Customer Reviews

Sacred Visions: Early Painting in Tibet

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Lucky me. I spent the better part of today at the Metropolitan Museum of Art standing before fifty-five incredible 11th through the mid-15th century paintings from one of the great Buddhist civilizations of Asia. I've got to go back tomorrow. Luckily, in the meantime, I have Sacred Visions.If you can, see this exhibition and do not leave the Museum without the accompanying catalogue with wonderful reproductions and essays by noted scholars such as Steven M. Kossack, of the Met, Jane Casey Singer, Tibetan Art Historian, and Robert Bruce-Gardner, from London's Courtauld Institute. One will learn how Buddhism spread from India through Tibet and the effect the religion had on Tibet's people and, hence, its art.The details of the beautifully reproduced works of art are chosen to help illustrate the subtle and important aspects of the Tibetan artist while diagrams, such as for the Vajravarahi Mandala, further explain the iconography. I brought the book into the exhibition to gleen as much information as I could while standing before each work.If you have any interest in Tibet, rush to this exhibition (it closes 1.17.99) to see some beautifully presented mandalas, book covers, etc. If you cannot, you are not "settling" by any means to peruse the catalogue as you will witness Taras, portraits of Lamas, that are not only unique for their beauty and intelligence, but for the remarkable fact that we have them to admire.

outstanding description of the history ,meaning and use of thangkas .good explanations which are easily understood even by those who are not very well versed in buddhism .the kind of book I have been looking for over so many years.

This book arrived in excellent condition and in a timely manner. It is filled with beautiful examples and informative descriptions.

I have not read this (yet)!, but wanted to know what it contains. For those who would like to know:

STEVEN M. KOSSAK is Associate Curator in the Department of Asian Art at The Metropolitan
Museum of Art. He is the author of Indian Court Painting: 16th-19th Century (1997) and co-author
(with Martin Lerner) of The Lotus Transcendent Indian and Southeastern Asian Art from the Samuel Eilenberg Collection (1991).

JANE CASEY SINGER is an art historian specializing in Tibetan art. She is co-editor (with Philip Denwood) of Tibetan Art: Towards a Definition of Style (1997).

ROBERT BRUCE-GARDNER is Director, Department of Conservation and Technology, the Courtauld
Institute, London.

240 pages, 149 illustrations, including 134 in full color; map; glossary; bibliography; index

And this book looks beautiful!