The Goddess of Music and Good Fortune

Start
07 Jul 2011
End
31 Dec 2011
Location
Museum of Fine Arts Boston

The Goddess of Music and Good Fortune

Now through December 31, 2011
at the MFA
Gallery 278C

Benzaiten, the goddess of music and good fortune, has been revered in Japan from ancient times to the present. This exhibition explores the long-lasting popularity of the goddess in Japanese culture and the iconographical transformations of her image over 500 years. See her orthodox depiction as a beautiful musician with a lute, her appearance as an eight-armed Esoteric deity providing protection from calamities, and finally her current personage as a friendly, folk-religious icon. “The Goddess of Music and Good Fortune” features striking representations of the deity that demonstrate her enduring appeal.

THE JAPAN SOCIETY OF BOSTON