Asia Society Presents Exhibition of Buddhist Gandharan Art on Rare Loan From Pakistan
At Asia Society Museum, New York. March through May, 2011
Press contact: Elaine Merguerian, 212-327-9271 or [email protected]
Asia Society Museum presents an exhibition of spectacular Buddhist sculptures, architectural reliefs and works of gold and bronze from the Gandhara region of Pakistan, most never exhibited before in the United States. These artworks show the rich artistic heritage of Gandhara as a geographical and historic region and as a particular style of art. The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara reveals the complex cultural influences—from Scytho-Parthian to Greco-Roman traditions—that fed the extraordinary artistic production of this region from the first century B.C.E. through the fifth century C.E.
"Despite today’s images of Pakistan as a place of violent extremism, the region has an ancient tradition of tolerance and pluralism as evidenced by the survival of these spectacular examples of Gandharan art," says Melissa Chiu, Asia Society Museum Director and Vice President, Global Art Programs. "Through this exhibition, Asia Society aims to provide new contexts for looking at the arts, culture and society of Pakistan today, in keeping with our long history of programming about and engagement with Pakistan and following our 2009 exhibition Hanging Fire: Contemporary Art from Pakistan.
At its height, Gandhara—whose center was situated in present-day Peshawar in northwest Pakistan—encompassed Bamiyan in Afghanistan, Bactria, the Hindu Kush, and the Punjab region of northwest India. The majority of Gandharan art known today is Buddhist in origin. Buddhism reached Gandhara as early as the third century B.C.E., and began to flourish in the first century C.E. as Silk Road trade and cross-cultural connections from the Mediterranean to China fostered its spread.
The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara is the first exhibition to bring works of Gandharan art from Pakistan to the United States since Asia Society’s groundbreaking exhibition of Gandharan sculpture in 1960. The majority of works in the exhibition are on loan from the National Museum in Karachi and Central Museum in Lahore. In addition to loans from Pakistan, comparative works, both eastern and western, that illuminate the Greco-Roman and Scytho-Parthian influences on Gandharan art are included from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Asia Society Museum, and private collections in the United States. The display is organized by Adriana Proser, Asia Society Museum’s John H. Foster Curator for Traditional Asian Art.
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully-illustrated 196-page catalogue published by Asia Society in association with the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik in Bonn, Germany. The book includes full-color photography and essays by foremost scholars in the field, including Christian Luczanits and Michael Jansen.
The full press release is attached below.