Wisdom of the East Exhibition

I'm very pleased to share the news that I've curated an exhibition now on view in the Wallach Study Center of Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library at Columbia. The show, entitled Wisdom of the East: Buddhist Art from the J. G. Phelps Collection, brings together a group of Asian sculptures and ritual objects from Tibet, Nepal, Japan, and China, dating from the 12th to 19th centuries, in the permanent art collection at Columbia. The image you see above is one of the four cases, this one showcasing three Buddhist sculptures from Japan. The figure on the left is Manjusri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom who rides a lion, carries religious texts, and defends the faith with his sword. The figures on the right are a Bodhisattva and Buddha associated with Mahayana Buddhist traditions of Japan. All three are gilded and lacquered wood. This exhibition brings together just a small selection of the 50+ sculptures and ritual objects that the NYC socialist politician James Graham Phelps Stokes (1872-1960) donated to Columbia the year before he died. I mentioned Stokes recently as the author of the observation on time and experience in his travel journal to Japan in 1892, an entry I discovered in doing research in anticipation of this exhibition. You can read a little more about the exhibition here. It will be up until September 14, 2018.

Skanda in Georgia

I'm writing this post from Athens, Georgia, where today we de-installed a few works of art that we loaned from the Columbia University art collection. The exhibition at the Georgia Museum of Art, which closed yesterday, was "Images of Awakening: Buddhist Sculpture from Afghanistan and Pakistan." It revolved around an amazing new acquisition they have received: a 5th-century Buddhist head from Hadda (their image online currently is pre-conservation; trust me, it's gorgeous). The exhibition included loans from a few collections to narrate more fully the story of art, mostly Buddhist in nature, from the region once known as Gandhara, a crossroads for Western and Eastern cultures from the time after Alexander the Great to nearly the 7th century. Today, of course, this region is a political quagmire because of the Taliban and Isis, which is partly why a show like this in Georgia (traditionally, a more-conservative state) becomes so important. In my role as Curator of Art Properties at Columbia, I can say that we were very pleased to be able to participate in this exhibition and loan four small schist stone sculptures to this. Three of them were Buddhist in nature, but the work you see here actually has origins in Hinduism. This is somewhat surprising as Hinduism was not yet fully developed as we know it today, although its earlier origins as Vedism were culturally entrenched throughout the Indian sub-continent. A sculpture of a Hindu deity from this region, during a time when Greek-inspired art was influencing Buddhism, arguably demonstrates how globalism has always impacted art and is not a 21st-century phenomenon.

The figure represents Skanda, the god of war and son of Shiva and Parvati. It dates from the 4th to 5th century. His mythological origin is rather fascinating, and a bit provocative--curiously, it seems to bear some relationship to the Greek story of the birth of Aphrodite, goddess of love (both born from water, seed thrown into the water, etc.). Despite its fragmented state today, this work has held up well (it had some minor conservation in order to be shown, so thank you Jones Abbe Art Conservation). The sculpture shows the god not with multiple heads but rather in a warrior stance holding what once was a spear and, in his other hand, a peacock, the animal with which he is associated. That makes for another interesting analogy, as peacocks in Greek mythology are associated with Hera, queen of the heavens, and seen as a symbol of marriage. Is another love/war cultural emblem at work here? Perhaps. Peacocks are beautiful birds, particularly when they display their shimmering iridescent feathers, but they are also notoriously loud and vicious. I guess all is fair in love and war.

Art Properties in the News

My department of Art Properties has been profiled in an excellent write-up in the Columbia University news by Eve Glasberg. You can read the article and see a slideshow of a few highlights from the collection by clicking here. The image above is a Buddhist sculpture from the collection: Head of a Disciple, 550-577, from China, Northern Qi dynasty, limestone with traces of pigment (S1135). The article gives a good overview of the University's art collections, and how my team and I have been changing the mission to one based more on curricular integration, educational programs, and international exhibition loans. They also filmed us reinstalling art works from the Sackler Collections in the Faculty Room of Low Library, in which I narrate a little bit about these works and the recent graduate seminar in Chinese art in which students researched and studied works from this collection.

Week-in-my-Life: Aug 2012 (Pt. 2)

THURSDAY 08/09/12

7:30am = breakfast: egg & cheddar sandwich on multi-grain toast with blackberries & coffee

8:30am = more dissertation writing, discover 15 pages written in my introduction (stunned!)

