From Library Journal
The ethics of wrenching sculptures from religious sites all over south Asia to decorate a suburban Chicago swimming pool is debatable, but the quality of the art collection that resulted from this trophy-hunting manner is beyond question. This visual record of an exhibition that is just closing at the Chicago Art Institute presents 368 superb artworks in large-format color photographs, primarily Hindu and Buddhist sculptures from India, Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia. Smaller black-and-white photos accompany explanatory paragraphs about each piece in a separate section in the back of the book. Because the collection is heavily weighted toward Indian art, it is appropriate that the essay introducing Hindu gods and their representation is the longest, with shorter essays on Buddhist and Jain sculpture and animal imagery. Without extensive historical or critical text and lacking any exploration of the ethical controversy surrounding the ownership of Asian artworks now in Chicago, this volume serves best as an elegant portfolio of first-rate sculpture.?David McClelland, Philadelphia
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Description
A major contribution to the scholarship of South and Southeast Asian art. A major survey of South and Southeast Asian art drawn from the Alsdorf Collection, one of the finest private collections of Asian art in America. Although this extraordinary collection is well known to scholars and collectors, the exhibition and the accompanying catalogue will provide the first opportunity for the general public to view these remarkable works of art. This collection of more than 450 objects includes sculpture, jewelry, paintings, and architectural elements from India, Nepal, Tibet, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Java, and elsewhere. The objects range in date from a medallion from the second century BC to twentieth-century sculpture. The catalogue has been written by the eminent scholar Pratapaditya Pal. Dr. Pal explains the major themes represented in the collection--Hindu gods, Buddhist and Jain subjects, goddesses, human figures, animals, and ritual, ornamental, and ceremonial objects--and discusses in detail the style, history, and iconography of individual pieces.
