NASHVILLE, U.S., March 2011: Vishnu: Hinduism’s Blue-Skinned Savior is a new exhibit at Nashville’s Frist Center for the Visual Arts that aims to introduce American art audiences to the visual beauty of the intricate ways Hindus throughout time have rendered their deities.
Curator Joan Cummins, of the Brooklyn Museum, described the goals of the exhibit recently. ‘First, to introduce one aspect of a major world religion, Hinduism, to a largely uninitiated audience,’ she said. ‘Second, to show absolutely gorgeous Indian art — the very best material from collections all over the world, the most beautiful and rarest examples.’
A beautifully preserved sandstone stele produced in the 10th century in central India, ‘Vishnu Flanked by His Personified Attributes,’ is one of the introductory pieces in the first galleries. It is one of several pieces that has never been seen outside its home museum or appeared in publications. In it Vishnu wears his typical garb of an ancient Indian prince. His four arms hold three of the four emblems and weapons usually associated with him: a conch shell, a discus and a mace. He is also associated with the lotus flower, which appears behind his head. His fourth hand is raised in a gesture of reassurance.
The exhibit, five years in the making, was organized by The Frist Center and includes more than 170 paintings, sculptures, textiles and ritual objects created in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh between the fourth and twentieth centuries. It runs through May 29 before moving to the Brooklyn Museum, where Cummins serves as curator of Asian Art.
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