Tibetan Art and History

The first-ever full length history of Bhutan by one of its most pre-eminent scholars In recent years, the remote kingdom of Bhutan has increasingly attracted the attention of the world. In 2008, it emerged as the worlds youngest democracy and in the same year crowned the worlds youngest monarch. This was followed by the new Kings colourful wedding in 2011. Today, it continues to enchant the rest of the world with its policy of Gross National Happiness and has become…

This is the first book dedicated exclusively to the subject of the Himalayan mask. Mysterious, sacred, and unusual, the masks of the Himalayas only recently arrived in the West. Unlike African or Oceanic masks, whose discovery by early twentieth-century artists altered the conception of art by their influence on Cubism, Himalayan masks only became accessible to collectors following the opening up of Nepal in the 1960s. Spanning all religious influences in the Himalayan region—Hindu and Buddhist, animist and shamanic—and covering…

Kailash And Manasarovar: A Quest Beyond The Himalaya by Deb Mukharji

Tibetan Art of the Alain Bordier Foundation Author: Ulrich Von Schroeder & Heidi Von Schroeder

"There is a real danger of the disappearance of the unique Tibetan culture. So at such a time, this kind of work is very, very useful, very helpful....I feel that I see part of a Tibetan antique collection, ancient Tibetan things." So commented the fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, upon visiting the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art. Founded in 1945 by Jacques Marchais (the professional named adopted by the private collector Jacqueline Klauber), this well-known, yet infrequently visited museum…

Previously considered to be no earlier than the thirteenth century, the earliest of these wooden masterpieces have now been clearly demonstrated to date from the sixth or seventh century, the time of the Licchavis, lords of Nepal from about 300 to 850. Slusser has used an important scientific tool, radiocarbon dating, to help realign -- and correct -- our overly conservative accepted perceptions of the antiquity of Nepalese wood sculpture. The book is bolstered by the meticulous and painstaking research…

Bodies in Balance: The Art of Tibetan Medicine is the first comprehensive, interdisciplinary exploration of the triangular relationship among the Tibetan art and science of healing (Sowa Rigpa), Buddhism, and arts and crafts. This book is dedicated to the history, theory, and practice of Tibetan medicine, a unique and complex system of understanding body and mind, treating illness, and fostering health and well-being. Sowa Rigpa has been influenced by Chinese, Indian, and Greco-Arab medical traditions but is distinct from them.…

Himanshu Prabha Ray is Chairperson of National Monuments Authority, New Delhi, and former Professor, Centre for Historical Studies (CHS), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi.

Lying at the center of an ancient network of Buddhist temples in the Great Temple of Lhasa, the Jokhang Temple is the heart of spiritual and economic life in Tibet. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is the atmospheric focal point of Lhasa, from which bustling narrow lanes of commerce radiate outward in all directions. This landmark publication is illustrated with photographs taken over eight decades, and is introduced by the personal reminiscences of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Gyurme Dorje…

Tibetan Art: Towards A definition Of Style by Jane Casey Singer And Philip Denwood

This is the most encyclopedic reference book of Tibetan images of enlightenment ever presented. Full color illustrations are reproduced here from a set of hand-painted woodblock prints created in 1810. This rare collection is presented along with extensive explanations of the meditative visualizations, mantras, and symbolism around each figure.

Though the Drigung Kagyu was one of the most prominent and powerful schools of Tibetan Buddhism during its early period (12th - 14th century), its art is still relatively poorly known, even among Tibetans. With its mother monastery destroyed twice, once in the late 13th century and again during the Great Cultural Revolution, much of the art was lost or dispersed. The iconography of the Drigung School is examined with regard to its three main periods - early, middle, and…

Tibetan Thangka Painting is the only detailed description of the techniques and principles of the sacred art of Tibetan scroll painting. It is the distillation of research carried out over a period of ten years, collected during five journeys to Nepal and India, and compiled from some twenty traditional painters. This book presents, step-by-step, the techniques used to make a thangka from the preparation of the canvas to the final application of the sacred syllables behind each completed figure. Separate…

Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism is rapidly becoming a part of our cultural landscape, an element of human civilisation with its own universal appeal. Nevertheless public awareness remains limited concerning the great teachers and visionaries who over fourteen centuries formulated and expounded the system of thought which in the 21st century seems the most contemporary of the world religions. And yet there is a rich written tradition dating back at least 800 years documenting their lives and teachings, and an even more…

Mongolian Buddhist Art: Masterpieces from the Museums of Mongolia presents for the first time 441 masterpieces of Mongolian Buddhist art from five major Mongolian museums: the Bogd Kahn Palace Museum, the Choijin Lama Temple Museum, the Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts, the Erdene Zuu Museum and the Danzanravjaa Museum. Selected by the Centre for Cultural Heritage in conjunction with the curators of the participating museums, these pieces were chosen for their religious and historical importance, their aesthetic and technical quality,…

A comprehensive yet accessible guide to the artistic and stylistic development of Buddhist sculptures in Tibet. Mostly unknown to the outside world, the temples and storerooms of Tibets monasteries shelter a great number of ancient Buddhist objects. Not only are there a great number of Buddhist sculptures and paintings produced by Tibetan artists, but included also are rare examples originating from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Burma, and China. These images have withstood sometimes more than one thousand years of warfare…

In 1999, a hidden library was found in the Nesar Temple at a remote village of Bicher, in Dolpo, Nepal. It contains more than six hundred volumes of Tibetan manuscripts, ranging in date from the late 11th to the early 16th century. This library in many ways constitutes a cultural history of Dolpo in this period thanks to some sixty volumes with historical prefaces explaining the commission…

The Forgotten Gods Of Tibet: Early Buddhist Art In The Western Himalayas by Peter Van Ham, Aglaja Stirn

Himalayas: Art & Shamans by Eric Chazot