To Preserve Tibetan Culture: Monks Demonstrate a Modern Craft (Exhibition)

Exist Dates

1991 October 4 - 1991 November 8

Biographical or Historical Note

abstract

Exhibition. Opened in October 4, 1991 and closed November 8, 1991. Located in Section 2, Floor 2 in the Hall of Birds of the World at the American Museum of Natural History. "To Preserve Tibetan Culture: Monks Demonstrate a Modern Craft" was a "living exhibit" which featuring four Tibetan monks demonstrating the craft of doll making.

Summary

"To Preserve Tibetan Culture: Monks Demonstrate a Modern Craft" was a "living exhibit" which featuring four Tibetan monks demonstrating the craft of doll making. Throughout their stay at the Museum, the Losel monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery produced elaborately costumed dolls. In addition to the works-in-progress, there were several installations of dolls set in a series of scenes from traditional Tibet. The Losel doll project was developed in 1983 by Kim Yeshi, the wife of the Deputy Minister of the Council of Religious and Cultural Affairs in the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. The exhibition was cosponsored by Tibet House, in New York City, and dZi, a Tibetan handcraft development company in Washington, DC. The doll project, together with a simultaneous exhibit of photographs of Tibet, constituted part of a program called "Tibet at the American Museum of Natural History." The Museum augmented the exhibits with artifacts from its own Tibetan collection. The doll making demonstration was on view in the Hall of Birds of the World of the American Museum of Natural History from October 4 through November 8, 1991.

Individuals and institutions involved in the creation of the exhibition: Tibet House; dZi.

Sources

American Museum of Natural History Press Releases, July 2, August 29 and September 3, 1991. Departmental Records, 101; American Museum of Natural History Library Archives.

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Related Corporate, Personal, and Family Names

American Museum of Natural History. Hall of Birds of the World (1929-)
Location of exhibition.

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