[Buddha-l] March 16: show open on pilgrimage in Buddhist art at AsiaSociety,

[JKirkpatrick]

The Buddha, a film by David Grubin for PBS airs on PBS, April 7,
2010.


http://tinyurl.com/yh87lky 
March 16 - June 20, 2010 

Pilgrimage and Buddhist Art is the first major exhibition of its
kind devoted to the impact of Buddhist pilgrimage on Asia's
artistic production. It highlights approximately 120 objects of
importance and extraordinary quality, including sculptures,
paintings, prints, ritual implements, photographs, and maps. 

The objects, dating from the first to the twentieth century, will
be on loan from museums and private collections in North America,
and a number of the pieces have never been displayed publicly
before. Pilgrims and pilgrimage inspired centuries of artistic
production and its patronage influenced the development of visual
culture in Asia.

Buddhist pilgrimage began in South Asia in the first century with
journeys to sites of the major events in the Buddha's life: the
places of his birth, his enlightenment, his first teaching, and
his death are all pilgrimage destinations and testify to the
importance of his life story. 

Using exceptional and visually stunning examples, Pilgrimage and
Buddhist Art explores the ways in which the act of pilgrimage
influenced artistic production across Asia, considering both the
necessity of art objects for particular spiritual journeys and
the rise of commissions to create sacred objects, such as painted
mandalas, scrolls, screens, sculptures, reliquaries, prayer
wheels, traveling shrines, textiles, and maps. Examples of these
objects introduce the concepts of pilgrimage motivation, ritual
preparation, and movement and worship at the sacred destination,
as well as highlight the regional variety of Buddhist pilgrimage
practices and art production due to the influences of preexisting
or coexisting religious practice. 

Pilgrimage and Buddhist Art is organized by Asia Society Museum
andpresented in conjunction with The Buddha, a film by David
Grubin for PBS. New York Premiere at the Asia Society, March 23,
2010; the film airs on PBS April 7, 2010.