonial and ritual pieces. These range in date from the twelfth century to the twentieth, and give a fascinating overview of the rich iconography of Tibet’s unique form of Buddhism. Personifying abstract ideas as gods, demons, monsters, and saints, the objects in the exhibition bring Buddhist concepts to life in a resonant and marvelously imaginative way." (The above text is from the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art website).

(See the Southern Alleghenies collection of art on the HAR website).

Luminous: The Art of Asia, Seattle, Wash. USA

"Luminous: The Art of Asia, on view October 13, 2011–January 8, 2012 at SAM Downtown, will present a lush and rich experience of the art from 12 Asian nations. Do Ho Suh's thoughtful commentary illuminates these precious works and makes them relevant for today's contemporary audience." (Above text from the Seattle Art Museum website).

The exhibition includes a number of Tibetan and Nepalese pieces.

Reflections of the Buddha, September 9, 2011 to March 10, 2012. The Pulitzer Foundation of the Arts, St. Louis, MO. USA.

For the first exhibition of its tenth-anniversary season, The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts presents Reflections of the Buddha, a unique encounter with several major visual and spiritual Buddhist traditions. The exhibition’s twenty-two artworks, on loan from important American collections, were created in Afghanistan, China, India, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, and Tibet and date from the second to the eighteenth centuries. Each one is experienced in harmony with the serene atmosphere of the Pulitzer’s building, designed by master architect Tadao Ando. Three related works of contemporary art add to the resonance of the exhibition’s theme.

Admission to the Pulitzer is free. Hours: Wednesdays noon – 5pm | Saturdays 10am – 5pm

(Image: Standing Prince Shotoku at Age Two (Shotoku Taishi Nisaizo), c. 1292. Japan, Kamakura period, 1185–1333. Japanese cypress (hinoki) wood-assembled woodblock construction with polychromy and rock-crystal inlaid eyes. 26 3/4 x 9 3/4 x 9 in. (67.9 x 24.8 x 22.9 cm). Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Promised gift of Walter C. Sedgwick in memory of Ellery Sedgwick Sr. and Ellery Sedgwick Jr., 99.1979.1. Photograph by Junius Beebe © President and Fellows of Harvard College).

{All above text is from The Pulitzer Foundation of the Arts website).

Mirror of the Buddha: Early Portraits from Tibet, October 21, 2011 - March 5, 2012. Rubin Museum of Art, New York City.

"In early Tibetan painted portraits, founding masters of important Buddhist schools were often represented as holy personages. Using artistic conventions developed in India, Tibetan artists expressed the Buddhist ideals embodied in a particular person, exalting their human subjects to the level of buddhas."

"Mirror of the Buddha will present exquisite examples of these portraits, painted primarily in the eastern India-inspired Sharri style. Though the Sharri tradition spread from India to many parts of Asia, the style's classic Indian forms, delicate colors, and intricate decorative details were emulated most faithfully by Tibetans and enjoyed particular popularity in Tibet from the 12th to 14th century."

"Marking the third in a series of exhibitions that explores important Tibetan painting styles, Mirror of the Buddha will clarify some of the confusion and correct misidentifications previously posited by Western scholars. It will also analyze inscriptions and lineages, which are often overlooked yet of critical importance, as tools for dating these works of art."

"Mirror of the Buddha will be complemented by a full-color catalog rich with new scholarship, by curator David Jackson." (Text from the Rubin Museum of Art website).

The Nepalese Legacy in Tibetan Painting.

September 3, 2010 - May 23, 2011. Rubin Museum of Art, New York.

"For centuries Tibetan artists looked to India for artistic direction. But with the destruction of India's key monasteries in 1203, many artists turned to Nepal's Kathmandu Valley, home to the skilled Newar artists. The Newars' painting style, known as the Beri, was quickly adopted in Tibet, becoming one of the country's most influential artistic styles for four centuries. This exhibition traces the style's development, patronage, and distinctive features." (RMA Website. Read a longer description).

See a selection of objects from the exhibition on the HAR Website.

Tibet/China Confluences
Wednesday, August 26, 2009 - Sunday, May 23, 2010.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

"The Carpenter gallery is usually home to Chinese paintings, of which the Museum of Fine Arts holds one of the world’s great collections. The current exhibition is a departure. It does feature some Chinese paintings, but it also includes works from Tibet. Since the fourteenth century, Chinese and Tibetan art have engaged in a vigorous and mutually sustaining dialogue, each side learning from and influencing the other. "Tibet/China Confluences" explores that dialogue."

