Sculpture of Angkor and Ancient Cambodia: Millennium of Glory
June 29 – September 28, 1997
East Building, Concourse
This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.
Overview: This was the first comprehensive exhibition of Cambodian sculpture to be shown in the United States. It included 99 works spanning more than 1,000 years, from the 6th to the 16th century, many from the collections of the National Museum of Phnom Penh and the Musée Guimet in Paris. Included were statuary, monumental works in sandstone, and sculpted architectural elements.
An audio tour was narrated by director Earl A. Powell III and Helen Ibbitson Jessup. An accompanying video program, produced by the Gallery and narrated by actor Sam Waterston, was shown continuously in the East Building Small Auditorium.
Organization: The show was organized by the National Gallery of Art, the Royal Government of Cambodia, and the Réunion des musées nationaux/Musée national des Arts asiatiques-Guimet, Paris. Guest curator of the exhibition was Helen Ibbitson Jessup.
Sponsor: The exhibition was made possible by The Henry Luce Foundation, The Marjorie Kovler Fund, and The Rockefeller Foundation. The video was made possible by The Marjorie Kovler Fund. Additional support was provided by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
Attendance: 158,290
Catalog: The Sculpture of Angkor and Ancient Cambodia: Millennium of Glory, edited by Helen Ibbitson Jessup and Thierry Zephir. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1997.
Brochure: Sculpture of Angkor and Ancient Cambodia: Millennium of Glory, by Isabelle Dervaux. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1997.
Other Venues: Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, January 31–May 26, 1997
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, October 28–December 21, 1997
Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, January 15–March 22, 1998
- Introduction to the Exhibition: Sculpture of Angkor and Ancient Cambodia: Millennium of Glory
- Audio, Released: May 15, 2012, (54:13 minutes)