Faces of Avalokiteshvara: Buddhism and the Power of Compassion

FAIN: GM-50205-04

Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, PA 19101-7646)
Darielle Mason (Project Director: September 2003 to October 2007)

Planning for a traveling exhibition, catalog, website, and public programs examining the transmission across Asia of ideas and images of Avalokiteshvara, the Buddhist deity who eases mortal suffering.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art seeks an NEH Planning Grant in support of the exhibition Faces of Avalokiteshvara: Buddhism and the Power of Compassion, an exhibition of approximately 150 objects devoted to Avalokiteshvara, the Buddhist intercessor who aids in mortal suffering. A collaboration with the University of Texas, this exhibition will illuminate the nature of how religious ideas travel and are transformed to fulfill cultural functions, and the central role that art plays in the process. During the funding period, curators, scholars and museum educators will refine exhibition themes, select objects, define the scope and scale of two publications, develop a budget and plan for public programs and audience development.