We are pleased to announce the third installation in our new biweekly online conversation series for Curator’s Circle members, a collection of online events that offer insights from and Q&A’s with our curators. They will discuss their upcoming projects, share their thought processes, and give you a look at what makes them tick. Please join us online at 4 PM every other Thursday for these intimate conversations.

 On Thursday, May 28 join Senior Curator for Asian Art Julia White for for a discussion of Beyond Boundaries: Buddhist Art of Gandhara, a landmark exhibition demonstrating the remarkable artistic production of a little-known region that ignited the transformation of Buddhist art on an international scale.The ancient region of Gandhara sits at the crossroads of Asia between the Indian subcontinent and the ancient Persian empire. This beautiful valley played a critical role in the movement of people, ideas, art, and culture for millennia: it was the valley that Alexander the Great traversed in the fourth century BCE and the route that Romans and Greeks, as well as Chinese explorers, used to discover new lands rich in philosophy and new systems of belief, including the nascent form of Buddhism. Encounters between followers of the Buddha and artisans of the Hellenistic world catalyzed a stunning new style of depicting the historical Buddha. 

 Beyond Boundaries draws upon public and private collections to bring together images of the Buddha, narrative panels that provide clues about his life and teachings, and important examples of the transformation of Hellenistic heroes into conveyors of Buddhism. The exhibition reveals how this cross-cultural fertilization resulted in magnificent artistic achievements from the second to tenth centuries CE.

 Senior Curator for Asian Art Julia White has traveled extensively in Asia doing research, investigating important archaeological sites, visiting museum collections, and meeting with Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian colleagues. Her most recent trip took her with a group of graduate students and UC faculty to Sri Lanka, where they visited and studied the most important Buddhist sites in that country. For the upcoming exhibition on Gandharan Buddhist art, Julia is collaborating with Dr. Osmund Bopearachchi, an adjunct faculty member and highly respected specialist in the art of Gandhara.

 This event is open to Curator’s Circle members at the $1,000 level and above. Space is limited, and reservations will be taken on a first come, first served basis. Registered participants will receive an email with a secure event link on May 26. 

 Please contact Director of Special Events Masha Berek at mberek@berkeley.edu for more information or to register.