Art and Ritual in Asia online exhibition

This exhibition is a continuing exploration of the relationships between art and ritual across the widely diverse cultures throughout Asia. Ritual is often an important aspect of cultures and embedded in everyday lives at the individual, local, and/or national levels. The objects in this online exhibition come from a range of time periods and geographic locations.

The Process

Under the supervision of Prof. Susan Dine (Department of the History of Art and Architecture), students in HART 1210W team up to conduct original research on works in the Vanderbilt University Museum of Art. While VUMA has a sizable collection of Asian art, much of it is understudied for various reasons. Since the 2021-22 academic year, students who have enrolled in this class have furthered our understanding of VUMA’s Asian artworks with a focus on those objects associated with rituals, which can encompass religious or social rituals and more.

Learn about our students’ hands-on research on these objects by visiting each work’s webpage and reading about the relationship between art and ritual in different contexts. In the meantime, this image gallery will give you an idea of the diversity found among this online exhibition!

Creator: Artist Unknown; Date: ca. 1000-1199 CE; Measurements: 9.75 x 9.75 in.

Explore one of the pages below and come back periodically if you want to see ongoing work!