The rise of popular theatrical revues and silent film helped glamorize the notion of the "idol." The masculine "matinee idol" of Victorian theater increasingly gave way to female stars, sometimes depicted in poses reminiscent of a seated Buddha—playing on the double meaning of the word idol. 🧵 🗃️ 📜

The rise of popular theatrical revues and silent film helped glamorize the notion of the "idol." The masculine "matinee idol" of Victorian theater increasingly gave way to female stars, sometimes depicted in poses reminiscent of a seated Buddha—playing on the double meaning of the word idol. 🧵 🗃️ 📜

Among the earliest European images of Buddhist monks are the copperplate engravings appearing in late 17th travel books. This curious assortment of figures comes from the 1665 French edition of An Embassy of the Dutch East India Company by Johannes Nieuhof. 🧵 🗃️ 📜

Among the earliest European images of Buddhist monks are the copperplate engravings appearing in late 17th travel books. This curious assortment of figures comes from the 1665 French edition of An Embassy of the Dutch East India Company by Johannes Nieuhof. 🧵 🗃️ 📜

With bulging eyes, flared nostrils, and straining veins, the Niō guardians stand frozen mid-roar. Placed at temple entrance gates, the Niō serve as spiritual sentinels, warding off malevolent forces and reminding visitors they are crossing into sacred space. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Japan #仁王

With bulging eyes, flared nostrils, and straining veins, the Niō guardians stand frozen mid-roar. Placed at temple entrance gates, the Niō serve as spiritual sentinels, warding off malevolent forces and reminding visitors they are crossing into sacred space. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Japan #仁王

Before Kyoto's Hōkō-ji faded into relative obscurity, it held one of Japan’s most ambitious projects: a colossal Great Buddha meant to rival Nara's Tōdai-ji. Reports from a visiting Dutch Embassy in 1649 allowed European book illustrators to envision this 60-foot marvel. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Japan

Before Kyoto's Hōkō-ji faded into relative obscurity, it held one of Japan’s most ambitious projects: a colossal Great Buddha meant to rival Nara's Tōdai-ji. Reports from a visiting Dutch Embassy in 1649 allowed European book illustrators to envision this 60-foot marvel. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Japan

This image of Angkor Wat is unusual: instead of empty corridors and abandoned statues, it captures a moment of active devotion. Photography of Angkor often framed the complex as lifeless – timeless ruins rather than a living religious site. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Cambodia

This image of Angkor Wat is unusual: instead of empty corridors and abandoned statues, it captures a moment of active devotion. Photography of Angkor often framed the complex as lifeless – timeless ruins rather than a living religious site. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Cambodia

As hanami, flower blossom viewing, spread among commoners during the Edo period, so too did the popularity of cherry blossoms in woodblock prints. This visual tradition carried into the Meiji era through hand-colored photographs and postcards - but something curious emerges here. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Japan #花見

As hanami, flower blossom viewing, spread among commoners during the Edo period, so too did the popularity of cherry blossoms in woodblock prints. This visual tradition carried into the Meiji era through hand-colored photographs and postcards - but something curious emerges here. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Japan #花見

Reputedly founded in the 6th century, Hualin Temple traces its origins to the famed Zen patriarch Bodhidharma, who arrived in China by sea. Situated in the port city of Guangzhou, the temple remained a favored destination for visitors and foreign photographers more than a millennium later. 🧵 #China

Reputedly founded in the 6th century, Hualin Temple traces its origins to the famed Zen patriarch Bodhidharma, who arrived in China by sea. Situated in the port city of Guangzhou, the temple remained a favored destination for visitors and foreign photographers more than a millennium later. 🧵 #China

At Sensō-ji, Tokyo’s oldest Buddhist temple, piety and play have been tightly interwoven since the nineteenth century. Approaching the temple entrance, this 1905 stereoview captures rows of vendors selling tobacco, toys, and talismans within the inner precincts to passing crowds. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Japan

At Sensō-ji, Tokyo’s oldest Buddhist temple, piety and play have been tightly interwoven since the nineteenth century. Approaching the temple entrance, this 1905 stereoview captures rows of vendors selling tobacco, toys, and talismans within the inner precincts to passing crowds. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Japan

In 1924, Wembley Park was transformed into a miniature British Empire, showcasing national pavilions, trade displays, and staged cultural performances. Seeing opportunity, postcard publisher Raphael Tuck released vibrantly colored sets of cards depicting Britain's colonial holdings.🧵 🗃️ 📜 #SriLanka

