Hindu & Buddhist Art Exhibit at Metropolitan Highlights Formations in the Stone

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Lee Lawrence

Krishna Govardhana, from seventh-century southern Cambodia National Museum of Cambodia, Phnom Penh

NEW YORK---The Metropolitan Museum of Art's "Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia" is a monumental show in about every sense of the word. At least one third of its 150-plus works are large sculptures and reliefs. And the show's very concept reflects new findings and directions in scholarship. The result is a show with as much to attract specialists—from inscriptions on first-time loans from Myanmar or the earliest-known statue of Vishnu from southern Cambodia—as there is to delight art lovers generally. The artistry displayed in the show's fifth- and sixth-century works speaks to a prior mastery of art production. While there is still much to be learned about early Southeast Asian artists and the cultures they helped form, their conversation is a momentous first step. One can only hope more will follow. [link]