Santa Barbara Museum showcasing Hindu gods

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) in California is showcasing images of Hindu deities in an upcoming exhibition "Puja and Piety", which will run from April 17 to August 28.

It includes 12th century volcanic stone sculpture of Shiva, 11th century sandstone sculpture of Balarama, 19th century paintings of Kali and Devi, cart of Vishnu, etc.

It presents over 160 objects of diverse media created over the past two millennia and is one of the major presentations of the SBMA’s 75th-anniversary year in 2016.

Commending SBMA for exhibiting Hindu artifacts, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada 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.

SBMA, whose Guiding Principles include "stimulate thought"; comprises of 27,000 works of art spanning over 5,000 years of human creativity, including classical antiquities and Monet paintings; serves about 150,000 visitors annually. Larry J. Feinberg is the Director, while John C. Bishop Junior is the Trustees Chair.