Robert L. Brown: "A Spiritual Masterpiece: The Gupta Period Buddha Image of India"
Abstract:
Sculpture from the Gupta Period (4th-6th c CE) of India is usually considered the supreme aesthetic and spiritual accomplishment of Indian art history. It is also during this period when a type of Buddha image was created at Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his First Sermon, which is thought to have changed the way the Buddha was imagined, not only in India but throughout the Buddhist world. The talk proposes why Gupta-period sculpture became so highly regarded by modern viewers, and why the Sarnath Buddha image was of such influence both in and outside of India.
Bio:
Robert L. Brown graduated from UCLA with a PhD in Indian art history in 1981. Immediately after graduation he worked at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), being promoted to Curator of Indian and Southeast Asian Art in 1984. In 1986 he began teaching at UCLA where he is presently Professor of art history. In 2001 he was reappointed as Curator in the Department of South and Southeast Asian Art at LACMA, a position he holds with his UCLA professorship.