Skidmore, Vassar, and Williams colleges announce shared gift of Tibetan art from the Jack Shear Coll

在三个著名的大学艺术博物馆之间的创新合作中，董事们宣布联合收购 Jack Shear 收藏的西藏艺术的非凡礼物。 Skidmore 学院 Frances Young Tang 教学博物馆和艺术画廊的 Ian Berry、Vassar 学院 Frances Lehman Loeb 艺术中心的 T. Barton Thurber 和威廉姆斯学院艺术博物馆 (WCMA) 的 Pamela Franks 对 Jack Shear 表示感谢为他慷慨的礼物，其中包括一系列视觉上令人惊叹的唐卡画。这些传统的西藏绘画被用作教学和虔诚的对象，佛教图像画在布上，通常用布帘覆盖，不用时卷起来存放。卷轴正面的生动插图与背面的详细铭文相得益彰。几个世纪以来，直到今天，唐卡画作为祭祀的对象、祝福的象征、冥想的指南和教学的工具，一直在寺庙、地方神社和家庭的仪式中和一年中的某些时候展示。 

While removed from their original contexts, these paintings retain many aspects of their intended purpose in their new homes. They will serve as educational tools, as catalysts for new scholarship, as inspiration for artistic expression, as subjects of close study, and as art to be appreciated in dialogue with the museums’ existing collections. Each institution has acquired a third of the more than 60 objects, and the collection will be considered a shared whole, accessible to all partners, and providing a rich source of ongoing collaborations including coursework, publications, and exhibitions.

虽然脱离了它们原来的背景，但这些画在他们的新家中保留了它们预期目的的许多方面。它们将作为教育工具，作为新学术的催化剂，作为艺术表达的灵感，作为密切研究的主题，以及作为与博物馆现有藏品对话的艺术作品。每个机构都获得了 60 多件物品中的三分之一，这些藏品将被视为一个共享的整体，可供所有合作伙伴使用，并提供丰富的持续合作资源，包括课程作业、出版物和展览。 

The thangka span several centuries (likely 18th–20th) and feature colorful, often elaborate depictions of Buddhist scenes, deities, and mandala. Distemper paint on cloth ground, usually silk or cotton, is the traditional medium. There are scenes from the lives of the Shakyamuni Buddha, various incarnations of the Dalai Lamas, and Avadana teaching stories. Some would have been used by monks to practice advanced meditation techniques, others to tell the stories of great Buddhist teachers, while others depict deities who grant wealth, long life, protection, or healing— concerns more relevant to the daily life of lay Buddhists. In addition to the paintings, the Jack Shear Collection of Tibetan Art features related objects such as divination mirrors, a personal shrine, and initiation cards or tsakli—painted images used in ritualized meditation practice.

唐卡跨越了几个世纪（可能是 18 至 20 世纪），并以色彩丰富、通常精心描绘的佛教场景、神灵和曼陀罗为特色。布地面上的瘟热涂料，通常是丝绸或棉布，是传统的媒介。有释迦牟尼佛的生平、达赖喇嘛的各种转世、阿凡达教的故事。有些会被僧侣用来练习先进的冥想技巧，有些会被用来讲述伟大的佛教老师的故事，而另一些则描绘了给予财富、长寿、保护或治疗的神灵——这些问题与在家佛教徒的日常生活更相关。除了这些画作，杰克·希尔藏族艺术收藏品还展示了相关的物品，例如占卜镜、个人神龛和启蒙卡或 tsakli ——用于仪式化冥想练习的绘画图像。

The Tang Teaching Museum has a longstanding relationship with Jack Shear, who is a photographer, curator, collector and executive director of the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation. In 2015, Shear donated 1,500 photographs from his collection to Skidmore College, and has subsequently made generous contributions in support of the museum’s publications and collections programs. In fact, Shear has connections to all three institutions whether as a lender, donor, or advisory committee member. Inspired by his collaborations with the Tang, Shear began discussing a home for his Tibetan art collection with Director Ian Berry, who suggested the idea of multiplying the impact of his gift through a joint acquisition among the three campus art museums. Berry explains, “This gift of the Jack Shear Collection of Tibetan Art represents a monumental collaboration in collection and resource sharing among academic museums, and we hope it becomes a model for other institutions.” Offering abundant thematic connections across a liberal arts curriculum, the paintings will become integral to courses in studio art, religion, philosophy, history, political science, cognitive science, health and wellness, and comparative studies, to name but a few.

唐教学博物馆与埃尔斯沃思·凯利基金会的摄影师、策展人、收藏家和执行董事杰克·希尔有着长期的合作关系。 2015 年，Shear 将他收藏的 1,500 张照片捐赠给了斯基德莫尔学院，并随后为支持博物馆的出版物和收藏计划做出了慷慨的贡献。事实上，无论是作为贷方、捐助者还是咨询委员会成员，Shear 都与所有三个机构都有联系。受到与唐氏合作的启发，Shear 开始与馆长 Ian Berry 讨论为他的西藏艺术收藏品设立一个家，后者建议通过联合收购三个校园艺术博物馆来扩大他的礼物的影响力。 Berry 解释说：“Jack Shear 西藏艺术收藏馆的这份礼物代表了学术博物馆在收藏和资源共享方面的巨大合作，我们希望它成为其他机构的典范。”这些画作在文科课程中提供丰富的主题联系，将成为工作室艺术、宗教、哲学、历史、政治学、认知科学、健康和保健以及比较研究等课程不可或缺的一部分。 

Ariana Maki, Associate Director of the University of Virginia Tibet Center and Bhutan Initiative and lecturer in Art History and Religious Studies, has worked as a consultant on the project since 2021. Maki visited the Tang to view the works, conducting thorough research on each object and sharing her extensive knowledge of art and culture in the Himalaya. Maki investigated the course catalogs of the three colleges and recommended a division of the collection based on an equitable sharing of works that illustrate key Buddhist themes and in correlation with the faculty expertise and relative strengths of each institution. In January, WCMA organized an online preview of the collection, led by Maki, for museum staff and faculty from Williams, Vassar, and Skidmore. “Teaching and learning with art is what animates everything we do at our institutions,” says WCMA Director Pamela Franks. “And it is a spirit of openness and generosity that is essential to any collaboration, a spirit Ian has modeled for us from his initial invitation to be part of this extraordinary opportunity.”

