Into the Sacred City: Tibetan Buddhist Deities from the Theos Bernard Collection

In 1937, the dashing young American adventurer and scholar Theos Bernard was among the first westerners to gain permission to enter the legendary city of Lhasa in central Tibet. Granted unprecedented access to study Tibetan culture and beliefs firsthand, this charismatic figure extensively documented his journey and amassed a vast array of artworks, now housed at the Berkeley Art Museum.

Drawn from Bernard's collection and organized exclusively for The Blanton, this focused presentation features… Show more three rare thangkas, ritual scroll paintings of fierce and sublime Buddhist deities. Also on view are five painted mandalas — elaborate, symbolic diagrams used as meditative aids. Conserved especially for the exhibition, this is the first time this extraordinary group of objects has been show to the public.

In conjunction with the exhibition, monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery in Atlanta will create a sand mandala at The Blanton, November 14-18.

Into the Sacred City: Tibetan Buddhist Deities from the Theos Bernard Collection is organized by Julia M. White, Senior Curator of Asian Art, University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

Support for the exhibition and related programming is provided by Judy and Charles Tate, Leslie and Jack Blanton, Jr., Jessica and Jimmy Younger, the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, and The Freeman Foundation.

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