Suzhou Museum “Buddha · China”, Li Chen and Early Buddhist Objects from Gansu Provincial Museum

Buddha · China – Buddhist Objects in the Early Stage from the Gansu Provincial Museum

Hosts: Suzhou Museum, Gansu Provincial Museum

Co-Host: Asia Art Center

Date: Mar 30 – May 26, 2019

Venue: Suzhou Museum

“Buddha · China – Buddhist Objects in the Early Stage from the Gansu Provincial Museum” hosts its grand opening on Mar. 29 at the Suzhou Museum. Organized by the Suzhou Museum and the Gansu Provincial Museum, with collaboration from Asia Art Center, the exhibition displays 35 early-stage Buddhist objects from the Gansu Provincial Museum’s collection and 7 selected works from Li Chen’s early oeuvre. The exhibition will be on view till May. 26, 2019.

The exhibition is divided into four sections: “Image of Buddha”, “Memory of Buddha”, “Doctrine of Buddha” and “Buddha · China”. The first three sections respectively exhibit the Buddha heads, pagodas, inscriptions and scripture from the Gansu Provincial Museum’s collection; meanwhile, Li Chen’s contemporary Buddhist-inspired sculptures are placed in the last section, thus creating a proceeding temporal passage that connects the past and present.

During the Han and Tang Dynasties, much of the West Region’s culture and commodities were imported into China through the “Silk Road”. Today’s Gansu region has been a hub of cultural exchange between China and the West since ancient times. In the chronicles of Buddhism’s spread into mainland China, Gansu was one of the earliest provinces to receive the Buddhist Dharma.

Gansu Provincial Museum has an extensive collection of classical Buddhist scripture, statues and relics, from which, 35 early-stage superb Buddhist objects are selected and shown at the exhibition under the subtopics of “Image of Buddha”, “Memory of Buddha” and “Doctrine of Buddha”, demonstrating the historical course of Buddhism in early China. Among the exhibiting artifacts, a Northern-Wei painted stone sculpture of Prabhutaratna and two Northern-Wei painted relief sculpture of Bodhisattva are classified as first-class national treasure, which are of significant academic and research value.

Echoing with the Gansu Provincial Museum’s early stage Buddhist objects, seven works from Li Chen’s early oeuvre are also featured in the exhibition. Li has devoted to the artistic creation of “Buddha · China” in the past decades, where his compositions have provided unique insights to the Buddhist culture in a contemporary context.

Through the bilateral display of early-stage Buddhist statues from Gansu and contemporary sculpture by Li Chen, the exhibition aims to offer an enlightening introduction on early Buddhist art, as well as the geographical importance of Gansu in facilitating the promotion of Buddhist culture.