From Staten Island to Shangri-la: the Collecting Life of Jacques Marchais (February 13th, 2007)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Meg Ventrudo
Tel: 718-987-3500
Email: press@tibetanmuseum.org
From Staten Island to Shangri-la: the Collecting Life of Jacques Marchais
Opening March 18, 2007-December 2008
STATEN ISLAND, January 15, 2007 – The Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Museum’s official opening in 1947 with the installation of a new exhibition, From Staten Island to Shangri-La: the Collecting Life of Jacques Marchais. The exhibit, curated by Dr. Sarah Johnson, will feature some of the finest examples of Himalayan art from the JMMTA collection, Jacques Marchais’ journals and publications, rare books, memorabilia, historical photographs of the impressive construction of the Museum, and period displays of her elegant gallery installations.
The exhibition will reveal the previously untold story of Jacques Marchais (1887-1948), an extraordinary American woman who created a Center to share with the world the ancient artistic and cultural traditions of Tibet and the Himalayan region. Because of her passionate drive to amass a fine collection of Tibetan objects in the 1920s-1940s, New York City possesses one of the nation’s earliest collections of high-quality Tibetan art housed in a remarkable setting. Jacques Marchais built her vision: a unique site that included extensive terraced gardens, a research Library and a Museum resembling a Himalayan mountain monastery.
Arranged chronologically, this exhibition will detail Jacques Marchais’ early life as a child actress in the late Victorian period, her social life and spiritual quest in New York City in the 1920s, and her intense desire to build an enduring monument to Tibetan Buddhism during the eras of the great Depression and World War II. This exhibition will contribute to Asian art scholarship by explaining Jacques Marchais’ role as an early 20th century popularizer of Himalayan culture, and it will place her in context of a larger movement of interest in Buddhism.
Exhibits and public programs at the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional funding for this exhibition was made possible by grants from the New York State Council of the Arts and from the Staten Island Foundation.
The Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art is committed to promoting the awareness and preservation of Tibetan art and culture through exhibitions and programs. Located at 338 Lighthouse Avenue in Staten Island, NY, the Museum is open Wednesday–Sunday 1 – 5 pm. For further information, please call 718 987-3500 or visit the website: www.tibetanmuseum.org. Admission: Adults $5, Students & Seniors $3, Children under 6 – Free.
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