Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure.

• Author: Kerin, Melissa R.
• Position: Book review

Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure. By PRATAPADITYA PAL, with contributions to Amy Heller, Oskar von Hinuber, and Gautama V. Vajracharya. Chicago: ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO, in association with UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS and MAPIN PUBLISHING, 2003. Pp. 308, plates, map. $65 (cloth); $39.95 (paper).

The pages of this beautifully illustrated exhibition catalogue both bring together some of the Himalayas' most illustrious and well-known pieces, and display, for the first time, lesser-known gems from this mountainous world. These images, and the accompanying text, are organized into three cohesive sections, corresponding to specific geographic regions. These three sections, which constitute the bulk of the 308-page catalogue, are preceded by a general introduction to Himalayan art and followed by a helpful appendix furnishing translations of many of the Nepali, Kashmiri, and Tibetan inscriptions on the works. These insightful translations are rendered by three eminent scholars: Amy Heller, Oskar von Hinuber, and Gautama V. Vajracharya.

This elegant catalogue provides a rich venue for acquainting a newcomer with this complex and vast body of Himalayan work; the initiated, however, will find that parts of the catalogue, especially the introduction, tend toward oversimplified ideas about sacred art, the artist, and aesthetics. For instance, Pal writes: "... the primary purpose an image serves is to provide the viewer with a glimpse of the divine in a tangible form. The forms themselves are visions of mystics and saints, poets, and seers.... [The artist's] aim was to express truth (satyam), beauty (sundaram), and the auspicious (sivam)" (pp. 17, 19). While these associations of Himalayan art and the artist with the divine are established and generally accurate tropes, focusing on them occludes the intricate socio-political networks of interchange among the patron, audience, and artist, all of whom influenced aesthetics and production. Consequently, the catalogue's introduction left this reader a bit skeptical about Pal's initial approach to and presentation of the material. Later in the catalogue, however, I found that Pal did take opportunities to hint at more complex issues surrounding artistic production and aesthetic conventions in Himalayan art.

Organized according to three geographic areas, the catalogue first treats Nepal; next considers Jammu and Kashmir, the Western Himalayas, and West Tibet; and concludes with Central and Eastern Tibet...