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THE TRAMMEL AND MARGARET CROW FAMILY HAS DONATED THEIR ENTIRE COLLECTION OF ASIAN ART
THE TRAMMEL AND MARGARET CROW FAMILY HAS DONATED THEIR ENTIRE COLLECTION OF ASIAN ART – INCLUDING THE MUSEUM, INCLUDING 23 MILLION IN SUPPORT FUNDS, INCLUDING A 12,000 BOOK LIBRARY TO THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS.
This move is comparable to the Asian art gift Avery Brundage gave to the City of San Francisco over 50 years ago eventually founding the ASIAN in SFO.
My first experience with the Crow’s Asian art happened in the late 1980s when my mother was visiting from Vienna and decided to stay at the Anatole in Dallas. The Anatole (one of the Crow hotels I later learned) was lovely but it was the large Indian marble temple and the Khmer sculptures in the lobby and in glass cases that immediately caught may attention. And then I learned more and more about the Crow collection, and over twenty years ago the Trammel and Margaret Crow Museum of Asian Art opened on Flora in Dallas with works from Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, Tibet and Vietnam, with the famous jade room at its center. I understand that the collection comprises some one thousand pieces of art.
The Museum will continue to operate in its current location with a full schedule of exhibits with items from ancient to contemporary times. And its long time director Amy Lewis Hofland will continue in her role for both museum sites. So beyond the original idea of Mr. Crow of increasing the public’s knowledge about and appreciation for Asian art, the University of Texas at Dallas is continuing to help students and to a larger extent the Texas community appreciate and learn about Asian art. I could not be happier about this for Texas!
Cheers,
Elisabeth
ON THE STEPPES OF GENGHIS KHAN – MONGOLIAN NOMADS
MOESGAARD MUSEUM, Denmark
Open until April 2019
ON THE STEPPES OF GENGHIS KHAN – MONGOLIAN NOMADS
Some of us always had a soft spot for Genghis Khan, the 13th century Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, and of the largest contiguous empire in history. The first thing I learned about Ghengis Kahan was that he listened to and respected his mother; that he was brutal and gentle at the same time; open to foreign religions; and instituted sophisticated government and taxing systems. The exhibit includes fantastic works from international loans and Danish museums showing the rich culture of these nomads of the steppes with their sheep, goats, horses and camels, often on the move, and in contact with merchants on ancient and present trade routes, bringing material wealth that can be seen in their ornaments, fabrics, costumes, tents and furniture. Reviews point out that the exhibit shows an intriguing alternative to our sedentary life.
Cheers,
Elisabeth
THE JEWELED ISLE: ART FROM SRI LANKA
LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART
http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/jeweled-isle-art-sri-lanka
December 9, 2018 – June 23, 2019
First comprehensive exhibit of Sri Lankan art organized by an American museum!
Some 250 art works from LACMA’s extensive collection and numerous domestic and international lenders, this exhibit covers two thousand years of decorative and fine art including objects fashioned from gold, silver and ivory. Hinduism and Buddhism both are important for Sri Lanka’s culture and many religious sculptures, paintings, and architectural fragments from both religions are represented. Photographs from the island’s historical capitals – Anuradhapura, Polonnaruva and Kandy convey the importance of these monumental religious sites.
We have six months to see this exhibit!
Cheers,
Elisabeth
CAN GAZING AT BOTTICELLI’S VENUS CAUSE A HEART ATTACK ???
An Italian man fainted while gazing at the Venus painting (ca. 1485) at the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, and suffered a heart attack two weekends ago and is said to now recover.
Variously known as Stendhal Syndrome, hyperkulturemia or Florence syndrome this disorder appears to be specific to Florence when admiring and focusing on such magnificent paintings like Venus ascending from the ocean.
Have you been to Florence and seen this painting?
Cheers and Happy New Year!!!
Elisabeth
GLIMPSE OF ANCIENT YEMEN
Exhibit at Freer Sackler until August 18, 2019<
https://www.freersackler.si.edu
We often associate frankincense and myrrh with Yemen – if you wish to learn more about what was there since ancient times and what is being destroyed now, go and see this exhibit and also read this blog about
ANCIENT WOMEN SPEAK OUT – TODAY!!!!
https://www.freersackler.si.edu/ancient-women-speak-out-today/
Fascinating and sad. Looting has gone on for centuries on this crossroad of international trade between the Mediterranean region, Asia and the Middle East, but the vicious multisided war has now been going on since 2015 with no end in sight.
