Buddhism at the Norton Simon Museum

[Anonymous]

I have seen this exhibition on Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism. It's a really fantastic introduction into the three similar religions and has some really great pieces. They have an extensive amount of pieces that showcase the different representations of Buddha and parallel beliefs, and as another poster mentioned, the different materials used for pieces. It's fun to look at the different materials used for each piece and guess which country it likely originated or why a piece has specific features even if there is another piece portraying the same figure. I took an Asian Art History class as an undergraduate a few years ago, which exposed me to some of the different stylings of each piece and the reasons for them. It's a great exhibition to check out and provides great information on each religion's beliefs.
edited by iramos on 4/14/2015
edited by iramos on 4/14/2015

[Anonymous]

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing, I will try to make it there.

[Anonymous]

I have been meaning to visit the N S for some time now and the museum is close to my neighborhood...great to hear about the buddha sculptures. I'm definitely going to visit.

[Anonymous]

I like to visit the Norton Simon about once each year. Last year they had a special exhibit on Tibetan Buddhism. In contrast to much of the Buddhist statuary in their permanent collection, the Tibetan art was very colorful. It was interesting to see the art side by side, Buddhism is historically a truly international religion, and this was reflected in the diversity of artistic forms. Some of the Buddhist sculpture from Afghanistan is clearly influenced by Greek aesthetic, a legacy of Alexander the Great's far reaching empire. In contrast the Tibetan art reflected a pantheon of demons, deities, a reincarnated lamas, which probably in part reflect the per-Buddhist beliefs of Tibet incorporated into the Vajrayāna Buddhism. Buddhism adapts itself to cultural syncretism.

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Located in Pasadena, the Norton Simon Museum houses a large collection of Asian art that is heavily focused on Buddhism. Although much of the art is from India, there are a few pieces that focus on China and Indonesia. One of the pieces that I really enjoyed was titled “Arhat Gopaka”. It was an 18th century bronze sculpture of the Buddha. It is from the Qing dynasty and was donated to the museum in 1966. What I really enjoyed about this piece is the comparison to other sculptures of Buddha from India. What I really noticed was that they share many similarities in terms of appearance. They had similar size earlobes, bald heads, clothing and poses. The Chinese sculpture did have some differences. This piece looked more slender than the Indian pieces and it was made of bronze. Many of the southern Asian pieces from India, Pakistan and Indonesia were made of sandstone or schist. This is likely due to the available resources. The Chinese Buddha also has more of a Chinese facial look to it and does not have holes in his earlobes, they are just long and stretched out. It was very interesting to compare how Buddha was portrayed in the various Asian countries and it’s worth a trip to notice the differences yourself.

[Anonymous]

After visiting several museums showing Buddhist art, there were several things at the Norton Simon that were rare by comparison to some of the other museums that I have had the chance to visit. I generally visit the Norton Simon about once a year as well, and they still have much of the Tibetan Buddhist work still on display. First off, something a bit more rare in comparison to other museums is that the museum did not just have the traditional Buddhist statues on display, which they did have several, but they also had some incredible textiles that were on display as well.

Now something really intriguing and very obvious from the exhibit was the presence of many teachers or gurus in the artwork shown at the museum. The teacher and student relationship in the artwork was a much more common theme than what mediums were being used. Most museums have exhibits showing mostly work in metal, wood, and clay. However, the Norton Simon also incorporated several paintings, textiles, and colorful pottery as well.

Something that Tibetan Buddhism also stresses is the teacher-student relationship, which was very evident in the collections the museum has had on display in the past. I did not really know that this idea was one of the key elements in this form of Buddhism called Vajrayana Buddhism. I was always under the impression that this form of Buddhism was more about mediation as opposed to the guru-student relationship. This theme was very evident in many of the pieces of the collection including a really elaborate textile piece showing the guru-teacher in mediation with students on each side.

I would highly recommend visiting the museum to see what is currently on display as it is very unique to many of the collections at other museums.
edited by slemburg on 5/4/2015

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