Faith and Empire: Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism

Rubin Museum of Art, New York

NOW CLOSED

Songsten Gampo (c. 19th century), Tibet or neighbouring region. Photo: John Bigelow Taylor; courtesy Bruce Miller Collection

This exhibition examines how art has been used in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition to consolidate political power. Images were essential to magical tantric rites, as well as the propagation of models of sacral kingship, as the more than 60 objects on show here, ranging from the 8th to the 19th century, attest. Find out more from the Rubin Museum’s website.

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Achala, King of the Wrathful Ones (early 13th century), Khara Khoto, Tangut Xia, Inner Mongolia. Photo: © Cleveland Museum of Art

Bodhisattva (1402–24), probably Qutan Temple, Qinghai Province, China. Photo: © Stéphane Piera/Musée Cernuschi, Paris/Roger-Viollet

Qubilai Khan Naming Phakpa Imperial Preceptor (late 15th–16th century), attributed to Khyentse Chenmo, Tibet. Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. Photo: Stephen Topfer

Kubera, Master of Horses and Guardian- General of the Southeast (c. 1516), China, Ming dynasty, Zhengde period (1506–1521). Musée des arts asiatiques—Guimet, Paris. Photo: © P. Pleynet/RMN-GrandPalais/Art Resource, NY

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