Guide

Giuseppe Tucci (June 5, 1894 – April 5, 1984) has been a pioneering figure in Tibetan and Buddhist Studies. A language genius and a historian with a strong interest in religious studies, Tucci also extensively published on visual arts he documented and collected during numerous research expeditions to the Himalayas. Following his visits to diverse areas of the Tibetan plateau, he studied Tibetan scroll paintings in great detail. Later, retracing the tracks of Padmasambhava, he initiated the Italian Archaeological Mission to Swat, resulting in the greatest collection of Gandharan art from Swat outside the region, housed at the Museo Nazionale d’Arte Orientale ‘Giuseppe Tucci’ in Rome.

Initiated by Deborah Klimburg-Salter, Tucci’s work in the western Himalayas has led my research from the very beginning. Following in his tracks, as well as those of the Great Translator Rinchen Zangpo, has guided much of my early research. Later, I have extensively worked on the Tibetan scroll paintings (thangka) he collected and housed in the Museo Nazionale d’Arte Orientale ‘Giuseppe Tucci’. An exhibit on Tucci’s legacy I worked on for much of my time as curator at the Rubin Museum of Art has sadly been postponed indefinitely.