EXHIBITION DESIGNED BY THE HONOLULU ACADEMY OF ARTS AND HOSTED BY THE GUIMET MUSEUM

Sponsored by Crédit Agricole and supported by Terre Entière, cultural tour operator.
In partnership with Evene.fr, Paris Première, the Nouvel Observateur magazine and La Tribune newspaper.

Commissioner: Nathalie Bazin, heritage curator, Nepal-Tibet section of the Guimet Museum of Asian arts.

Designed by the Honolulu Academy of Arts, in conjunction with the Department of Culture of the Royal Government of Bhutan and the Central Monastic Authority, this exhibition is a first in the Western world and invites the public to discover works of art which have never before been on view outside of Bhutan. This exhibition is the opportunity for the Guimet Museum to participate in the celebration of the centenary of the reign of the Wangchuck dynasty and Bhutan’s adoption of its first constitution in 2008.

By bringing together for the first time more than one hundred Buddhist works of art which are still considered sacred, on loan from thirty temples and monasteries of the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan – located between Tibet and the Indian State of Assam – the Guimet Museum offers the general public a unique opportunity to discover the major iconographical themes of Tantric Buddhism, Bhutan’s official religion, via the evocation of the country’s artistic traditions, their historic development and milestone religious figures.

This esoteric form of Buddhism was born in India and spread to the Himalayan region, to Tibet and Bhutan, in the 8th century. Padmasambhava, a famous master from Swât, a region situated in what is now north Pakistan, played a key role in this dissemination.

The authors of the exhibition catalogue wanted to highlight the style and iconographic elements which help distinguish Bhutanese and Tibetan works of art, thereby marking a significant milestone in the development of studies on the subject. The works presented range from the 8th to the 19th centuries, the golden age of Bhutanese art between the 17th and 19th centuries, with a complex and subtle iconography. As part of this discovery, works belonging to the permanent collections of the Guimet Museum will be compared with those presented in the exhibition.

The exhibition offers a rare combination of thangkas, painted or embroidered, some of them very large-scale, as well as metal sculptures and liturgical objects. Dance, which plays an important part in the iconography of tantric Buddhism, will be evoked via clips of films made in Bhutan and broadcast as part of the exhibition. These ritual Buddhist dances, or cham, performed during celebrations, have been preserved in the country with amazing purity, and some of them are linked to predominant figures featured in the works of the exhibition such as Padmasambhava.

This exhibition also includes photographic displays attesting to the fascinating power of Bhutan and its unique spirituality:
 Near the exhibition galleries, at garden level, colour photographs will be presented, taken in Bhutan by monk Matthieu Ricard, the author of a recent book on this Himalayan kingdom which he has often visited.
 The Rotonde aux Laques, on the top floor of the museum, will offer another original photographic display, in black and white, taken with a large format camera by Jean Timsit in Bhutan.

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This exhibition was designed by the Honolulu Academy of Arts and the Department of Culture, Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs of the Royal Government of Bhutan. The art conservation, dance preservation and educational programmes of the exhibition “In the Land of the Dragon: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan”, are made possible thanks to the crucial support of the Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation.

Significant support for “In the Land of the Dragon: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan” was also provided by the E. Rhodes & Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, the Michael and Patricia O’Neill Charitable Fund, Susan Pillsbury, Lawrence and Joyce Stupski. Additional support was provided by Le Burta G. Atherton, the Freeman Foundation, Halekulani Hotels & Resorts, Japan Airlines, Drukair, the National Endowment for the Arts and the W.L.S. Spencer Foundation.

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ADMISSION :

Full rate: €8. Reduced rate: €6
Combined ticket: €9.50 full rate; €7 reduced rate
Permanent collections: Museum admission: €6.50 full rate; €4.50 reduced rate
Under 26: free

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AROUND THE EXHIBITION :

Into the permanent collections :

 Visit the Himalayan rooms of the Nepal-Tibet section

Photographies exhibitions:

 Presentation of Matthieu Ricard’s photographs, in the garden level areas, and Jean Timsit’s photographs, on the 4th floor (Rotonde aux Laques)

Daily rituals :

 In the Rotonde aux Laques, daily rituals are performed by two Bhutanese monks, at the organisers’ request. Limited number of tickets, two sessions per day upon presentation of the combined ticket or free ticket + exhibition supplement (10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., duration 30 min or 1 hr depending on schedule).

Films :

 Series of “Himalaya(s)” films in the auditorium of the Guimet Museum from 4 November 2009 to 25 January 2010.

Conferences :

 On 2 November 2009 “Bhutan, land of serenity” by Matthieu Ricard;
 On 26 November 2009 “Bhutanese painting” by Nathalie Bazin;
 On 14 January 2010 “Bhutan’s religious architecture” by Françoise Pommaret.
 “Art and religion in Bhutan” colloquium jointly organised by the Research Centre for the Far East of the Paris-Sorbonne University (CREOPS) and the Guimet Museum: on 7 October 2009 in the National Institute of art history and on 8 October 2009 in the Guimet Museum.

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PUBLICATION :

In the land of the Dragon: the sacred arts of Bhutan, exhibition catalogue. RMN/Guimet Museum pub. – 392 pages – price: €50. Comes with a free DVD of ritual dances (cham)

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Sponsored by Crédit Agricole :

Supported by Terre Entière, cultural tour operator :

In partnership with Evene.fr, Paris Première, the Nouvel Observateur magazine and La Tribune newspaper :