The Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, located on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, is currently hosting an exhibition of fine Kashmiri and Kashmiri-influenced Buddhist art. The exhibit brings together 44 manuscripts, paintings, and sculptures from the 7th to the 17th century, including works from other major collections. The show examines how the art of Buddhist Kashmir influenced the Buddhist culture of the Himalayan region and was spread across the world by art collectors in the 20th century.
Crowned Buddha Shakyamuni. Kashmir or northern Pakistan, 8th century, brass with inlays of copper, silver, and zinc. Asia Society, Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection of Asian Art, 1979.044. From blockmuseum.northwestern.edu
Collecting Paradise is the most ambitious exhibition in the Block’s history. It was curated by Rob Linrothe, an associate professor in Northwestern’s Department of Art History and a specialist in Himalayan art. Commenting on the exhibition, he said, “The objects . . . sustain any kind of looking, whether it’s aesthetic, religious or historical. They’re really quite impressive objects.” (Buddhist Art News)
From the 7th to the 11th century, Kashmir was a powerful Hindu and Buddhist region. In the 8th and 9th centuries it had a significant influence on Central Asia, especially the western Himalayas, due, in part, to its closeness to the Silk Road. One aspect of the exhibition is to show the connection of the art from these two regions and also how the Kashmiri style continued in the western Himalayas even after Kashmir turned to Islam in the 14th century, and was integrated into the identity of Tibetan Buddhism.
The exhibition displays the remarkable craftsmanship of the artists. One example is an 8th-century brass statue with inlays of copper, silver, and zinc. Even the way the show is laid out ties in with its main themes, as this piece is alone in the middle of an empty room. “We’re going for a different approach in isolating these objects so you don’t see them as a series,” said Linrothe. “You’re aware you’re walking into a different kind of space.” (The Daily Northwestern) The layout also illustrates a central theme of the show: how the art would have been seen and used by the western Himalayan people as part of their religious practice, and how it was then acquired by explorers and entered both private and public collections.
On the opening day, 15 January, Linrothe gave a lecture about the show’s main themes, including provenance. He said that one of the things he wanted to demonstrate is that Kashmir “is more than just a zone of conflict,” and explained that during the 10th and 11th centuries pilgrims went to Kashmir to seek out art, religious teachings (mainly Buddhist), teachers, and texts, through which peaceful activity Kashmir had a huge effect on the surrounding culture. (Block Museum)
Linrothe also described the dubious ways in which Western collectors obtained some of the pieces from devout Buddhists in the early 20th century, but made it clear that none of the works were actually stolen. For example Giuseppe Tucci, a collector in the 1940s whose activities were followed by the British Military Intelligence, acquired thousands of items by pretending to be Buddhist, as the Tibetans did not want to give their precious objects to non-Buddhists. In one instance, when he was having difficulty obtaining a certain statue, Tucci declared he had a dream that the deity came to him and wanted to go home with him, and in this way acquired the statue.
A companion exhibition, Collecting Culture, Himalaya through the Lens, looks from the angle of photography, cartography, natural science, and ethnography at European and American collectors who value the work sacred to Buddhist practitioners, not as holy objects, but as prized works of fine art or craft.
The exhibitions run until 13 April.