Elisabetta Marabotto of Saffronart shares a note on the forthcoming exhibition at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington
London: The Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery will be hosting from October 19th, the first exhibition entirely dedicated to the art of yoga, perhaps one of the most popular practices at the moment.
Yoga: The Art of Transformation. Image Credit: http://asia.si.edu/yoga/save-the-date.asp
The exhibition visually traces the history of yoga from its beginning to its modern practice. More than 120 artworks including sculptures, paintings, photographs and films shed light on the obscure history and tenets of yoga and its masters. The show attests the diffusion of yoga between the Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Sufi faiths and their shared goal of transforming the body and mind through the yogic practice.
The works on display which date from the 3rd to the early 20th century are categorized in four sections explicating the different stages of the history of yoga: Tantra, The Path of Yoga, Yoga in the Indian Imagination 1570-1830 and Modern Transformations.
Among the highlights are 10 folios from the first illustrated anthology of asanas (yogic poses), the movie “Hindoo Fakir” directed by Thomas Edison in 1906 and 3 statues of Yogini from a 10th century Chola temple. The works showing in the exhibit were borrowed from 25 museums and private collections based in India, Europe and the United States.
You can enjoy below a sneak peek of some of the exhibition’s highlights:
Make a note on your diary that the exhibition will be on from the 19th of October 2013 until 26th of January 2014. I am looking forward to it!
To learn more about Yoga: The Art of Transformation, visit the Smithsonian website and read here.