Access to Parking Lot 3 (P3), which is directly behind the Staten Island Museum, may be limited or off line from April 8 – May 2, 2024 due to ongoing work. The Museum will be open to the public for regularly scheduled hours and school group visits. We recommend parking in lots P4 (near the pond) or P1 (near the Children’s Museum). Click here for location and directions.

Infinite Compassion: Avalokiteshvara in Asian Art

October 22, 2016 - June 15, 2018

Infinite Compassion: Avalokiteshvara in Asian Art, a collaboration with the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art, introduced visitors to Buddhist art, culture, and belief across Asia.

After the Buddha, Avalokiteshvara, is the most ubiquitous deity in Mahayana Buddhism. This revered Bodhisattva promotes compassion. A Bodhisattva is an individual who, upon achieving enlightenment, renounces his/her own Nirvana (extinction) in order to help others achieve enlightenment. The exhibit interpreted this aspect of Buddhist art with 46 sculptures, ritual objects, paintings (thangkas) and photographs from India, Tibet, China, Nepal and Japan, as well as contemporary Asian art.

Guest Curator and scholar Patricia Karetzky, (O. Munsterberg Chair of Asian Art, Bard College), developed the exhibition content in collaboration with the two museums. Additional works will be on loan from the Rubin Museum of Art; the Godwin-Ternbach Museum, Queens College and private collectors.