UTAH: Utah’s flagship art museum, Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA), will have an exhibition on Lord Krishna starting August 8 and running till November 20 this year in the Museum’s Emma Eccles Jones Education Gallery.
This exhibition explores God Krishna through sacred and secular artworks, dating from the 11th century to the 20th, from the Museum’s Asian art collection. Krishna promised followers that through bhakti (devotion) to him, one could gain moksha (salvation).
There will be an additional exhibition with the underlying theme “Moksha: Photography by Fazal Sheikh.” The exhibition of black-and-white photographs depicts the lives of widows, in Hindu society in India, who seek refuge and sanctuary in the holy city of Vrindavan – where they pray for moksha, a release from the constant cycle of death and rebirth in which Hindus believe.
Applauding UMFA for organizing the exhibition, Rajan Zed, President of Universal Society of Hinduism, said that art had a long and rich tradition in Hinduism and ancient Sanskrit literature talked about religious paintings of deities on wood or cloth. He also commended UMFA for Hindu artifacts in its permanent collection which included images of Hindu deities Shiva, Vishnu, Durga, Ganesha, Lakshmi, Hanuman, Saraswati etc.
It will be in the fitness of things if major art museums across the globe – Musee du Louvre and Musee d’Orsay of Paris, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Los Angeles; Getty Center, Uffizi Gallery of Florence (Italy), Art Institute of Chicago, Tate Modern of London, Prado Museum of Madrid and National Gallery of Art in Washington DC – frequently organize art focused exhibitions thus sharing the rich Hindu art heritage with the rest of the world, he observed
The Utah Museum of Fine Arts, a university and state art museum whose history goes back to early 1900s, claims to be “Utah’s primary cultural resource for global visual arts” and having “a comprehensive collection of over 5,000 years of art from around the world”. Per its mission statement, it “inspires critical dialogue”. Located on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City, it claims to preserve over 19,000 original art objects. Gretchen Dietrich and George Lindsey are Executive Director and Deputy Director respectively.
Salt Lake City also houses the world headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
India Post News Service
