The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Horizontally long collaged photograph with rows of rectangles depicting the columned hall of a Hindu temple, people gathering around the statue of a bull in the center, flanked by shops and then the central hall repeated. The same location at different times of day, the collaged rectangles create a coherent scene, but slightly disjointed and under various lighting. White, squared, stone columns supports a ceiling with red, green, yellow, and blue patterning.

The Saint in the Marketplace, Meenakshi Temple, Madurai, India

2003

Masumi Hayashi

(American, 1945–2006)
America
Panoramic photo collage, chromogenic prints
Image: 60.9 x 187.9 cm (24 x 74 in.); Framed: 74.3 x 198.4 cm (29 1/4 x 78 1/8 in.)
Gift of Dean A. Keesey (Estate of Dr. Masumi Hayashi) 2015.95
© Masumi Hayashi
Location: Not on view

Description

The artist presents the pillared hall of a temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva and his wife Minakshi (also known as Meenakshi, Parvati, or Devi) in a more-than-360-degree panorama. The same corridor appears at both ends, but at different moments in time. A yellow donation box is foregrounded, suggesting that Hayashi intended to comment on the role of finances in institutional religion. The bearded holy man in front of the sculpture of the bull Nandi, Shiva’s mount, is probably the “saint” in Hayashi’s title. The shops sell items used in devotional rites: brass vessels, sacred images, sweets, powdered spices, and aromatic pastes. The recently repainted ceilings were a pious gift for temple renewal.
  • 2003–2006
    Artist's studio
    2006–2015
    Estate of the artist, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2015–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Temples and Worship in South Asia. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 14, 2024-March 9, 2025).
    Masumi Hayashi, Meditations: Two Pilgrimages. Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH (2007-08).
    Indian Temples: Masumi Hayashi Photographs. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (2003).
  • {{cite web|title=The Saint in the Marketplace, Meenakshi Temple, Madurai, India|url=false|author=Masumi Hayashi|year=2003|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2015.95