Krishna Vishvarupa
date: label: Date
content: ca. 1740
notes: label: School/Tradition
content: Bilaspur school
label: Label
content: The Bhagavad Gita (200 BCE-300 CE) is one of Hinduism's most sacred texts, and Krishna's manifestation as the cosmos is its profound core. The text presents a spectrum of doctrines and practices within a framework of personal devotion (bhakti) to Krishna. The eleventh chapter describes Krishna in his infinite cosmic form, vishvarupa, which encompasses all of time and "the whole world, moving and unmoving," filling "all the horizons," and "brushing the sky."
label: Label
content: An eighteenth-century artist from the kingdom of Bilaspur, in the Punjab Hills, sought to evoke the limitless and proliferating universe by extending Krishna's sixty multicolored heads and forty-four pinwheeling arms to the very borders of the painting. Within the golden dhoti that wraps around his waist, a miniaturized mountain landscape conveys--through the juxtaposition of scale--both Krishna's vastness and his supremacy over all other Hindu gods and sages. Four of Krishna's heads, shaded the same lavender-blue as his body, are vertically stacked at the center of his body, and his lowest mouth is "spiky with fangs." The heads probably relate to the god's successive manifestations before his devotee Arjuna, the warrior prince who appears at the painting's lower left, his hands raised in the gesture of worship. As the hair on Arjuna's arms bristles in terror, Krishna abandons his human form and becomes the cosmic creator, universal sovereign, and Kala, who is both time and death.
label: Label
content: In the Gita, Krishna's form, which embodies all of time and all phenomena, is overwhelming and terrifying. With its delicate line, luscious sherbet colors, and especially Krishna's gentle expressions as he meets the gaze of his devotees, the painting transcends literal illustration of the Gita's eleventh chapter to convey the broader context of bhakti devotion, in which Krishna's compassion is accessible to all.
label: Provenance
content: Prior to 1973
label: Provenance
content: Thomas A. Woods [1]
label: Provenance
content: 1987
label: Provenance
content: Sale, London, Christie’s, Islamic, Indian, and South-East Asian Manuscripts, Miniatures and Works of Art, November 24, 1987, lot. 27: “Vishnu Visvarka”
label: Provenance
content: From 1987 to 2018
label: Provenance
content: Catherine Glynn Benkaim, Beverly Hills, California, purchased at auction, “Islamic, Indian, and South-East Asian Manuscripts, Miniatures and Works of Art,” Christie’s, London, November 24, 1987, lot. 27, “Vishnu Visvarka”
label: Provenance
content: From 2018
label: Provenance
content: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, partial gift and purchase from Catherine Glynn Benkaim [4]
label: Provenance
content: [1] Thomas A. Woods is identified as the owner in Stuart C. Welch, A Flower from Every Meadow (New York: 1973), no. 42. It is probable that the painting was in Mr. Woods's collection in the United States in 1972, when planning for the 1973 exhibition and catalogue, A Flower from Every Meadow, would have been well under way.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See Christie's auction catalogue, Islamic, Indian, and South-East Asian Manuscripts, Miniatures and Works of Art, from November 24, 1987.
label: Provenance
content: [3] See note 2. See also the Acquisition Justification Form, object file, Collections Management Office.
label: Provenance
content: [4] See note 3.
label: Collection
content: National Museum of Asian Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Yoga: The Art of Transformation (October 19, 2013 to January 26, 2014)
label: Exhibition History
content: Vishnu: Hindu's Blue-skinned Saviour (February to October, 2011)
label: Exhibition History
content: Indian Court Painting: 16th-19th Century (March 25 to July 6, 1997)
label: Exhibition History
content: A Flower from Every Meadow: Indian Paintings from American Collections (April 12, 1973 to November 11, 1973)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Thomas A. Woods
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Catherine Glynn Benkaim (born 1946)
place: label: Origin
content: Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh state, India
topic: label: Topic
content: Krishna
label: Topic
content: India
label: Topic
content: South Asian and Himalayan Art
label: Topic
content: Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection
label: Topic
content: Krishna Vishvarupa
setName: label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection — funds provided by the Friends of the National Museum of Asian Art
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: S2018.1.3
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (overall): 19.8 × 11.7 cm (7 13/16 × 4 5/8 in)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (painting): 17.4 × 9.5 cm (6 7/8 × 3 3/4 in)