In 1924, Wembley Park was transformed into a miniature British Empire, showcasing national pavilions, trade displays, and staged cultural performances. Seeing opportunity, postcard publisher Raphael Tuck released vibrantly colored sets of cards depicting Britain's colonial holdings.🧵 🗃️ 📜 #SriLanka

In temples across Japan each April 8, visitors celebrate Hanamatsuri, the Flower Festival, commemorating the Buddha’s birth. Devotees pour ladles of amacha sweet tea over a small statue of the infant Buddha, reenacting the moment when dragons bathed the newborn with sacred rain. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #花祭り

In temples across Japan each April 8, visitors celebrate Hanamatsuri, the Flower Festival, commemorating the Buddha’s birth. Devotees pour ladles of amacha sweet tea over a small statue of the infant Buddha, reenacting the moment when dragons bathed the newborn with sacred rain. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #花祭り

Opening in 1898 in Atlantic City, the Heinz Pier stretched 900 feet into the ocean, lined with advertising signs, food award displays, and a gallery housing Henry Heinz's eclectic curio collection. Tourists armed with Kodak cameras could easily take snapshots posing with Heinz's Buddhist statues.

Opening in 1898 in Atlantic City, the Heinz Pier stretched 900 feet into the ocean, lined with advertising signs, food award displays, and a gallery housing Henry Heinz's eclectic curio collection. Tourists armed with Kodak cameras could easily take snapshots posing with Heinz's Buddhist statues.

During the summer each year, the streets of Kandy ignite with music and ritual dance as towering elephants move slowly through the crowd beneath jeweled canopies. This is the Esala Perahera, the great annual procession honoring the sacred tooth relic of the Buddha. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #SriLanka

During the summer each year, the streets of Kandy ignite with music and ritual dance as towering elephants move slowly through the crowd beneath jeweled canopies. This is the Esala Perahera, the great annual procession honoring the sacred tooth relic of the Buddha. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #SriLanka

Hidden among the treasures of Nara’s Tōdai-ji stands a fierce guardian: Bishamonten, the Heavenly King of the North. Clad in armor with eyes blazing, this towering 4.2-meter cypress statue exemplifies the remarkable craftsmanship of thirteenth-century Japanese Buddhist sculpture. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Japan

Hidden among the treasures of Nara’s Tōdai-ji stands a fierce guardian: Bishamonten, the Heavenly King of the North. Clad in armor with eyes blazing, this towering 4.2-meter cypress statue exemplifies the remarkable craftsmanship of thirteenth-century Japanese Buddhist sculpture. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Japan

📣 New Exhibit 📣 Another wonderful collaboration with San Diego Central Library is now up through June. To read the exhibit intro and get a look at some of the trade cards on display, you can check out the digital companion guide: tinyurl.com/4a2kmm29.

After Fuzhou opened to foreign trade in 1842, missionaries, merchants, and travelers began climbing the stone stairway to Gushan. The dramatic setting with temple roofs rising from forested slopes above the Min River plain made it irresistible to photographers and travel writers. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #China

After Fuzhou opened to foreign trade in 1842, missionaries, merchants, and travelers began climbing the stone stairway to Gushan. The dramatic setting with temple roofs rising from forested slopes above the Min River plain made it irresistible to photographers and travel writers. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #China

En route to Japan in 1853, the Perry Expedition stopped in Guangdong, the historic center of China’s foreign trade. Anchored in the Pearl River, expedition artist Wilhelm Heine sketched arguably one of the most famous pagodas in the world at the time: the Whampoa Pagoda. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #China

En route to Japan in 1853, the Perry Expedition stopped in Guangdong, the historic center of China’s foreign trade. Anchored in the Pearl River, expedition artist Wilhelm Heine sketched arguably one of the most famous pagodas in the world at the time: the Whampoa Pagoda. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #China

This early photograph from Tourane (today’s Da Nang) shows three Buddhist monks at the Marble Mountains temple complex. It is a rare colonial-era view of the full hierarchy of Vietnamese Buddhist monastic dress, from a novice’s plain robe to the ceremonial vestments of a senior abbot.🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Vietnam

This early photograph from Tourane (today’s Da Nang) shows three Buddhist monks at the Marble Mountains temple complex. It is a rare colonial-era view of the full hierarchy of Vietnamese Buddhist monastic dress, from a novice’s plain robe to the ceremonial vestments of a senior abbot.🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Vietnam

