Painting Traditions of the Drigung Kagyu School

New York: The Rubin Museum of Art, 2015. Hardcover. Fawn cloth/boards. Color-illus. dj with yellow lettering on midnight blue spine. 326 pp. fully illustrated. New, in shrink wrap. Item #148408
ISBN: 9780984519071

Catalogue to accompany the exhibition of "Art with Benefits, April - September 2015. "Across all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism is the notion that a work of art has the power to transform and bestow a variety of benefits upon the beholder. Depending on the particular subject depicted in a painting, sculpture, or relic, the viewer gains such boons as removing obstacles, acquiring merit, and purifying all sins, bringing benefits for this life and the next, simply by seeing it. This concept is made visually and textually explicit in works of art created by followers of the Drigung Kagyu School, a Tibetan Buddhism community founded in the late 12th century and still in existence today. Art with Benefits highlights the distinctive and varying styles that have characterized Drigung art over its more than 800 year history, as well as the most commonly depicted subjects and the benefits they offer, including the Buddha type “Beneficial to See,” protectresses, wrathful deities, teachers, and footprints. The catalogue, Painting Traditions of the Drigung Kagyu School, is the fifth installment in the Rubin Museum’s series on the history of Tibetan painting. Again David Jackson has painstakingly elucidated a piece of the rich history of Himalayan art, provoking new discussion of the region and its place in the wider history of Asian art. Himalayan art is more than just painting and sculpture, it is an expression of age-old ideas that cross geographic and cultural boundaries and remain relevant to contemporary discourse. Though the Drigung Kagyu was one of the most prominent and powerful schools of Tibetan Buddhism during its early period (circa 1180s–1280s), its art is still relatively poorly known, even in its homeland. Nevertheless, the Drigung Kagyu School is quite widespread within the Tibetan Buddhist cultural realm. With contributions by Christian Luczanits and Kristen Muldowney Roberts." - from the Rubin web site.

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