11:00am = head to Maybelle’s Cafe again for Wi-Fi and early lunch, discover it’s completely mobbed with people hoarding all the tables, suddenly disgusted that no one in my neighborhood has consideration for me, so forced to go to Starbucks instead, where I do more digital image research on Buddhist art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection (image above: Head of Buddha, ca. 4th century, Gandhara or modern-day Pakistan)

12:00pm = lunch: chicken tarragon sandwich & iced tea at Starbucks

2:00pm = home with cup of tea, falling asleep on the couch, force myself to wake up with yet another cup of tea with a snack of cherries and a chocolate pudding

3:00pm = therapy with UK (always helpful, never disappointing)

4:30pm = back to working on Buddhist art, finish another PowerPoint lecture with about 65 slides of images for a 3-hour class (huzzah!)

7:00pm = dinner: tortellini stuffed with spinach & cheese in a with a butter/olive oil-peas-tomatoes sauce; Netflix movie = finally finish watching Mirror Mirror (3 stars, and I'm being generous)

FRIDAY 08/10/12

3:55am = alarm goes off so I can do early-morning trip to gym, decide to sleep for just a few more minutes

6:30am = wake up realizing I'm not going to gym for early-morning workout; breakfast: Eggo whole grain waffles with blackberries and tea

10:00am = breakfast #2: cinnamon coffee cake & iced tea at Starbucks

10:30am = at library to use Wi-Fi to pay bills, update files, and go through library books on textiles from India and Mughal decorative arts

1:30pm = lunch: roast beef & cheddar sandwich on whole wheat roll, small bag of Doritos, & cream soda (no judging - I can gorge on bad food sometimes!)

2:00pm = begin the wait for the Time-Warner cable repair man to show up, rest on the couch watching from Netflix first 2 parts of documentary about history of India

3:15pm = first automated phone call notifying me Time-Warner is on their way, but I should confirm just in case

4:00pm = second automated phone call notifying me Time-Warner is on their way, but I should confirm just in case (note: I already received 3 of these calls earlier in the week as well)

5:15pm = another phone call (this time from a live person!) notifying me Time-Warner is on their way

5:45pm = Time-Warner finally shows up (note: appointment time was from 2-4pm), the great drama of my Internet service problems continues, and he even has to climb down the fire escape to check wires in our courtyard

6:45pm = After 2 months of nightmare problems, Internet is working! (huzzah!), begin prayers that it doesn't go out again

8:00pm = dinner: red-leaf salad with chicken tenders, tomatoes, red beans, black olives, cheddar cheese, and honey mustard dressing with water; movie: finish watching parts 2 and all of 3 of The Story of India (5 stars - very interesting, highly recommended)

SATURDAY 08/11/12

8:00am = after letting myself sleep a little later than usual, breakfast: 2 sunny-side-up eggs on multi-grain toast with strawberries and coffee

9:00am = clean bathroom and start dusting, only able to get through task by listening to Kim Sozzi, Lady Gaga, and Nicki Minaj

12:30pm = lunch: leftover tortellini eaten as pasta salad

2:00pm = at library to go through more books on Indian textiles and Mughal decorative arts

3:30pm = gym, almost full workout, 400+ calories burned

5:30pm = starving! snack: mini-cherry pie & iced coffee at Starbucks

6:45pm = meet JM & DC (with his new friend K) at Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay & Lesbian Art for opening of new exhibition Pop-Up Museum of Queer History: Before We Were Queer; network with people we know, drink some free wine, then realize dying of heat stroke and claustrophobia, so rush outside into sticky humidity to breathe

8:15 = dinner: Mexican appetizers and a Corona at Papatzul in SoHo

9:45 = after-dinner glass of Pinot Grigio at Novecento in SoHo

12:00am = Zzzzzzzzz......

