Worlds of Transformation

Devoted to 200 Tibetan thangka paintings from the New York collection of Shelley and Donald Rubin, this book spans the whole range of Tibetan artistic schools over the past eight centuries. Each painting is analyzed in terms of iconography and religious meaning, style, regional lineage and sources.

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Tibet's sacred paintings are among the most marvelous creations of the human spirit, eye, and hand, a fascinating part of the great tapestry of the history of world civilizations. Arising from the Buddhist enlightenment movement, this art seeks not only to delight the viewer, but also to move and inspire the heart and spirit of the human being who seeks a deeper meaning for life and a higher future for all humanity. Worlds of Transformation furthers our understanding of this art, opening our imagination to the limitless transformative possibilities of life itself.
In Worlds of Transformation, Marylin M. Rhie and Robert A. F. Thurman study two hundred superb Tibetan tangka icon paintings, most never before published. These are lucidly explained, giving the history of the paintings and their creators, revealing their stylistic sophistication and variety, and offering insight into their transformative imagery.