The Sacred Art of Tibet: Wisdom and Compassion - Hardcover

Rhie, Marilyn M.; Thurman, Robert A.; Taylor, John Bigelow

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0500236259 ISBN 13: 9780500236253

Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1991

Synopsis

Illustrates, explains and celebrates 241 examples of Tibetan sacred art of the 9th to 12th centuries. The authors discuss the religious meaning and use of tangkas, Buddhist iconography and the aesthetics of tangka paintings, sculpture and mandalas.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

The startling image of a BuddhaRobin, capped per Web.eed in father-mother union form--a multi-armed "Supreme Bliss Wheel Integration"--may look both fearsome and erotic to Western eyes. Yet, as this breathtakingly beautiful volume shows, it is a manifestation of Buddha's highest spiritual essence, symbolizing the union of wisdom and compassion. This catalogue of a traveling exhibition features 160 Tibetan sacred paintings, sculptures, tapestries and other works. Nearly half of them are reproduced here for the first time, including colored sand mandalas, celestial landscapes and tangka pictures (icons painted on cotton). In penetrating essays, Rhie, an Asian art specialist at Smith College, and Thurman, a religion professor at Columbia, explore Tibet's sacred artworks as doorways to a realm of enlightenment, or nirvana. This impressive book fills a major gap in documenting Tibetan art.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0500236259
• ISBN 13: 9780500236253
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1