The Smithsonian's exhibit on "Yoga: The Art of Transformation" shows off 2,000 years of yoga, some of which has never been seen before.

The Smithsonian says that their new exhibit on yoga in the Sackler Gallery has more than 130 works of art about yoga, stretching back thousands of years.

"Yoga: The Art of Transformation" opened Saturday and runs through Jan. 26, 2014. The exhibit saw funding help through a crowdfunding campaign and in six weeks managed to raise over $174,000.

The exhibit shows works of art, some of which have never been seen in the U.S. before, that display philosophies of yoga and its importance.

The Associated Press notes that after being displayed in the Smithsonian, the exhibit will be shown in both the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Smithsonian hopes to show more about yoga's history and views.

"It examines for the first time a spectacular but until now largely ignored, archive," museum Director Julian Raby said. "That archive is India's visual culture of extraordinary yoga-related artworks created, as you will see, over some two millenia."

In addition to the displays, there will be guest teachers who will teach yoga classes on Wednesday and Thursdays.

John Schumacher, who advised on the exhibit and is a 40-year practitioner of yoga, commented on the exhibit, "It teaches where yoga comes from. You see there is a deep, philosophical underpinning to all of these practices and a variety of different philosophies."

image: Wikimedia Commons

Original post:
Smithsonian set for visual history exhibit of yoga

FreerSackler

The Smithsonian Presents Yoga: The Art of Transformation, world's first exhibition of yogic art.

Yoga is moving from the studio mat to the museum gallery.

The United States' Smithsonian Institution in Washington has organised what curators believe is the first exhibition about the visual history and art of yoga, its origins and evolution over time.

The Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery will showcase the exhibit, "Yoga: The Art of Transformation," through January. Later, it will travel to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and to the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Curators brought together Indian sculptures, manuscripts and paintings, as well as posters, illustrations, photographs and films to showcase yoga's history over 2,000 years.

Museum Director Julian Raby said years of research behind the exhibit shed new light on yoga's meanings and histories.

"It examines for the first time a spectacular, but until now largely ignored, archive," he said. "That archive is India's visual culture of extraordinary yoga-related artworks created, as you will see, over some two millennia."

Guest teachers will lead yoga classes in the museum's galleries on Wednesdays and Sundays. The museum also will host a symposium for scholars and enthusiasts on yoga's visual culture.

Curator Debra Diamond said the Smithsonian borrowed some of the greatest masterpieces in Indian art as well as pieces that have never been shown before.

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Museum exhibit explores yoga history