Mandala of the Hundred Peaceful and Wrathful Deities of the Bardo (Primary Title)
Urgen Dorje, Nepalese, born 1944 (Artist)
Tsherin Sherpa learned the art of traditional Tibetan scroll painting (thangka) from his father, Urgen Dorje. Born in southern Tibet, Urgen moved as a child to the Nepal side of the mountainous border and by the late 1960s settled in Kathmandu, where he began studying the craft. Two decades into his practice, he wanted to demonstrate that he had reached his full artistic potential. The result was this masterpiece, which took more than a decade to complete. Executed with astounding precision, subtlety, and detail, it depicts a pair of mandalas described in the so-called Tibetan Book of the Dead. Inhabiting them are a hundred deities that appear to the deceased during the bardo, a gap between incarnations when one may become enlightened. Combining visionary innovation with technical skill, Urgen has transformed the customarily flat mandalas into a two-story palace populated by peaceful deities on the ground floor and wrathful deities above.
Some object records are not complete and do not reflect VMFA's full and current knowledge. VMFA makes routine updates as records are reviewed and enhanced.
