Art Lecture: San Francisco, November 18th, 2010

In conjunction with Himalayan Pilgrimage: Journey to the Land of Snows, on view through April 24, 2011.

- Lecture: Traditional Tibetan Art - Beyond Iconography and Religion
Confusions & Conflicts Regarding Late Tibetan Painting Styles
- Jeff Watt
- Thursday, November 18, 5 p.m.
- Museum Theater: UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
2625 Durant Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94720-2250

(Image: Unidentified artist, Tibet: One of seven in a set of thangkas of the great fifth Dalai Lama and his lineage, c. 1815; from the Collection of Veena and Peter Schnell).

"In this illustrated lecture, Jeff Watt, leading scholar of Himalayan art, provocatively proposes that the study of Tibetan and Himalayan art rely more on art history—on artists and critics as well as art historian—than on iconography, religious studies, and even Tibetology. According to Watt, “Cultural objects can be religious icons when looked at as religious icons, ritual objects when viewed as ritually related, and art objects when viewed as art. The subject of Tibetan religion will still remain the domain of religious studies. The study of history will remain the domain of historians, and iconography will remain the domain of iconographers. None of this will change, but to move forward, the study of Tibetan art must change."

"Jeff Watt was the founding curator and leading scholar at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York — one of the largest collections of Himalayan and Tibetan art in North America — from 1999 until 2007. He is the director and chief curator of Himalayan Art Resources, a website and virtual museum that constitutes the world’s most comprehensive resource for Himalayan art and iconography. Watt acquired his prodigious knowledge of Buddhist, Bon and Hindu iconography from a longtime study of Buddhism and Tantra."