No cheers,
Elisabeth
New Delhi, India
You want to stay cool when visiting New Delhi?
Visit Humayun’s Tomb and next to it the Sunder Nursery with Moghul Gardens recently brought back to life by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. I remember getting lost in the Tomb and Garden complex surrounding Humayun’s tomb built by his chief consort in 1569/70 and said to have been an inspiration for Shah Jahan’s Taj Mahal. Humayun, the son of Babur, who swept down from the valleys of Central Asia, to conquer India, was the second emperor of the Mughal Empire.
Cheers,
Elisabeth
Rembrandt and the Inspiration of India
Rembrandt, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and drawings of Mughal portraits ?
Where did Rembrandt see Indian Mughal portraits? We are not sure where he might have seen such portraits; one opinion is that they were in Schoenbrunn Palace in Vienna and were painted over in the 18th century. Rembrandt had enough access to things Indian, he collected several Indian antiques, imported by the VOC and brought to Amsterdam; and Rembrandt was curious in subject matters beyond European and biblical scenes. This exhibition shows side by side Mughal originals and some 25 of Rembrandt’s drawings of the same subject.
Cheers,
Elisabeth
GANESHA:THE PLAYFUL PROTECTOR
Six-armed dancing Ganesha from India, Denver Art Museum.
GANESHA:THE PLAYFUL PROTECTOR
An exhibit developed in collaboration with the National Museum of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.
https://denverartmuseum.org/exhibitions/ganesha
On view through January 13, 2019
Enough time to travel to Denver and visit Ganesha in person- the remover of obstacles, known for granting wealth and success, found throughout the Asian subcontinent and across geographical and religious lines.
Cheers,
Elisabeth
Cambodian Ganesha
THE HUMAN FIGURE IN ISLAMIC ART
The David Collection
THE HUMAN FIGURE IN ISLAMIC ART, The David Collection, Copenhagen
davidmus.dk
This issue has always interested and puzzled me.
There is still uncertainty with regard to attitudes about figurative art in Islamic culture. This exhibit in Denmark – now closed – tackled the delicate issue, together with a great catalogue. An article in May 2018 ASIAN ART by JULIET HIGHET and titled THE HUMAN FIGURE IN ISLAMIC ART explains what we know and what we do not know about figurative art. She reports that there is no explicit passage in the Qur’an forbidding figurative depictions of humans. It is the written traditions that are more critical on this subject; and three dimensional portrayals seem to be more objectionable than paintings because sculptures and reliefs express a greater reality of a divinely created world. We find human figures in paintings and we find and we see the Prophet’s partially hidden face together with his winged steed Buraq – often – with a female face. So what are we to believe? It might help to keep in perspective the world of politics during the early times of Islam, the Islamic revolt against Christian Byzantine symbolism, and the influence of Persian portraiture painters. Great art patrons like Akhbar and his son Jahangir and his grandson Shah Jahan all encouraged local and imported artists in their own traditions portraying more human figures. And it helped me to keep in mind that religious art and human figures in churches and temples played a great public role whereas figurative art in Islamic art was often developed for and in the private realm.
The author Juliet Highet is a writer, journalist and photographer who writes and publishes on a wide range of Arab, South Asian, East Asian and African cultures. One of her books is: Frankincense: Oman’s Gift to the World. Got to order this one….
Cheers,
Elisabeth
THE VANISHING STEPWELL OF INDIA
Water -harvesting system below ground………thousands of years old…….
The book THE VANISHING STEPWELL OF INDIA, by Vitoria Lautman, foreword by Divay Gupta, Merrell Publisher explores
75 subterranean wells throughout India. Stepwells serve a number of purposes in addition to providing a community with water – – they were civic centers, active places for worship as well as refuges from the challenging climate. Each successive subterranean level often was with beautiful Hindu and islamic influenced architectural pavilions providing shade. During the 19th century it is estimated that several thousands of stepwells were in operation. Over time they silted up and were filled in but recently an effort has started to reactivate and de-silt step wells to once again collect water.
Cheers,
Elisabeth
Elisabeth Wien's Blog 