Special Event
Members

*Krishna Lifting Mount Govardhan* (detail), c. 600. Southern Cambodia, Takeo Province, Phnom Da. Sandstone; 203.1 x 68 x 55.5 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1973.106

Womens Council Membership Program: The Conservation of Krishna

Tuesday, December 14, 2021, 10:00–11:00 a.m.

Location: Gartner Auditorium

Gartner Auditorium

About The Event

Womens Council and Asian Art Society members are invited to hear from Beth Edelstein, CMA Objects Conservator, who will provide an in-depth look at the conservation of the Krishna sculpture for the exhibition Revealing Krishna: Journey to Cambodia’s Sacred Mountain.

Organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art, this exhibition presents the story, context, and new restoration of a masterwork in the museum’s collection, Krishna Lifting Mount Govardhan. The 1,500-year-old stone sculpture from Cambodia, larger than life size, depicts the young Hindu god in the superhuman act of shielding his people from destruction.

Featuring an immersive, mixed-reality HoloLens 2 tour, the exhibition places the sculpture in the southern Cambodian landscape and sacred space from which it came. In partnership with the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh and the Angkor Borei Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art is displaying the newly restored work alongside other large-scale early sculptures from Phnom Da, generously lent from the National Museum and the Musée national des arts asiatiques–Guimet in Paris. Revealing Krishna illuminates the effect of global changes over the past 150 years on the discovery, disposition, and conservation of the sculptures from one of the earliest major Hindu sites in Southeast Asia.

Womens Council and Asian Art Society members will receive a digital invitation.

To learn more about the Womens Council, click here.

To join the Asian Art Society and to learn more, click here.

The exhibition is organized in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts of the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia and in collaboration with the National Museum of Cambodia, the École française d’Extrême-Orient, and the Musée national des arts asiatiques–Guimet.

seal for the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts of the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia

Principal support is provided by Rebecca and Irad Carmi, Mary Lynn Durham and William Roj, and the Rajadhyaksha Family and DLZ Corporation. Major support is provided by Raj and Karen Aggarwal, the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, and the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust. Additional support is provided by DLR Group | Westlake Reed Leskosky, Carl T. Jagatich, the John D. Proctor Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Paul E. Westlake Jr., and in memory of Dr. Norman Zaworski, MD. Generous support is provided by Dr. Michael and Mrs. Catherine Keith.

The Official Technology Partner is Microsoft.

This exhibition is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

“The Story of the Cleveland Krishna” HoloLens Experience was developed in collaboration with the mixed-reality development partner the Interactive Commons at Case Western Reserve University.

All exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Exhibitions. Generous annual support is provided by an anonymous supporter, Dr. Ben H. and Julia Brouhard, Mr. and Mrs. Walter R. Chapman Jr., the Jeffery Wallace Ellis Trust in memory of Lloyd H. Ellis Jr., Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, William S. and Margaret F. Lipscomb, Tim O’Brien and Breck Platner, Anne H. Weil, and the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

We recognize Dr. Gregory M. Videtic and Mr. Christopher R. McCann, who are graciously linked to this exhibition through the Leadership Circle.

The restoration of Krishna Lifting Mount Govardhan, expertly undertaken by Cleveland Museum of Art conservation specialists, was funded by a grant from the Bank of America Art Conservation Project.