The Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan has one of the most interesting collections of Himalayan art in the United States. Past exhibitions have featured art from Bhutan and Nepal, Sikh and Bön religious art, and numerous selections of Tibetan art. While I have enjoyed every exhibition I have seen at the Rubin Museum since it opened, one upcoming exhibition in particular caught my attention:
Jainism constitutes one of India’s three classical religions, the others being Buddhism and Hinduism. Though older than Buddhism by a generation, Jainism has much in common with it. Both arose and were first spread in northeastern India. Both aim to lead their followers away from the painful cycle of endless rebirths (samsara) and toward the liberation from all suffering (nirvana). Both also rejected many of the practices and ideas of early Hinduism, particularly the religion’s ritual sacrifice of animals, preaching instead a doctrine of non-violence. Today the commitment to an ethic that regards all life—animal and human—as inviolate continues to be the heart of Jain practice and belief.
The exhibition Victorious Ones: Jain Images of Perfection is centered on images of the founding figures of Jainism, the Jinas, also known as the “Conquerors” or Tirthankaras. These important religious figures, despite their having achieved liberation from the world in which we live, are believed to be accessible to humans as objects of devotion. Thus many Jains worship images of the Jinas and believe that they can be found in different sacred spaces throughout the universe. In addition to fine examples of painting and sculpture depicting the Jinas, Victorious Ones will also present these spaces that the Jinas sanctify, including painted maps of the Jain universe, depictions of famous pilgrimage sites, beautiful domestic shrines, and ritual diagrams (yantras) that were made of both durable and ephemeral materials.
The full press release (PDF) and this essay (DOC) on Jain art and architecture may provide some useful background. (As a side note, the cover of Swadharma shows a Jain temple in Shankeshwar, Gujarat.)
The exhibition will last from September 18, 2009 to February 15, 2010. The Rubin Museum is located at the intersection of 17th St. and 7th Ave (directions).
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