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"The Peaceful Liberators"
"The Peaceful Liberators" - a show of Jain art, scheduled to open in October 1994 in L.A., and then travel to the Kimball Museum in Fort Worth, before coming to New Orleans in June 1995. It will then move to The Victoria and Albert Museum in London before it finally ends, a year from the commencement date.
The show will be in part supported by the National Endowment of Humanities, and in part by each individual museum it travels to. There has, as you might imagine, been a fair amount of enthusiasm from the Jain community and, I suspect the task of raising the amount of money needed to put together a show of this magnitude, although challenging, certainly within easy reach. For the first time ever there will be a show of the most important works of art of the Jain religion. Most of the objects have never been seen by the western world. There will be metal, stone, marble images, paintings on paper, palm leaf, cloth and wood, works of art that span over twenty centuries, and material that will be borrowed from museums and private sources in India, England, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, Germany, and the U.S. For those of us that will get to see this show, I can promise an unparalleled experience. There will never again be such an extensive collection of the most important Jain works of art under one roof!
When the show travels to New Orleans in June 1995, we will have a two day symposium with speakers on Jainism and Jain art. We have identified scholars from India, as well as those in the west. We hope to, halfway through the length of the entire show, have a truly extensive educational program here, in N.O., where we hope to have a permanent collection of Jain art.
The show is being organized by the Los Angeles County Museum, by Dr. Pratapaditya Pal, arguably one of the foremost scholars of Indian art. The co-organizers are Dr. Gorakshakar, of the Prince of Wales Museum, in Bombay, and Prof. Andhare, from the L.D. Institute in Ahmedabad. In addition, M.A. Dhaky, from Benaras, Dr. Jaini, from Berkeley, Prof. John Cort from Ohio, have been actively involved in an advisory capacity. A monumental amount of time and energy has been spent on the selection process of the various objects, to say nothing of what it takes to cut through the bureaucratic red tape in borrowing the most important of Indian art treasures, from the Motherland!
We must, on our part, do the best we can to make this a huge success. It is an opportunity for each one of us to show our children and the world around us here, why we stand proud of our rich religious and cultural heritage. I want you to think about this for a minute, as you plan your trip to New Orleans, with your family, in June 1995. "What's in this for me?" -- The opportunity to show the people around us what we as a people are all about!
Dr. Siddarath Bhansali New Orleans
Wishing the Best to the 1993 JAINA Convention
TOMYONE
Southwest Medical Center Kamlesh, Smita, Tejas, Bina & Shivam Gosai
Anant, Jyoti & Anupa Gandhi
Jain Education Intemational
7TH BIENNIAL JAINA CONVENTION - JULY 1993
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