Pakistani Buddhist Art Defies Odds to Show in NYC
THE INDEPENDENT
NEW YORK - A remarkable trove from Pakistan's little-known Buddhist past has gone on show in New York in an art exhibition that defied floods, riots and explosive US-Pakistani relations before finally crossing the world. The against-the-odds exhibition, The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara, features sculptures that have mostly never before been seen in the United States. The Buddha figures, including one of just three so-called "emaciated Buddhas" in the world, and the other pieces have survived more than a millennium and a half intact, their mixed styles testifying to cultural fusion and experimentation. Although Pakistan is now overwhelmingly Muslim, the artworks are carefully guarded and revered in their home museums. There's another echo that lives on, Chiu noted with a mischievous smile: the twirly mustaches sported by many in the sculptures. In Pakistan today, "everyone has a mustache. It's de rigeur for men." [link]
NEW YORK - A remarkable trove from Pakistan's little-known Buddhist past has gone on show in New York in an art exhibition that defied floods, riots and explosive US-Pakistani relations before finally crossing the world. The against-the-odds exhibition, The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara, features sculptures that have mostly never before been seen in the United States. The Buddha figures, including one of just three so-called "emaciated Buddhas" in the world, and the other pieces have survived more than a millennium and a half intact, their mixed styles testifying to cultural fusion and experimentation. Although Pakistan is now overwhelmingly Muslim, the artworks are carefully guarded and revered in their home museums. There's another echo that lives on, Chiu noted with a mischievous smile: the twirly mustaches sported by many in the sculptures. In Pakistan today, "everyone has a mustache. It's de rigeur for men." [link]
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