With the spread of Buddhism among Westerners and the controversy over its status, interest in Tibet has never been greater. This mysterious land, now a province of the People's Republic of China, has produced some of the most fascinating and creative art in the world. From silk embroidery and textiles to painting, sculpture, and manuscripts, Tibetan art has striking qualities that set it apart from other Buddhist and Asian art. Robert Fisher takes the reader through the history of Tibetan art, starting from its origins in the early days of the Tibetan kingdom. From a bleak and often inaccessible landscape arose a religious and artistic world so vibrant and sophisticated that even China's emperors commissioned works. The art and spiritual life of the region are inextricably intertwined, and Dr. Fisher explores the distinctive character of that relationship. Careful attention is also given to ritual objects, which comprise some of the most important works of art in Tibetan culture.

The rich artistic heritage of Tibet reveals the depths of meditations of great masters, translated into the majestic abundance of iconic symbols that take the form of three-dimensional images or two-dimensional thankas. Tibetan Art is a comprehensive introduction to the complex iconography of thankas. It provides a glimpse of the mindground of this art and the land where it flourished. Although Tibetan Art portrays the historic Buddha Sakyamuni, the arhats, spiritual masters, great lamas, and founders of different religious lineages, the preponderance of its images depict supramundane beings. Predominantly these are: the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, female deities, protectors or tutelary gods (yi-dams), defenders of the faith, guardians of the four cardinal points, minor deities and supernatural beings.

Contains articles on all major areas of Tibetan art, including painting, sculpture, textiles, architecture and cave drawings. The authors of this study analyze and define Tibetan art styles and explore issues of chronology, provenance, patronage, iconography and religious function. -- Amazon.com.

* First systematic review of Tibetan ritual art* Never-before-published Buddhist art objects* Written by expert on Tibetan art, Michael HenssTibetan Buddhist art is not only rich in figural icons but also extremely diverse in its symbols and ritual objects. This first systematic review is an abundantly illustrated reference book on Tibetan ritual art that aids our understanding of its different types and forms, its sacred meanings and ceremonial functions. Over eighteen chapters, several hundred different implements are documented in detail, in many cases for the first time and often in their various styles and iconographic forms: altar utensils and amulets, masks and mirrors, magic daggers and mandalas, torma sculptures and prayer objects, vajras and votive tablets, sacrificial vessels and oracle crowns, stupas and spirit traps, ritual vases, textiles, furniture, and symbolic emblems. These are accompanied by many historical and modern text sources, as well as rare recorded oral material from high-ranking Tibetan masters. This long-awaited handbook is a must-have for all those with a profound interest in Buddhist art and religion.

A presentation on the Tibetan Buddhist path to enlightenment, through the lens of an artist's eye and experience. The sacred arts play an essential, intrinsic role in Tibetan Buddhist practice. Here, one of the great practitioners and master artists of our time presents a guide to the Tibetan Buddhist path, from preliminary practices through enlightenment, from the artist's perspective. With profound wisdom, he shows how visual representations of the sacred in paintings, sculptures, mandalas, and stupas can be an essential support to practice throughout the path. This work, based on the author's landmark Tibetan text, The Path to Liberation, includes basic Buddhist teachings and practices, clearly pointing out the relevance of these for both the sacred artist and the practitioner, along with an overview of the history and iconography of Buddhist art.

For millions of people around the world, Tibet is a domain of undisturbed tradition, the Dalai Lama a spiritual guide. By contrast, the Tibet Museum opened in Lhasa by the Chinese in 1999 was designed to reclassify Tibetan objects as cultural relics and the Dalai Lama as obsolete. Suggesting that both these views are suspect, Clare E. Harris argues in The Museum on the Roof of the World that for the past one hundred and fifty years, British and Chinese collectors and curators have tried to convert Tibet itself into a museum, an image some Tibetans have begun to contest. This book is a powerful account of the museums created by, for, or on behalf of Tibetans and the nationalist agendas that have played out in them. Harris begins with the British public’s first encounter with Tibetan culture in 1854. She then examines the role of imperial collectors and photographers in representations of the region and visits competing museums of Tibet in India and Lhasa. Drawing on fieldwork in Tibetan communities, she also documents the activities of contemporary Tibetan artists as they try to displace the utopian visions of their country prevalent in the West, as well as the negative assessments of their heritage common in China. Illustrated with many previously unpublished images, this book addresses the pressing question of who has the right to represent Tibet in museums and beyond.

Constructed between 1945 and 1947 by Jacques Marchais (the professional name of Jacqueline Klauber), the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art in Staten Island houses more than 1200 pieces of Tibetan Buddhist art from China and Mongolia, dating from the 17th to the 19th centuries. Two essays about the history of the museum and the history of Tibetan Buddhism open the catalogue, which contains 169 objects from the museum's collections.