Art News

Sackler Gallery Receives Leading Collection of Tibetan Buddhist Art

WASHINGTON.-An important collection of Tibetan Buddhist art in the U.S. has been given to the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Julian Raby, director of the Freer and Sackler Galleries, announced the gift in the presence of the Dalai Lama and the donor, Alice S. Kandell of New York, July 16 in Washington, D.C. “Your intention is very good,” said the Dalai Lama. “Showing Tibetan art and providing an explanation is important. People will gain a deeper understanding of the Buddha and a way of thinking that is very much based on peace and compassion.”Kandell, a child psychologist, author and photographer with a lifelong interest in Himalayan culture, carefully built the collection–including a magnificent shrine room containing hundreds of Tibetan Buddhist bronzes, paintings and objects