| WHAT: | Individually scheduled press tours for “The Art of Knowing in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas” |
|---|---|
| WHEN: | April 15–ongoing |
| WHERE: | Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, Freer Gallery of Art 1050 Independence Ave. S.W. |
| WHO: | Debra Diamond, Elizabeth Moynihan Curator for South Asian and Southeast Asian Art Emma Natalya Stein, assistant curator of South and Southeast Asian art Hillary Langberg, Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Buddhism Public Scholar |
Members of the media are invited to view “The Art of Knowing in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas” (March 25–ongoing), an exhibition that brings together highlights from the museum’s collections—some of which have never been on view—to explore religious and practical knowledge across time, space and cultures. Featuring stone sculptures, gilt bronzes and painted manuscripts from India, Nepal, Tibet, Bangladesh, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia, this exhibition illuminates the critical role of visual culture in conveying Buddhist and Hindu teachings from the ninth to the 20th centuries.
From Ganesha, the god of beginnings, to goddesses who personify wisdom, the artworks on view tell individual stories and reveal ways of knowing the world. “The Art of Knowing” asks how artists and objects shape wisdom traditions. How do shared images and designs reveal the movement of people and ideas across geographical regions? What do goddesses teach? And how does attaining knowledge end suffering?
“Exploring a complex theme like knowledge meant we had to ask new questions about the diverse artworks in our collections. We hope visitors will walk away with a sense of how deeply people in the region thought about the nature of reality, and how objects can tell us some of the answers they found. ”
Note to editors: Members of the media can contact Jennifer Mitchell at mitchellja@si.edu for more information or to schedule a time to interview the curators and tour the exhibition.