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ASIA SOCIETY EXHIBITION IS FIRST TO EXAMINE INFLUENCE OF BUDDHIST PILGRIMAGE ON ASIAN ART

EXHIBITION, CATALOGUE AND COMPANION PBS DOCUMENTARY FILM BY DAVID GRUBIN RECEIVE
$1 MILLION NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES (NEH) CHAIRMAN’S SPECIAL AWARD

Pilgrimage and Buddhist Art on view at Asia Society Museum
March 16–June 20, 2010

Pilgrimage and Buddhist Art is the first-ever exhibition examining artistic production inspired by sacred sites and the practice of Buddhist pilgrimage in Asia. Through over ninety spectacular objects from significant North American museum and private collections, the exhibition aims to demonstrate the profound influence of Buddhist pilgrimage—both physical and mental—on Asian art over the past two millennia.

The exhibition comprises paintings, sculpture, textiles, manuscripts, ritual implements and reliquaries—augmented by maps, photographs and video—from India, Japan, Thailand, China, Bhutan and Tibet, and spanning the first through nineteenth centuries. A fully illustrated 212-page color catalogue, with major essays from leading scholars on Buddhism and Buddhist art, published by Asia Society Museum in association with Yale University Press, accompanies the exhibition. A rich multimedia website will provide additional context.

The practice of pilgrimage is especially significant in Buddhism, and is linked very closely to the life and experiences of the Buddha. For this reason, Pilgrimage and Buddhist Art is undertaken in conjunction with a companion two-hour documentary film biography The Buddha, narrated by Richard Gere, directed by the award-winning filmmaker David Grubin and airing on PBS in April. The documentary and the exhibition, which jointly received a Chairman’s Special Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities, share research and artifacts and complement one another.

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Contact: Elaine Merguerian, (212) 327-9271, [email protected]