This gilded Laughing Buddha wearing an eight-pointed crown once graced a Chinese Buddhist monastery. Today, the statue sits in a very different setting on the grounds of the royal Sandringham estate as an unusual imperial garden ornament. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #China

This gilded Laughing Buddha wearing an eight-pointed crown once graced a Chinese Buddhist monastery. Today, the statue sits in a very different setting on the grounds of the royal Sandringham estate as an unusual imperial garden ornament. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #China

The centuries-long fascination with the Chinese-inspired aesthetic known as Chinoiserie had waned considerably by the end of the 19th century. Yet the famed Parisian department store Au Bon Marché continued to draw upon its familiar imagery for a series of popular advertising cards. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #France

The centuries-long fascination with the Chinese-inspired aesthetic known as Chinoiserie had waned considerably by the end of the 19th century. Yet the famed Parisian department store Au Bon Marché continued to draw upon its familiar imagery for a series of popular advertising cards. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #France

Despite the ambiguous caption—"A Group of Thibetan Musicians"—the history behind this anonymous photograph is remarkably well-documented. Taken by Robert Phillips before 1873, we see a gathering of the resident lamas at Sangchen Thongdrol Ling, a Nyingma monastery in Darjeeling. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Tibet

Despite the ambiguous caption—"A Group of Thibetan Musicians"—the history behind this anonymous photograph is remarkably well-documented. Taken by Robert Phillips before 1873, we see a gathering of the resident lamas at Sangchen Thongdrol Ling, a Nyingma monastery in Darjeeling. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Tibet

The Russo-Japanese War (1904–05) fueled Western demand for new images of a rapidly modernizing Japan. Among the companies meeting this demand was H. C. White, which issued boxed stereoview sets of Japan highlighting both its cultural traditions and signs of modern progress. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Japan

The Russo-Japanese War (1904–05) fueled Western demand for new images of a rapidly modernizing Japan. Among the companies meeting this demand was H. C. White, which issued boxed stereoview sets of Japan highlighting both its cultural traditions and signs of modern progress. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Japan

In this behind-the-scenes photo from The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), MGM's workshop prepares towering Buddhist statues for use as set design. Despite present-day associations with peace, art director Cedric Gibbons relied on this monumental Buddhist imagery to evoke mystery and danger. 🧵 🗃️ #filmsky

In this behind-the-scenes photo from The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), MGM's workshop prepares towering Buddhist statues for use as set design. Despite present-day associations with peace, art director Cedric Gibbons relied on this monumental Buddhist imagery to evoke mystery and danger. 🧵 🗃️ #filmsky

At the turn of the 20th century, tourists entering British Burma on a steamer would have looked down the Rangoon River to see the golden Shwedagon Pagoda in the far distance. Myanmar’s most sacred Buddhist site, the pagoda stands 112 m (367 ft) tall and dominates the Yangon skyline. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Myanmar

At the turn of the 20th century, tourists entering British Burma on a steamer would have looked down the Rangoon River to see the golden Shwedagon Pagoda in the far distance. Myanmar’s most sacred Buddhist site, the pagoda stands 112 m (367 ft) tall and dominates the Yangon skyline. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Myanmar

The first Tibetan Buddhist monks came to Europe amid the surge of interest over attempts to summit Mt. Everest in the 1920s. Capitalizing on this excitement, a promoter in Darjeeling recruited men to pose as Tibetan cham dancers for the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Tibet

The first Tibetan Buddhist monks came to Europe amid the surge of interest over attempts to summit Mt. Everest in the 1920s. Capitalizing on this excitement, a promoter in Darjeeling recruited men to pose as Tibetan cham dancers for the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Tibet

Founded in the 10th century, Zenpō-ji, a Sōtō Zen monastery, is renowned for the protective prayers its resident priests chant each day. The temple is also famous for its remarkable collection of more than five hundred Arhat statues, each carved with a distinct facial expression. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Japan

Founded in the 10th century, Zenpō-ji, a Sōtō Zen monastery, is renowned for the protective prayers its resident priests chant each day. The temple is also famous for its remarkable collection of more than five hundred Arhat statues, each carved with a distinct facial expression. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Japan

Decades before Godzilla, the 1934 "monster" film, The Great Buddha Arrival, featured a costumed actor as a giant Buddha roaming through a miniature city. The figure was based on the recently completed Shūrakuen Daibutsu, a colossal statue erected in 1927 near Nagoya. 🧵 🗃️ 📜 #Japan #聚楽園大仏