The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston Opens New Galleries for the Art of Asia

Written by Charlie Wesselmann Thursday, 29 December 2011 21:23

Boston, Massachusetts.- Two new galleries recently opened at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA). One celebrates rare sculptural works from India and neighboring countries (South Asia) and Southeast Asia. The other will showcase rotations of the rich painting traditions of India, Korea, the Himalayas, and Persia beginning with an important collection of Indian works in the exhibition "Gems of Rajput Painting". The two new galleries will reflect a broad range of cultures — from Iran to the west and Indonesia to the east, and from the Himalayas to the north and Sri Lanka to the south — reinforcing the global nature of the MFA’s encyclopedic collection. Highlights include important Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain works, such as a rare 5th century painted fragment featuring Buddha’s half-brother, Nanda, from the caves in Ajanta, a UNESCO World Heritage site in central India—the only known work to have left Ajanta—and an elaborately carved 11th century sculpture of the elephant-headed Hindu god of good fortune, Ganesh. The new galleries are located on Level 1 near the Museum’s Huntington Avenue Entrance.

Some 120 works in the South Asian and Southeast Asian Sculpture Gallery will highlight the artistic traditions of India and the surrounding South Asian countries of Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, as well as Southeast Asia, which includes Indonesia, Cambodia, Burma, Thailand, and Vietnam. In addition, the gallery will emphasize the important cultural exchange that took place between the two geographic regions during the course of two millennia. Many of the objects on view have recently been conserved and will be displayed in new cases and on new mounts to enhance their presentation. Two 11th century bronze statues (approximately 3 feet tall) greet visitors—the Great Goddess of Hinduism from India shown with curving, sinuous gestures, and a more restrained and formally posed Cambodian Buddhist deity—which reflect the different yet related conventions for depicting female figures. Juxtapositions of this kind appear throughout the gallery, organized chronologically, to encourage comparisons between works in pairs and groups.

Among the other sculptures on view are an 11th – 12th century stele representing Buddha’s enlightenment surrounded by carvings of the eight major events in his life, and a two-sided slab depicting him bathing in Nairanjana River on one side, complemented by a richly decorated stupa carved on the other side a century later. Also on display are a variety of objects relating to pilgrimage sites commemorating events in the life of Buddha, including sculptures from India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Java, and Tibet. Works of art in the South Asia and Southeast Asia Sculpture Gallery are celebrated not only for their distinct cultural identity, but also as reflections of 2,000 years of important exchange. By the 4th century, people from the two geographic areas were frequently traveling in both directions. Trade flourished as merchants from India went to Southeast Asia for spices and exotic woods, and their counterparts in Indonesia, Cambodia, and neighboring countries went to India to acquire textiles and materials such as limestone, sandstone, and marble. The spread of Buddhism and Hinduism—both of which originated in South Asia—was furthered by missionaries, monks, and pilgrims and made unique to a particular area when combined with existing religious practices. Through the exchange of ideas, aesthetics, and goods, as well as iconography, language, and customs, the works of art of one region began to reflect the cross-cultural influences of the other.

"Gems of Rajput Painting", on view through September 3rd 2012, is the inaugural rotation in the Asian Paintings Gallery. The exhibition draws from the Museum’s holdings of some 1,200 Indian paintings and drawings ranging in date from the 12th to the 21st centuries. This specific type of painting was commissioned during the 16th to 19th centuries by rulers (Rajputs or “sons of kings”) who shared a common elite culture centered on Hindu worship, Sanskrit poetry, and the fierce pride of warrior clans. The 35 paintings and manuscript illustrations included in the exhibition represent the height of the artistic traditions developed at workshops associated with the many Rajput courts in Rajasthan, Central India, and the foothills of the Himalayas. Rajput paintings often illustrate poetic texts and are small in size—generally kept in a portfolio-like format rather than bound or hung on the wall. They were usually painted on paper in watercolor (gouache), often brightly hued with gold accents. Although burnished to create a very smooth, hard surface, these paintings have a textural quality because, during finishing, the artists sometimes used tiny drops of white pigment to represent pearls or even bits of beetle wing to evoke jewels.  This exquisite type of Indian painting, one of the strengths of the MFA’s Indian collection, was discovered only in the past 100 years by Ananda Coomaraswamy (1877–1947), who was the MFA’s first curator of Indian art and the first such curator in the United States. "Gems of Rajput Painting" is divided into four themes of particular interest to Rajput painters: romance, devotion, heroism, and courtly life.


The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), is recognized for the quality and scope of its encyclopedic collection, which includes an estimated 450,000 objects. The Museum’s collection is made up of: Art of the Americas; Art of Europe; Contemporary Art; Art of Asia, Oceania, and Africa; Art of the Ancient World; Prints, Drawings, and Photographs; Textile and Fashion Arts; and Musical Instruments. The original MFA opened its doors to the public on July 4, 1876, the nation's centennial. Built in Copley Square, the MFA was then home to 5,600 works of art. Over the next several years, the collection and number of visitors grew exponentially, and in 1909 the Museum moved to its current home on Huntington Avenue. Today the MFA is one of the most comprehensive art museums in the world; the collection encompasses nearly 450,000 works of art. We welcome more than one million visitors each year to experience art from ancient Egyptian to contemporary, special exhibitions, and innovative educational programs. November 2010 marked the opening of The New MFA. Designed by the world-renowned Foster and Partners architects, The New MFA comprises a new wing for Art of the Americas; renovated art of Europe galleries; improved conservation and education facilities; The Linde Family Wing devoted entirely to contemporary art; and a new, larger public space—the Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Family Courtyard. Established in 1876, The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is one of the oldest and most distinguished art schools in the United States. Through an affiliation with Tufts University established in 1945, the SMFA offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs, providing students with a full range of academic resources. Some highlights of the MFA's collection include, Egyptian artifacts, a major collections of French impressionist and post-impressionist works including Paul Gauguin's "Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?" as well as works by Édouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cézanne and many others. The 18th and 19th century American art collection includes many works by John Singleton Copley, Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent. Visit  the museum's website at ... www.mfa.org

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