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Wednesday Aug. 23, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
Spencer Museum exhibits Tibetan ritual art Graduate student organizes colorful display
by Lisa Moss Kangan staff writer
Kansan staff writer
An exhibition of 14 pieces of Tibetan ritual art and objects titled "Sacred Images from Tibet" opened Sunday at the Spencer Museum of Art.
The exhibit was organized by Alan Atkinson, Norman, Okla., graduate student, and was selected from a collection of objects from the Far East. Most of the pieces are on loan from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo., but some are from private collections.
"Itibet has always intrigued the Western world," Atkinson said. "People are fascinated not only because of its geographic inaccessibility, but because of the tantalizing glimpses of its strange and incomprehensibly alien culture that have reached the West."
Tibet is an autonomous region of 470,000 square miles in southwestern China.
"Tibet has always been hard to get to and hard to get out of," Atkinson said. "It is surrounded by a fortress with the highest mountains in the world."
In the Kansas City area, there has been a long-standing interest in Oriental art, Atkinson said. The pieces of art in the exhibit probably reached Kansas through relatives of
missionaries who went to the Far East.
Tibetan art was traditionally produced by monks and professional artisans who were commissioned by wealthy noblemen, he said.
Most of the art pieces in the exhibit are paintings called tankas, which are mounted on fabrics and designed to be bung in monastic shrines or home altars. Akinson said.
All aspects of Tibetan culture have been deeply influenced by Tantric Buddhism, he said.
Tantric Buddhism is the form of Buddhism that is pervasive in Tibet. Worshipers try to unify themselves with gods through ritual activities.
Some of the art in the exhibit has been used by worshippers as tools in a variety of rituals, Attkinson said.
in Buddhism, all gods exist in the mind," Atkinson said. "The images, both the three-dimensional sculptures and the paintings, were actually invested with power. In a sense, you could say that the gods dwellled in the art. The paintings were a tool to focus meditation.
"It is hard to explain because the metaphysical is much more developed in Buddhism than in Christianity. In Buddhism there is just as much reality in all other planes of existence."
The art is intricate and many of the paintings consist of brilliant colors. "Every detail is imbued with symmetry. Everything." Alkirsen, irides
John Hachmeister of Oakloaca brought his son, Lucas, to see the
"Every detail is imbued with symbolic meaning." Atkinson said.
"I like it because there are lots of little things to look at." Lucas said.
"Lucas has seen a lot of exhibits, but for some reason he really likes this," Hachmeister said.
Hachmeister said, "It has very early connotations and elevated
SPENCER MUSEUM
An 18th century Buddhist statue.
Courtney Eblen/SPECIAL TO THE KANSAN
Alan Atikinaon explains the history of Buddhist statues to his wife, Susan.
The First Panchen Lama (1569-1662) from Eastern Tibet.
SPENCER MUSEUM OF ART
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