An introduction to the special exhibition, The Dragon's Gift: The Sacred Art of Bhutan on view at the Asian Art Museum fron February 20–May 10, 2009. Exhibition produced by the Honolulu Academy of Arts.
Spring 2012. Join us as we explore the art of Southeast Asia and the Himalayas. Featuring prominent scholars and curators from across the country, these lectures will showcase many treasures of the Asian Art Museum and illuminate sacred and secular traditions: from the steamy kingdoms in the east and south of India to the mountainous realms to the north.
This lecture series, organized by the Society for Asian Art, explores narrative using Asian art—how myths, legends, histories and moral precepts have been transmitted through visual means. Topics range from sculptural reliefs and murals used to educate pilgrims at famous religious sites to works created primarily for entertainment. Contemporary storytelling is also addressed via lectures on Bollywood and manga produced by San Francisco's Henry Yoshitaka Kiama.
Part one of the introductory film about the special exhibition, The Dragon's Gift: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan on view at the Asian Art Museum fron February 20–May 10, 2009. Film and exhibition produced by the Honolulu Academy of Arts.
Part two of the introductory film about the special exhibition, The Dragon's Gift: The Sacred Art of Bhutan on view at the Asian Art Museum fron February 20–May 10, 2009. Film and exhibition produced by the Honolulu Academy of Arts.
Jeffrey Durham, Associate Curator of Himalayan Art, discusses a painting of the Buddha Vairochana in the exhibition, Enter the Mandala.
Thanks to the Society for Asian Art's renowned Arts of Asia lecture series, speakers from the Bay Area and across the country will transport you across Asia by land and by sea.
View the conservation and installation of the large Cosmological Painting in the Asian Art Museum's collection for the Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past exhibition.
Tour the exhibition, Enter the Mandala, with Jeffrey Durham, Associate Curator of Himalayan Art at the Asian Art Museum.
Renowned scholars discuss the impact of personalities and patronage on the arts of Asia.
The Society for Asian Art's renowned Arts of Asia lecture series will focus on trade roads and sea routes. You will be transported from courts to caravans, from stupas to shipwrecks, from mountain passes and river valleys to open seas. Travel with merchants and monks, monarchs and missionaries and see their riches and relics. Discover ancient ceramics, sculptures, coins, calligraphy, tea wares, textiles and much more.
Simhavaktra means "lion faced" or "lion headed," and a dakini is a "sky-walker"—an inhabitant of the realm of the sky in the mind. Simhavaktra balances deftly, despite her apparently awkward posture. To successfully create a sculpture of this type, extremely high levels of artistic skill were necessary. Indeed, Simhavaktra is one of only two comparable sculptures still extant in the world.
Asian Art Museum Storyteller, Monica Desai, tells a story about Narasimha, an incarnation of the Hindu deity Vishnu. You can find images of Narasimha in the Asian Art Museum's collection.
Born in New York, Palden Weinreb’s Tibetan heritage speaks through his strikingly spare works. Weinreb is inspired by sublimity: motion, space, and mystery. Find out more.
A lecture series by renowned scholars on the arts of Asia—explore temples, palaces, and sometimes forgotten places of power, religion, and art. Visit world wonders not simply as tourists today, but as monks, monarchs, artisans and artistocrats, traders and explorers experienced them over the centuries.
The sponsorship of art by monarchs, merchants, and devotees throughout Asia will be explored. Lectures will focus on topics spanning Chinese patronage from ancient times through several of the most famous imperial dynasties (Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing) to Jayavarman VII (Angkor Wat), the Safavids in Persia, Jahanara Begum (Shah Jahan's daughter), and even contemporary patrons like the Samsung family.
Mark Fenn, Associate Head of Conservation at the Asian Art Museum, gives a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the reconsecration of a stupa in the Asian Art Museum's collection.
Discover the sacred arts of Tibet.
A lecture series with renowned scholars on the arts of Southeast Asia and the Himalayas.
Explores perceptions of Tibet as a "Shangri-La" and contemporary Tibetan culture.
Jeffrey Durham, Associate Curator of Himalayan Art at the Asian Art Museum, discusses the secrets of the stupa in the museum's collection modeled on the famous pilgrimage Swayambhu Stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Why did the Buddha insist that this image be in every monastery? Take a visual journey through this thangka painting with Curator Jeffrey Durham. Learn more about this painting:
View short videos, talks, and listen to an audio tour on the sacred arts of Bhutan. East of Mount Everest and bordered by India and Tibet, Bhutan is a remote and mystical kingdom, considered by many as “The Last Shangri-La.” A sovereign nation that has maintained its cultural, artistic, and religious traditions intact, it is one of the few countries in Asia never colonized by its neighbors or Western powers. The first exhibition of its kind, The Dragon's Gift provided an exceptionally rare opportunity to view some of the most sacred and beloved Buddhist arts in Bhutan. (On view at the Asian Art Museum from February 20–May 10, 2009).
From August 16-19, 2012, six Tibetan Buddhist monks travelled to San Francisco from the Drepung Loseling Phukhang Monastery in South India to create a sand mandala for the Asian Art Museum.
A visual tour of important sites in Tibet.
Daniel Byers discusses the Himalayan Kingdom of Mustang during the PechaKucha Night at the Asian Art Museum.
Jeffrey Durham, Associate Curator of Himalayan Art at the Asian Art Museum answers the question What is a mandala? at the entrance to the exhibition, Enter the Mandala at the Asian Art Museum.
