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| Stylized depiction of Washington D.C.'s cherry blossoms on a pole near the Smithsonian Arts and Industries building. |
I've always had a soft spot for Washington D.C. Aside from my fondness for capital cities, old and modern, D.C. is a special place for me because it was part of the first proper road trip I took when I was 9 years old. I suppose this trip was the start of my wanderlust. In the summer of 2014, I had the great fortune to visit D.C. once again.
One can hardly mention Washington D.C. tourism without the Smithsonian coming to mind. The Smithsonian Institute describes itself as the "the world's largest museum and research complex, consisting of 19 museums and galleries, the National Zoological Park, and nine research facilities." Indeed. One can easily spend weeks exploring only the many Smithsonian museums without seeing much else of the city. Of course, D.C. is a wonderful city, highly underrated in my opinion, so I wouldn't recommend skipping it!
Of the many museums to visit, the most popular are the Natural History Museum, where you can view such wonders as the (in)famous Hope Diamond, and of course the Air and Space Museum, where airplanes and moon rockets abound.
On this particular day, I instead headed to a couple of the smaller, lesser known museums, specifically the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Both museums are dedicated to Asian art. Charles Lang Freer, an American industrialist with a love of Asian art, donated his vast private collection to the U.S. government in the early 1900s. The museum has been exhibiting some of the finest works of Asian art since 1923. The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, which opened in 1987, is named after an American physician and entrepreneur who also donated his private collection for public benefit. While separate institutes, museums share the same management are also literally connected with an underground passage. These (literally) cool galleries were the perfect places to be on a boiling hot Washington D.C. summer day!
Of the many museums to visit, the most popular are the Natural History Museum, where you can view such wonders as the (in)famous Hope Diamond, and of course the Air and Space Museum, where airplanes and moon rockets abound.
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| If this giant mural doesn't make you want to become an astronaut, I don't know what will! |
On this particular day, I instead headed to a couple of the smaller, lesser known museums, specifically the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Both museums are dedicated to Asian art. Charles Lang Freer, an American industrialist with a love of Asian art, donated his vast private collection to the U.S. government in the early 1900s. The museum has been exhibiting some of the finest works of Asian art since 1923. The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, which opened in 1987, is named after an American physician and entrepreneur who also donated his private collection for public benefit. While separate institutes, museums share the same management are also literally connected with an underground passage. These (literally) cool galleries were the perfect places to be on a boiling hot Washington D.C. summer day!
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| The sign on the National Mall pointing to the Freer and Sackler Galleries. |
As far as Buddhist art goes, the Freer and Sackler Galleries have an especially rich collection from China. From our modern perspective, it's easy to think of Buddhism as being a natural part of Chinese culture. However, this wasn't always the case. The transformation of Buddhism from an obscure, foreign cult into a pillar of Chinese culture is a long and fascinating story way beyond this scope of this post. The artwork on display in the galleries I was wandering through gives us a glimpse from an especially interesting period, the 6th-8th centuries.
I call this period interesting because it was a transitional period for Chinese Buddhism and art. By this time, Buddhism had already been in China for about 500 years and had grown deep, stable roots in the country in spite of (or maybe because of) centuries of political, social, and economic instability. Artistically, early Chinese Buddhist art had very heavy Indian and central Asian influences. Now, however, a distinctly Chinese style emerged and would continue to advance during the Tang Dynasty (7th-10th centuries), the golden age of Chinese Buddhism.
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| Chinese Buddhist art in the Freer Gallery. |
The Freer and Sackler collection spans many countries and historical periods from the Buddhist world. One of my favorite works were reliefs from Gandhara, the region that encompassed modern western Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. The Afghan city of Kandahar takes its name from this old country. Gandhara, being at the crossroads of Indian, Greek, Persian, and central Asian cultures, produced the very first Buddha images. Aside from their historical significance, I find Gandharan art to be just plain beautiful; it's probably my favorite style of Buddhist art.
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| Gandharan relief showing the celebration of the birth of prince Siddhartha Gautama, who would later become the Buddha. |
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| Siddhartha, now enlightened, teaching his disciples. |
My favorite work of art in the galleries was not from ancient China or Gandhara but from the medieval Nepal. Walking into the Himalayan gallery, I was greeted by a stunning 14th century sculpture, a near life-sized representation of the bodhisttva Avalokitesvara. This particular bodhisattva is known for taking many forms and the one represented here was the "white Avalokitesvara" (Sanskrit: Amoghapasa Lokeshvara). The museum description stated this form of the bodhisattva is very popular in the Kathmandu valley. Rather than attempt a poor description, I'll just say that the masterful lighting effects really made it feel as if the bodhisattva statue was emanating a calm and peaceful aura.
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| The almost glowing bodhisattva white Avalokitesvara. Wow. |
Seeing all the wonderful art from so many countries and time periods made me think more about the future rather than the past. With Buddhism now having arrived and become established in Western culture, I wonder what our contribution to Buddhist art and symbolism will be? Centuries from now, what would a gallery devoted to Western Buddhist art look like? Would we see African-looking Earth Store bodhisattvas and Nordic-looking Guan Yins? Or perhaps new teachers and personalities yet to be born will be venerated? Maybe completely new and yet to be imagined forms of art will be our contribution? Whatever winds up happening, artists of the present and future will have no shortage of material to draw inspiration from.