"Tibetan paintings first appeared in China in large numbers during the fourteenth century. Their vibrant colors, intense imagery, and bold compositions attracted Chinese viewers, and Chinese painters began to borrow aspects of Tibetan style. In turn, Tibetan painters emulated the sensitive naturalism of the Chinese tradition—botanical paintings and landscapes in particular. The resulting works are sometimes called "Sino-Tibetan" or "Tibeto-Chinese," reflecting the fact that the traditions are often so closely interwoven as to constitute new, hybrid styles.

With support from the June N. and John C. Robinson Fund for Chinese Paintings in Honor of Marjorie C. Nordblom."

To learn more about the image above visit the MFA Boston Gallery on the HAR website and view image number #87211 for Panjarnata Mahakala. Also see the Mahakala Resource Page, Panjarnata Outline Page and a selection of Panjarnata Masterworks.

The Walters Art Museum presents the contemporary works of Amita Bhatt in dialog with tantric art from the John and Berthe Ford Collection.

The Walters Art Museum is proud to present selected works from the John and Berthe Ford collection of traditional Indian and Himalayan art in visual dialogue with contemporary paintings by India born artist, Amita Bhatt. Bhatt derives her imagery from Hindu and Buddhist Tantric sources infused with her understanding of Western philosophy. She explores classic themes of desire, conflict, struggle and transcendence as they manifest themselves in the present day. This thought provoking installation recognizes the power of visual expressions to articulate, to mobilize, to activate, and to provoke. Informed by tradition but speaking in the present, Bhatt's works explore fundamental struggles and eternal tensions common to all cultures. The show will run from October 31st through December 13th, 2009.

Walters Art Museum, 600 N Charles St.,
Baltimore, Maryland 21201
Phone: 410-547-9000 Email: info@thewalters.org

The Path of Buddha: Tokyo National Museum, Friday, July 27, 2007 - Tuesday, November 3, 2009

"This display traces the development of Buddhist statues from Gandhara (Ancient India), China, the Korean Peninsula, and Japan to provide insights about how Buddhist beliefs and statues developed in each region.

Buddhism is a religion based on the teachings, known as dharma, of Prince Siddhartha Gautama, who lived in India around the 5th century B.C. He attained "Enlightenment" and became Shakyamuni Buddha when he was 35, and spent the rest of his life teaching his insights to others. After his death, his followers continued to practice and spread his teachings. Following his cremation, the Buddha's ashes and relics, known as sharira, were deposited in stupas, originally mound-like structures. Buddhist art developed when stupas were decorated with reliefs that depicted stories of Buddha and other designs.

Initially, Buddha was not presented as a human figure. This changed around the 1st century A.D. and Buddhists began to worship the statues. Over time, Buddhism spread to other areas, where statues were crafted and worshiped in various forms." (Text from Tokyo National Museum website).

Patron and Painter
Rubin Museum of Art, New York
February 6, 2009 - August 17, 2009

Much like religious princes, the Karmapas, heads of the Karma Kagyu, one of Tibet's principal schools of Buddhism, traveled for centuries in large monastic tent encampments. These courts, which included portable temples, a community of monks, and skilled artists and artisans, produced their own distinctive painting style, known as the "Encampment style" (Gardri). The painter Namkha Tashi founded the style in the court of the Ninth Karmapa (1555-1603) in Central Tibet. He looked to Indian figural models and placed them in landscapes inspired heavily by the works of Chinese court painters.

Most of what we know of this painting tradition belongs to its eighteenth-century revival fostered by the great scholar-painter Situ Panchen (1700-1774) in Kham Province, Eastern Tibet, with its new artistic center at his monastic seat, Palpung. Even more important to the history of Tibetan art than Situ Panchen's role as a painter is his role as a patron and designer of paintings, many of which continue to be copied to this day. For the first time anywhere, this exhibition traces the career and artistic legacy of one of the great patrons and artists in Tibetan history. (From the RMA website).

Google Alert: "Himalayan Art Resources"

Stable as a Mountain
Rubin Museum of Art, New York
March 13, 2009 - July 13, 2009

Portraiture is one of the most powerful and significant expressions of figurative art, and in the Himalayas the subjects of religious portraits are exclusively religious teachers, or gurus. By preserving the physical appearance of a guru, an icon is produced that can charismatically substitute for the teacher in his physical absence. As such these portraits often embody the teachings of the guru and the traits of the enlightened mind. (From RMA website).

Google Alert: "Himalayan Art Resources"