The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has opened "Realms of the Dharma: Buddhist Art Across Asia," an exhibition on view through July 12, 2026, that brings together approximately 180 Buddhist artworks from its permanent collection for the first time in a single space. Curated by Stephen Little and Tushara Bindu Gude, the show features paintings, sculptures, ritual objects, and sacred texts spanning Asia, including a notable gray schist bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara from Gandhara (c. 200 CE). The exhibition highlights the transformative work of curator Pratapaditya Pal, who from 1970 built LACMA's Indian, Himalayan, and Islamic collections into one of the nation's premier repositories.
This exhibition matters because it showcases LACMA's often-overlooked strength in Buddhist art, challenging the museum's reputation as primarily a modern and contemporary art institution. It also underscores the historical shift of major Buddhist art collections from East Coast museums to West Coast institutions like LACMA, reflecting California's growing wealth and diverse Asian communities. As LACMA prepares to open its new main building, the show signals the museum's commitment to presenting its encyclopedic holdings in a more integrated and culturally significant way.