"GUANYIN: The Art of Compassion" Exhibition
Throckmorton Fine Art
This event has ended.
Throckmorton Fine Art is pleased to offer an exhibit of rare Chinese wood sculptures of Guanyin, the most popular deity in East Asian Buddhism. There will be an unprecedented exhibit of 20 wooden sculptures (augmented by one bronze work). There has never been such a gathering of Chinese Buddhist sculptures in the United States. The works, carved out of willow wood, are scarce, dating as they do from the eleventh through the eighteenth century, and so are survivors of China’s tumultuous twentieth century, including the Cultural Revolution. The collection has been painstakingly put together over the past decade and carefully vetted by Chinese Buddhist scholars.
In China, Guanyin is regarded as the supreme symbol of compassion. Guanyin is the god of mercy, the healer of sorrows as well as physical aliments. This all-merciful being first appears as an assistant to the Buddha, Sakyamuni. With the emergence of Mahayana Buddhism, Guanyin is singled out as the major assistant of the Great Buddha of the Western Paradise, Amituo. Subsequently, Guanyin has a cult following as the object of veneration on the sacred peak, Mount Potalaka, off the coast of southern India. With the rise of Esoteric Buddhism in the later years of the Tang dynasty (eighth through ninth centuries), Guaynyin takes many new forms, reflecting his different forms of offering compassion. These multiple forms of Guanyin are amply represented in the exhibit, with exquisite examples from the Song, Liao, Jin, and Ming dynasties. The works are “master-works” of sculpture. They are naturalistic, yet refined.
The sculptures invoke a serene contemplation. They are a breath of peace and tranquility, as well as both a striking example of the importance of Buddhism in Chinese culture and a testament to the skill of Chinese artisans. It is accompanied by a catalogue.
[Image: Unknown "Seated Guanyin in royal pose, Ming period" (1368-1644 CE) height 25.5 in.]
Media
Schedule
from March 10, 2011 to April 16, 2011