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New Art Exhibition about Avalokiteshvara to be held in New York
Buddhistdoor International, BD Dipananda, 2015-04-14
15/04/2015 11:08 (GMT+7)
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An exhibition on the art of Avalokiteshvara, the Buddhist embodiment of compassion, will be held from 23 April until 28 June at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College in New York. The exhibit is titled, “Embodying Compassion in Buddhist Art: Image, Pilgrimage, Practice.” The exhibition is divided into three thematic sections, including image, pilgrimage, and practice. This is the first comprehensive artistic exploration of this supremely important Buddhist divinity in the United States.

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Four-Armed Avalokiteshvara. China or Tibet, 18th–19th century, gilded metal with inlays. From fllac.vassar.edu

The exhibition will open with the creation of mandala (a spiritual and ritual symbol in Tibetan Buddhism) over five days by three lamas, and continue with a series of lectures, symposia, a procession, a concert, a family day, the exhibit curator’s gallery talk, and group tours. 
 
Avalokiteshvara, known in varied forms and by many names such as Guan Yin, Kannon/Kanzeon, or Chenrezig, will be represented in the exhibition by 30 outstanding masterpieces of Indian, Nepalese, Tibetan, Chinese and Japanese art. These pieces are being provided by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Princeton University Art Museum, The Rubin Museum of Art, the Asia Society, and The Newark Museum. A rich range of sculptures, scrolls, paintings, textiles, texts, and ritual objects will also be on display in the exhibition.

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Kannon. Japan, Edo period, 1615–1868, hanging scroll, ink and color on silk. From fllac.vassar.edu
 
“Embodying Compassion will introduce visitors to Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Buddhist envoy of benevolence and altruism,” professor of art at Vassar College and exhibition curator Karen Lucic told Vassar Info, Vassar College’s press outlet. “A wide variety of postures, gestures, attributes, and attendant figures will be on display. For example, audiences will observe how Indian sculptors conceived of Avalokiteshvara as a lordly, commanding figure, while Japanese painters rendered the same Bodhisattva as an androgynous contemplative.” She added that the culturally diverse exhibition would offer a rare opportunity to compare the divergences of artistic depiction that the Buddhist deity experienced at different times and regions.
 
The image section will address a historical representation of Avalokiteshvara in model actions that symbolize compassionate wisdom. Sculptures, hanging scrolls, and thangkas will be included in this section. These artistic objects highlight how the princely figure of Avalokiteshvara as shown in South Asian art effectively underwent a “sex change” to become a more maternal, nurturing presence in China, Japan, and other East Asian countries.
 
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Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. Nepal, transitional period, late 10th–early 11th century, gilt copper alloy with inlays of semi-precious stones. From buddhistartnews.wordpress.com

The pilgrimage section will include scrolls and sculptures that represent the Jokhang Temple and Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet, the Saigoku pilgrimage route in Japan, and Guanyin’s most important center of worship in China, the island of Putuoshan. Lucic noted in Vassar Info: “A crucial theme here is the resurgence of Buddhist pilgrimage practices in recent decades, especially in places such as Lhasa and Putuoshan, whose temples and shrines were leveled during the Cultural Revolution.”
 
The practice section will highlight the objects that are related to daily spiritual activities such as spinning prayer wheels, using prayer beads, making mandalas, creating devotional statues, reciting scriptures, prostrating before statues or paintings, and engaging in elaborate techniques of visualizing Buddhist deities.
 
“The ‘worship’ of this figure in the artistic realm relates to widely practiced rituals such as mantra recitation or the spinning of prayer wheels,” Lucic told Vassar Info. “Both art and practice aim to purify devotees of impediments that block their potential for unbiased compassion, so that they themselves can emulate Avalokiteshvara.”  

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