Vishnu: Hinduism’s Blue-Skinned Savior, will be the first major museum exhibition to focus on Vishnu—one of Hinduism’s three major deities. Opening in February of 2011 and presenting approximately 120 paintings and sculptures that were made in India between the fourth and nineteenth century, this exhibition will serve as a brief survey of Hindu art styles as well as an examination of the Vaishnava (Vishnu-worshipping) tradition.

Known as Hinduism’s gentle god, Vishnu is easily recognized in paintings because of his blue skin, which legend states is the result of ingesting a particularly powerful poison that threatened to destroy the world. An interesting figure in his primary form, the complexity of Vishnu’s character becomes clear when he assumes new forms, known as avatars, in order to save the earth from various dangers. Vishnu’s ten avatars reveal the multiplicity of ways that one can envision and interact with the divine.

The first section of the exhibition will introduce Vishnu in his primary form with subsections dedicated to his attributes, his consorts, and his legends. The second section will examine his avatars, as a group and then individually. The avatars that are more frequently celebrated in art will be more fully represented in the exhibition, with substantial subsections dedicated to Rama and Krishna. The third section will show some of the ways that Vishnu has been worshipped, with images of temples and ritual objects.

Exhibition Curator and Essayists
Vishnu: Hinduism's Blue-Skinned Savior is organized by guest curator Joan Cummins, Lisa and Bernard Selz Curator of Asian Art at the Brooklyn Museum and former Assistant Curator for Indian, Southeast Asian, and Himalayan Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Dr. Cummins is the author of Indian Painting: From Cave Temples to the Colonial Period (2006). The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with essays and object entries by Cummins and other distinguished scholars in the areas of religious studies and anthropology.



Dates:

Venue 1
Frist Center for the Visual Arts
February 25–May 29, 2011

Venue 2
Brooklyn Museum 
June 24–September 18, 2011


Number of objects: Approximately 120 paintings and sculptures

Space requirements: 9,000 square feet or approximately 900 lineal feet; high security

Interpretive materials: Wall text and label copy will be provided on disk

Participation fee: Available upon request


Contact information:
Katie Delmez, Curator
615.744.3245
kdelmez@fristcenter.org