National Gallery of Victoria displaying Lord Krishna

National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne (Australia) is showcasing Lord Krishna and Lord Rama images in an exhibition “Gods, Heroes and Clowns” till October four.

It includes over 50 rarely seen works from India and other Asian countries going back to 18^th century. It presents “a large, elaborately painted cloth from India, Patachitra depicting scenes from the life of Krishna, which depicts more than sixty incidents from the life of Krishna, including his birth, childhood pranks, flirtations with the gopis (female cowherders), his love for Radha, the destruction of demons and the flight from Gokul to Vrindavan”, per NGV announcement.

The exhibition also includes ceremonial temple hangings depicting scenes from epics Ramayana and Mahabharata; shadow puppetry materials regarding Ramayana;  wayang kulit,  wayang golek, wayang golek purwa and wayang golek cepak puppetry materials regarding Mahabharata; 19th century Bhagavad-Gita illustration; and 1886 album telling the story of Bhima from Mahabharata.

Applauding NGV for exhibiting Hindu deities and art forms, distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that art had a long and rich tradition in Hinduism and ancient Sanskrit literature talked about religious paintings of deities on wood or cloth.

Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, urged major art museums of the world, including Musee du Louvre and Musee d’Orsay of Paris, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Los Angeles Getty Center, Uffizi Gallery of Florence (Italy), Art Institute of Chicago, Tate Modern of London, Prado Museum of Madrid, National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, etc., to frequently organize Hindu art focused exhibitions, thus sharing the rich Hindu art heritage with the rest of the world.

Founded in 1861, NGV holds a collection of over 70,000 works and claims to be “the oldest and most visited gallery in Australia”. Tony Ellwood is the Director, Bruce Parncutt is Trustees Council President and Carol Cains is the Exhibition Curator.