NEW ORLEANS, LA – The New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) presents Buddha and Shiva, Lotus and Dragon: Masterworks from the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection at Asia Society, on view March 13 through June 7, 2020. Presenting nearly seventy of the finest examples of Asian art in the United States, Buddha and Shiva, Lotus and Dragon showcases the broad range of bronzes, ceramics, and metalwork assembled by John D. Rockefeller 3rd (1906–1978) and his wife Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller (1909–1992) between the 1940s and the 1970s. With highlights including Chinese vases, Indian Chola bronzes, and Southeast Asian sculptures, the collection reveals great achievements in Asian art spanning more than two millennia. Featuring works from across the Asian continent—Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tibet, and Vietnam, the selection of masterpieces presented in Buddha and Shiva, Lotus and Dragon illuminates social and artistic histories from across Asia and underscores the visual arts’ capacity to encourage cross-cultural dialogue. 

“The stunning range of works selected by Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller represent a multitude of cultures across Asia, showcasing the diversity and complexity of the region,” said Susan Taylor, Montine McDaniel Freeman Director of NOMA. “It is a rare treat for this collection to travel outside its home at the Asia Society Museum in New York, and we are delighted to be able to bring the exquisite collection to New Orleans.” 

When Mr. and Mrs. Rockefeller began collecting Asian art in the years after World War II, they chose to prioritize classical masterpieces that represented the great technical skill and creative breadth of Asian artistic practice. In addition to investigating themes of Buddhist sculpture, Hindu sculpture, and ceramics and metalwork, the exhibition also examines the Rockefellers’ collecting and exhibition practices in an age when political and economic circumstances informed the reception and availability of Asian artworks in the United States. With an emphasis on beauty, ingenuity, and tradition, Buddha and Shiva, Lotus and Dragon manifests the dynamic ideas and philosophies that animate histories of Asian art and renews the Rockefellers’ vision of promoting cross-cultural understanding. 

Buddha and Shiva, Lotus and Dragon: Masterworks from the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection at Asia Society is co-organized by the America Federation of Arts and Asia Society. This project is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The installation at NOMA is sponsored by Dr. Siddharth K. Bhansali, Virginia Eason Weinmann, Judith Fos Burrus, Tim L. Fields, Nuria Rowley,  E. Alexandra Stafford and Raymond M. Rathle, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. John A. Batt, Jr., and Tom and Dian Winingder.

Catalog 

Buddha and Shiva, Lotus and Dragon: Masterworks from the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection at Asia Society will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue by Adriana Proser, the John H. Foster Senior Curator of Traditional Asian Art at Asia Society. 

Additional Information 

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About NOMA and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden 

The New Orleans Museum of Art, founded in 1910 by Isaac Delgado, houses more than 40,000 works of art encompassing 5,000 years of history. Works from the permanent collection, along with continuously changing special exhibitions, are on view in the museum’s 46 galleries Tuesday through Friday from 10 AM to 6 PM, select Fridays from 10 AM to 9 PM, Saturdays from 10 AM to 5 PM and Sundays from 11 AM to 5 PM. NOMA offers docent-guided tours at 1 PM Tuesday – Sunday. The adjoining Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden features work by more than 85 artists, including several 20th and 21st-century master sculptors. NOMA’s Besthoff Sculpture Garden is free and open to the public seven days a week: 10 AM to 6 PM. The New Orleans Museum of Art and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden are fully accessible to handicapped visitors and wheelchairs are available from the front desk. Museum admission is free on Wednesdays for Louisiana residents, courtesy of The Helis Foundation. Children 12 and under receive free admission. Teenagers (ages 13-19) receive free admission courtesy of The Helis Foundation. 

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For additional information and hi-res images, contact Margaux Krane: 504.658.4106 | mkrane@noma.org

Gallery of lo-res images