The human body is central to artistic expression on the Indian subcontinent. Through the body, artists express fundamental beliefs about the nature of being, social ideals, gender roles and hierarchies of power, both earthly and divine. Join us as Debra Diamond, Curator at the Smithsonian Institution’s Freer and Sackler Galleries, places Jain aesthetic expressions of the Jinas and other perfected beings in the broader context of artistic expressions of enlightened and divine bodies across the courtly and religious artistic traditions of India.

By grouping masterpieces from the Freer’s permanent collection, the exhibition explores concepts and aesthetics of the body—from the perfect bodies of Hindu gods to the Indian courtly body as site of both pleasure and power; from the enlightened bodies of Buddhist and Jain traditions to divine conceptions that transcend physical form. The theme of the body provides a portal for appreciating how India’s extraordinary culture is woven from distinctive but interrelated traditions.

This event is the sixth Mahavir Nirvan Lecture.

Debra Diamond is Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Co-sponsored by:

Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Department of Religious Studies, Program in the Study of Spirituality and Ruth K. & Shepard Broad Distinguished Lecture Series