Mirror of the Buddha

Early Portraits from Tibet

October 21, 2011 - March 5, 2012

Taklungthangpa Chenpo with His Lineage and Manifestations (detail); Eastern Tibet; early 14th century; Distemper on cotton; Private Collection

In early Tibetan painted portraits, founding masters of important Buddhist schools were often represented as holy personages. Using artistic conventions developed in India, Tibetan artists expressed the Buddhist ideals embodied in a particular person, exalting their human subjects to the level of buddhas.

Mirror of the Buddha will present exquisite examples of these portraits, painted primarily in the eastern India-inspired Sharri style. Though the Sharri tradition spread from India to many parts of Asia, the style's classic Indian forms, delicate colors, and intricate decorative details were emulated most faithfully by Tibetans and enjoyed particular popularity in Tibet from the 12th to 14th century.

Marking the third in a series of exhibitions that explores important Tibetan painting styles, Mirror of the Buddha will clarify some of the confusion and correct misidentifications previously posited by Western scholars. It will also analyze  inscriptions and lineages, which are often overlooked yet of critical importance, as tools for dating these works of art.

Mirror of the Buddha will be complemented by a full-color catalog rich with new scholarship, by curator David Jackson.

Curated by David Jackson and Christian Luczanits

Exhibition Resources

Exhibition Catalog

Mirror of the Buddha
Early Portraits from Tibet

David P. Jackson
with contributions from Donald Rubin, Jan van Alphen, and Christian Luczanits

Traditional Tibetan art is largely the fruit of Buddhism; it is meant to convey spiritual truths.  In their art, Tibetans aimed at faithfully transmitting and preserving Buddhism as a spiritual discipline as they had learned it from their Indian Buddhist teachers, either directly or through a transmission that included early Tibetan teachers. Each thangka painting was a small contribution to the larger cause of keeping Buddhism alive and radiant.

In this third volume on Tibetan Painting David Jackson, with Christian Luczanits, investigates painted portraits of such early Tibetan teachers. Images of these eminent personages embodied Buddhist ideals in often idealized human form. In creating these depictions, Tibetan painters of the twelfth through fourteenth century intensely imitated the artistic conventions developed in Pala- and Sena-ruled eastern India (Bengal). This style, called Sharri, spread from India to many parts of Asia, but its classic Indian forms, delicate colors, and intricate decorative details were emulated most faithfully by the Tibetans.

Price: $75 (Hardcover), $60 (Paperback)

Member Price: $67.50 (Hardcover), $54 (Paperback)

Publisher: Rubin Museum of Art, New York
Distributor: University of Washington Press, Settle and London
Published: October 2011
Pages: 240
ISBN-13: 978-09845190-2-6 (hc), 13: 978-0-9845190-3-3 (pb)