From Buddha to Dickens

I had to do some research at my school's library today, so I thought I would use part of the day also to catch up on a few special exhibitions here in the City. I made my way first to the Asia Society on Park Ave. & 70th St. to see The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara, which I had included on my list of must-see shows for the fall. The show was fantastic, and I am so glad I went. I have a weakness for Asian art like Chinese landscape paintings, Japanese prints, Chinese/Islamic calligraphy, and Buddhist sculpture. In many ways it is so different from Western art that it allows us the opportunity to look at it with fresh eyes, unadulterated by our expectations of what we assume the artist did or what we know about the school in which he/she lived because we're used to certain things. But I am actually schooled a bit in Asian art, having taken a number of classes years ago and having taught courses on Asian art, literature, and religions in my past, but I would never consider myself a specialist. So I love to see shows like this and simply appreciate the subtle beauty of these works exactly for what they are. Take the Buddha you see here, for instance, from the Lahore Museum in Pakistan. He dates from the 2nd-3rd century and stands just under 5 feet high. The figure shows the Buddha as a teacher, raising his (missing) hand in the mudra of peace, and he wears the ushnisha (knot of knowledge) on his head and the urna (third eye of spiritual awakening) in the middle of his forehead. But what makes this figure so spectacular is the way his cloak ripples down his body, carved in a way that you can sense it is translucent and you can see the contours of his body beneath it. This "classical"-style Buddha is Gandharan, and what makes the art of this period and region so amazing is that it encapsulates a global culture from two millennia ago. Located near the silk route and conquered by the Persians and Greeks, the art of this area reflects an amalgamation of cultures coming together. From the Western perspective, this Buddha looks very Greek. If it were in white marble, one might thing an ancient Greek or Roman carved it. The entire exhibition brought together works from the Lahore Museum, a feat unto itself considering the political instability in which the U.S. and Pakistan find themselves today. The Asia Society also had an exhibition of the watercolors and paintings of Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel prize-winning writer from India, celebrating his 150th birthday. Much of his visual art resembles the work of modernists popular at the time. Paul Klee and Amadeo Modigliani come to mind. It wasn't really my taste, but it was worth seeing. They also had a single-room exhibition of a kinetic sculpture by the contemporary Korean artist U-Ram Choe. The sculpture looked like the skeletal remains of a manatee with sea oats growing out of it, their tips moving in the air like grabbing peacock feathers. There is a long conceptual narrative to the piece, but you can tell I wasn't into it, although the clockwork mechanics of it were interesting.

I ventured over to the Morgan Library today as well, which had four exhibitions that interested me. I started with the show on Islamic manuscript paintings from their permanent collection, some of which were vibrant and delightful. I then moved downstairs to see David, Delacroix, and Revolutionary France: Drawings from the Louvre. Encompassing French drawings from about 1780 to 1860, the emphasis here was on the Neoclassicists and Romantics. Many of the drawings were quite good, but without contextualization of paintings for which some were studies, it is more challenging for the general viewer person to appreciate what it is you are looking at.

I love the art of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, so it was a pleasure to see works of his not only in the exhibition from the Louvre, but also in a separate small exhibition with drawings from the Morgan's permanent collection. Ingres was a skilled draftsman, and he bridged the gap in many ways between the classical and romantic. The image you see here by him is his Odalisque and Slave, 1839, and relates directly to a painting of the same subject. Depicting a fantasy Orientalist scene that exploits the beauty of the female nude and the exoticism of the Middle East, the subject is Romantic; however, the crisp line and detailed precision and balance in the picture allow it to fall neatly into the Neoclassical style. I'm essentializing all this just to keep it simple, but normally I don't like pigeon-holing artists into categories like this because it creates an unnecessary hierarchy of excellence. Regardless, what strikes me most about this work is that when I saw it, I was convinced it was an engraving. In fact, it is a drawing in pencil, chalk, and wash, which is a testament to Ingres's incredible skills as an artist.

I also had to stop in the exhibition celebrating Charles Dickens's 200th birthday as well. There were letters, manuscripts, books, photographs, caricatures, and other related items all on display in cases and hanging on the wall. Now, I confess I've never been a big fan of Dickens. I've read Hard Times and Nicholas Nickleby, and of course read more than once A Christmas Carol, but to me Dickens seemed to focus too much on sensationalizing the poor in a way that objectified them. Then again, he was a journalist and his books did get people to start thinking about social programs for the underprivileged, so it's understandable why he was and is so popular.

Now if you've read this entire post (for which you get my applause!), you may be wondering what the heck the image at the top of this post has to do with Buddha or Dickens or anything in-between. In truth, nothing. But it does relate to the end of my day in the City, for as I was heading toward the subway, I was drawn into Banana Republic like a moth to a flame. As I walked in a shop girl said, "40% off everything!", flailing a coupon in my face. "40%," said I, "off everything?" "Yes, everything!" she exclaimed. Needless to say, I couldn't resist adding a few items for my work wardrobe for the fall/winter season...but don't you just LOVE what I bought?! By the way, they're saying we may get snow flurries tomorrow...I'm pretty sure I'm ready.