Both at 2 cols

Ganesh with Ridhi and Sidhi, Guler, Punjab Hills, India, opaque watercolor, gold on paper, late Eighteenth Century.

Tile from an architectural inscription of the Qur’an, Sura, possibly from the shrine of Abd al-Samad, Natanz, Kashan, Iran. Ceramic with tin-opacified, in-glaze cobalt blue and copper turquoise, overglaze luster, paint, circa 1310.

MUST RUN 3/7

ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM OPEN TWO NEW GALLERIES w/2 cuts

ak/gs set 2/27 #730374

TORONTO, CANADA — The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) has opened two major galleries as part of its major renovation project, Renaissance ROM. The Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery and the Wirth Gallery of the Middle East are on Level 3 of the new Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. They are named for Sir Christopher Ondaatje, CBE, OC, and Alfred Wirth, respectively, who have donated generously to the museum’s expansion and renovation projects.

The region represented by the Wirth Gallery of the Middle East is home to the area known as the Fertile Crescent — the “cradle of civilization” — and beyond, including present-day Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, the West Bank, Syria, Turkey and Yemen. The Wirth Gallery explores the cultures of the region through a display of more than 1,000 artifacts of culture and technology, dating from the Paleolithic Age to 1900.

The Wirth Gallery comprises five main sections, including Ancient Spirituality & Religion, which explores the beginnings of humankind’s expression of faith from early polytheistic cultures to ancient Sumerians, Jewish ossuaries, Christian and Islamic religious objects, referring to the three great monotheistic religions that found their roots in the region.

Documents and Writing displays a history of script from cuneiform tablets (Twenty-First Century BCE) to samples of religious manuscript in Arabic, circa Eighteenth to Nineteenth Century. The Technology section emphasizes the evolution of human-made instruments from stone through glass.

The Arts in Life section showcases the changing styles of Islamic art and artistic influences of the Ottomans through pottery, jewelry and domestic objects; and the final section, Arms and Armor, highlights important developments in warfare, and includes an impressive display of armor and weaponry.

The Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery, featuring approximately 400 examples from the ROM’s collection of objects from this region, is among the most diverse installations of South Asian art in North America. It is also the only such gallery on the continent to include contemporary art in its permanent display.

South Asia is home to a long and diverse history that has had — and continues to have — a powerful influence on cultures across the globe. The 4,000-square-foot Ondaatje Gallery includes religious objects, sculpture, decorative arts, arms and armor, miniature paintings and textiles, originating from countries including present-day Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Tibet. Together, these tell the story of more than 5,000 years of the region’s artistic and cultural history.

The Ondaatje gallery is arranged in a roughly chronological and thematic order, with sections such as Material Remains, which highlights objects of material from Indus Valley Civilization (3500–1900 BCE), to the Sunga Period, Third to Second Century BCE. This is followed by Imaging the Buddha, which traces the birth and development of Buddhist art from the Third to the Fifth Centuries.

The gallery has sections on The Goddess, Visualizing Divinity and Passage to Enlightenment, each of which encompasses religious and thematic objects from ancient to recent times. The modern period is explored in two sections, Cultural Exchange, which focuses on Dutch, Portuguese and British interactions with South Asia, and Home and the World, which presents modern and contemporary art.

The Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery shares with the Wirth Gallery of the Middle East a special area devoted to temporary installations. The first of these is “Playful Krishna,” comprising some 40 objects exploring the varied depictions of this Hindu God, one of the most beloved throughout the South Asian subcontinent. Included here is a superb, recently acquired picchvai — a painting on cloth depicting the pilgrimage route to sites sacred to Krishna’s life. The exhibit will be ongoing at the museum.

The Royal Ontario Museum is at 100 Queen’s Park. For information in English and French, 416-586-8000 or www.rom.on.ca.