For Immediate Release

Phone: 703-888-0932
www.tibetan-museum-society.org 
Contact:
Eric Dagva-Hatchell
Tibetan Mongolian Museum Society
ehatchell@tibetan-museum-society.org

Special Committee To Save Important Works of Mongolian Buddhist Art

The Tibetan Mongolian Museum Society Now Forming Administration Committee for Museum and Private Gallery Relations

ALEXANDRIA, VA, MAY 3, 2006 — The Tibetan Mongolian Museum Society issues the following announcement, issued by Eric Dagva-Hatchell, Editorial Steering Committee Chair.

In late April, Mr Dagva-Hatchell stated, "We are currently seeking a Committee Chair and a 6 member council of Asian art appraisers, museum curators and private gallery owners to act as public advisors."

This special committee is being formed to facilitate two of the Society's primary objectives: 1) to provide support to selected museums that enrich the arts with display of historically significant representations of Buddhist culture and 2) to protect sacred, religious shrines, from which Buddhist art is gathered for public sale or display against removal without consent, artifacts of any kind — and to further facilitate the repatriation of any sacred work, previously obtained by illicit means.

Thus far, Glenn H Mullin, Author and Museum Consultant, has graciously offered to Chair the Committee on behalf of TMMS. He immediately suggested three nominations for the board, which included Moke Mokotoff, Director, Asian Arts Inc., New York NY, USA. With-in 24 hours of receiving an initial greeting from the Society, Moke pledged to offer his knowledge and support.

Now forming the foundation upon which the group will develop into a formidable ally of Buddhist Art and Culture, Glenn and Moke look forward to many productive conversations between the Society and its ever-growing assembly of knowledgeable colleagues.


  
  
Committee Chair:

Glenn H. Mullin
Author, Museum Consultant

Glenn studied in the Indian Himalayas with 35 Tibetan and Mongolian Vajrayana masters from 1972 to 1984. He is the author of over 25 books on Central Asian Buddhist culture, including a dozen on the lives and works of the early Dalai Lamas and five books on Vajrayana Buddhist art. He has curated four Tibeto-Mongolian exhibits for Oglethorpe University Museum of Art in Atlanta and two for the Rubin Museum in New york, and also curated a travelling exhibit for Tibet House in New Delhi. He divided his time between writing, lecture touring, consulting for museums, and leading pilgrimage groups to the sacred places of Nepal, Tibet, Mongolia and China. His book The Fourteen Dalai Lamas (Clear Light Publications, Santa Fe) was nominated for the NAPRA Best Book award, and his The Female Buddhas (Clear Light Publications) won Best Book from Foreword Magazine. His most recent title is The Flying Mystics of Tibetan Buddhism (Serindia Publications, Chicago).


  

 

  
Batdorj Damdensuren
Former Director of the National Fine Arts Museum

Ulan Baatar, Mongolia

Batdorj is one of Mongolia's most honored, respected and prolific artists. As well as creating hundreds of his own masterpieces, over the years he has helped organize over 350 art exhibitions in museums and galleries around the country. He has also designed, created and installed numerous public art works under the sponsorship of the National Cultural Ministry, including sculptures, historical commemoratives, sacred mountain peak monuments, and more.

In 2001 Batdorj was appointed to the prestigious position of Director of the Mongolia National Fine Arts Museum, popularly known as the Zanabazar Museum, which is the most important institution in the country for the collection, preservation and exhibition of the nation's traditional Buddhist art.
  
  
Moke Mokotoff
Director, Asian Arts Inc.

New York NY, USA


Moke organized the collections of the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, the largest Tibetan Painting collection in the world. Further, in 1997 Moke worked with Donald Rubin to create himalayanart.org, which displays 1000's of works of Buddhist art. Moke has also provided vetting services, consultation and art acquisition services to the following organizations: Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Hong Kong International Asian Antiques Fair, Metropolitan Museum of Art and numerous other prestigious public institutions and private collections. Having graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1973, Moke is presently a member of the Appraisers Association of America, since 1985 and a member of the Tibetan Buddhist Manuscript Microfilming expedition to the Himalayas, sponsored by the National Geographic Society.
  
  
Priti Suri
Senior Attorney
Priti Suri Associates,
New Delhi, India


Priti has more than two decades of experience, on three continents, in diverse areas of international commercial law. She offers her expertise as group attorney regarding contractual matters related to museum exhibits organized by TMMS. Priti’s multi lingual skills include French, English and Hindiand. She has spoken at numerous national and international seminars in India, Europe and the US.

Priti Suri has authored two books entitled Open Source and the Law and FDI Notifications: An Anthology. She has also co authored articles published in the Illinois Bar Journal; further she regularly contributes to several other publications, including Asia Law India Review and the Asian Dispute Review, published by Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre.
 


  
"Orna" Uranchimeg Tsultem
Intern Researcher, Mongolian Collection,
Asian Art Museum

San Francisco, CA, USA

Orna, a native of Mongolia and a Ph.D. candidate at the UC Berkeley Department of Art History, has gained a new understanding of Mongolian spiritual life. She is also an accomplished art historian, who is presently writing a dissertation on Zanabazar.

  
  
Mark Hatchell
Alexandria, Va


Additional info to come.




  

 

Tibetan Mongolian Museum Society is a civic league of concerned international citizens who wish to advocate museum exhibition of Asian art from ancient Mongolia and the Greater Himalayan Region. Through a broad range of programs and projects, the Society's two primary focuses are: 1) to provide support to selected museums that enrich the arts with display of historically significant representations of Buddhist culture and 2) to protect sacred, religious shrines, from which Buddhist art is gathered for public sale or display against removal with consent, artifacts of any kind. Though not allied with any political group or religious sect, the Tibetan Mongolian Museum Society supports the fundamental humanitarian right to freedom of religious expression and is organized exclusively for charitable and educational purposes; including for such purposes, the making of distributions to organizations that qualify as exempt organizations under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

#####

Visit www.tibetan-museum-society.org for more information.
For immediate assistance, contact Eric Dagva-Hatchell: ehatchell@tibetan-museum-society.org.

 

Media Pressroom: Articles of Association | Members of the Board | Mission in Brief | Search & Site Map


Newsletter Sign Up:
 



© The Tibetan Mongolian Museum Society • 4105 Duke Street • Suite 108, Alexandria, VA 22304