弗吉尼亚大学西藏中心和不丹倡议副主任、艺术史和宗教研究讲师 Ariana Maki 自 2021 年起担任该项目的顾问。Maki 参观了唐人，对每件物品进行了深入研究并分享她对喜马拉雅艺术和文化的广泛了解。 Maki 调查了三所学院的课程目录，并建议根据公平分享说明主要佛教主题的作品以及与每个机构的教师专业知识和相对优势相关的作品来划分馆藏。 1 月，WCMA 组织了一次由 Maki 领导的收藏品在线预览，面向来自 Williams、Vassar 和 Skidmore 的博物馆工作人员和教职员工。 WCMA 主任帕梅拉·弗兰克斯 (Pamela Franks) 说：“用艺术进行教学和学习是我们机构所做的一切的动力。” “开放和慷慨的精神对任何合作都至关重要，伊恩从他最初邀请我们参与这个非凡的机会时就为我们树立了这种精神。” 

On March 5, 2022, an inaugural exhibition of the gift, Mastery and Merit: Tibetan Art from the Jack Shear Collection, opened at the Loeb Center at Vassar College. Subsequent presentations at WCMA and at the Tang Museum are planned for the spring 2023 and fall 2023 semesters respectively. Organized by Ariana Maki as guest curator, the exhibition at Vassar introduces the collection along thematic lines. Given that teaching is at the heart of Buddhism as well as the museum’s educational mission, Maki has centered Vassar’s exhibition on the roles of Buddhist masters in Tibetan history, politics, religious practice, and the regular lives of everyday practitioners. Loeb Director Bart Thurber says, “In our planning and preparation for this exhibition, Ariana’s wealth of knowledge has spurred wonderful exchanges among faculty and curators, but it is her passion for the art and for this region of the world that has truly opened up these objects for us. This is the experience we wish to replicate for others through the exhibition.”

2022 年 3 月 5 日，在瓦萨学院的勒布中心举行了首届礼物展览，《精通与功德：杰克·希尔收藏的西藏艺术》。 WCMA 和唐博物馆的后续演讲计划分别在 2023 年春季和 2023 年秋季学期进行。由 Ariana Maki 作为客座策展人组织的 Vassar 展览沿主题线介绍了该系列。鉴于教学是佛教的核心，也是博物馆的教育使命，Maki 将 Vassar 的展览集中在佛教大师在西藏历史、政治、宗教实践和日常修行者日常生活中的作用。 Loeb 总监 Bart Thurber 说：“在我们为这次展览的策划和准备过程中，Ariana 丰富的知识激发了教师和策展人之间的精彩交流，但真正打开了这些展览的，是她对艺术和对世界这个地区的热情。我们的对象。这是我们希望通过展览为他人复制的体验。”

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About the Tang Teaching Museum

The Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College is a pioneer of interdisciplinary exploration and learning. A cultural anchor of New York’s Capital Region, the Tang’s approach has become a model for college and university art museums across the country—with exhibition programs that bring together visual and performing arts with interdisciplinary ideas from history, economics, biology, dance, and physics, to name just a few. The Tang has one of the most rigorous faculty-engagement initiatives in the nation, and a robust publication and touring exhibition program that extends the museum’s reach far beyond its walls. The Tang Teaching Museum’s award-winning building, designed by architect Antoine Predock, serves as a visual metaphor for the convergence of art and ideas. The Museum is open to the public on Thursday–Sunday from noon to 5 p.m., with extended hours until 9 pm on Thursdays. tang.skidmore.edu

About the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center

The mission of The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center is to enhance and support Vassar College’s goals of leadership, scholarship, and integrative learning. The Loeb achieves this through the preservation, documentation, interpretation, presentation, and development of its collections; and through a dynamic program of temporary exhibitions and educational activities aimed at diverse audiences.

The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center was founded in 1864 as the Vassar College Art Gallery. Vassar was the first college or university in the country to include an art museum as part of its original plan. The Center’s collections chart the history of art from antiquity to the present and comprise over 22,000 works, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, textiles, and glass and ceramic wares. Teaching students and working as an important tangible complement to the curriculum is the main focus of the collection. Notable holdings include the Warburg Collection of Old Master prints, an important group of Hudson River School paintings given by Matthew Vassar at the college’s inception, and a wide range of works by major European and American twentieth century painters.

The Loeb is free and open to all from Tuesday through Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday evenings until 7 p.m. vassar.edu/theloeb

About Williams College Museum of Art

The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) creates and inspires exceptional experiences with art that are integral to a liberal arts education, lifelong learning, and human connection. The Museum is a partner in nurturing the cross-disciplinary arts in support of a liberal arts education; advancing the academic and experiential preparation of arts leaders; enriching the cultural ecosystem; engaging artists; and creating a shared learning community that spurs new thinking, creative making, and civic engagement. Located on Main Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts, on the Williams College campus, the museum draws on the collaborative and multidisciplinary ethos of the surrounding college to enliven the more than 15,000 works in its growing collection. For the Spring 2022 semester, the museum is open to the public Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. artmuseum.williams.edu