ASIAN ART

THE NATIONAL GALLERY of Victoria (NGV) in Australia has opened its latest exhibition that showcases the NGV’s outstanding collection of Buddhist art. The NGV first collected a Japanese Buddhist art object in 1887 and since then, the collection of Buddhist art has expanded to include works from India, China, Nepal, Tibet and Southeast Asia.

This exhibition of 80 Buddhist and Hindu works of art drawn from the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria explores the development of Buddhist imagery across Asia. From early Buddhist works created in India in the 2nd to 4th centuries to a contemporary Zen Buddhist ink and brush painting in the Chinese tradition, In the steps of the Buddha illustrates different styles of art associated with the Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist schools. The exhibition presents a wide range of Buddhist works of art including sculptures of the Buddha, bodhisattvas and Buddhist deities in bronze, wood, clay and lacquer, ritual items, pilgrimage souvenirs, paintings, masks and manuscript covers and includes works from Gandhara, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Japan, China, Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. Alongside these ancient works are a series of contemporary works by the Chinese artist, Kim Hoa Tram, who has worked in Australia since 1984.

A highlight of this exhibition is the 12th-century Japanese sculpture Sho Kannon Bosatsu, one of the most important acquisitions in the NGV’s 150th anniversary year. This devotional figure portrays a great being of mercy and compassion. Bosatsu can be regarded as Buddhist saints, individuals filled with living compassion who rather than enter nirvana after attaining enlightenment choose to remain in the life-death cycle to guide and redeem other unenlightened living souls.

Some of the most highly acclaimed Kannon Bosatsu in Japan are the flying Apsara of Byodo-in Temple in Uji city near Kyoto. These national heritage listed works carved by important Buddhist sculptor Jocho (died 1057) show a clear connection in sculptural style, apparel, facial expression and historical provenance to the NGV’s recent acquisition.

Another important work on display is by celebrated contemporary artist, Kim Hoa Tram. Chinese born in Vietnam Tram is now working in Melbourne and for nearly 20 years has immersed himself in Zen Buddhism. He is inspired by the wisdom of Zen and the Chinese tradition of painting and calligraphy.

Kim Hoa Tram’s minimalist painting Stillness (2005) portrays a monk immersed in meditation turning inward with his back to the viewer; it is achieved with extreme simplicity and precision. The gap in the circular outline of his shaved head suggests a luminous aura surrounding him. A meditative state of calm stillness is created by this image, as echoed in the Chinese character jing (stillness), which is seen in the inscription.

Also on display are two exceptional examples of Himalayan works from the 17th and 18th centuries, a Tibetan painting of The life of Tsongkhapa and a gilt bronze sculpture from Nepal depicting Kalachakra and Vishvamata. The Tibetan painting is a visual biography of Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), a revered Tibetan Buddhist leader, scholar and reformer. The painting shows numerous scenes from the lama’s life including teaching vignettes and images of the various monasteries he established. This large painting in opaque watercolour on cotton is the only one of its kind in Australia.

The Nepalese Kalachakra sculpture is an incredibly intricate and complex example of bronze casting using the lost wax technique. It also embodies the concept of the union of wisdom and compassion, embodied in the female deity and the male deity respectively, a central concept in tantric Buddhism. This concept developed from tantric Hinduism, in which the shakti, or personification, of female dynamic power energises the male deity.

The historical founder of Buddhism was Prince Siddhartha Gautama who was born circa 563 BC in the kingdom of Kapilavastu (now in Nepal). After meditating under a Tree of Wisdom at Bodhgaya, Prince Siddhartha attained spiritual Enlightenment and became Buddha, the Awakened One. The Buddha was awakened to the realisation that all life is suffering which is caused by attachment to this world. In the third century BC, the earliest form of Buddhism, the Hinayana (Small Vehicle) Buddhism or Theravada Buddhism was conveyed from India and Sri Lanka to Southeast Asia.

A new form of Buddhism, the Mahayana (Great Vehicle) Buddhism, was introduced from India via Central Asian trade routes to China as early as the 1st century and then to Korea and Japan in the 6th century. Buddhism was introduced to Tibet from Nepal and China no later than the 7th century, where a specific school of Buddhism, known as Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism, became the dominant religion.

Until 3 June at The National Gallery of Victoria, 180 St Kilda Road, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia, www/ngv.vic.gov.au. There is a floor talk, an exhibition introduction by the curator of Asian Art, Wayne Crothers, at 2pm on 17 February.