Jina. ca. 1160. India, Rajasthan, probably vicinity of Mount Abu. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, The Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund, 2000.98 © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

WASHINGTON, DC.- “Yoga: The Art of Transformation,” the first exhibi­tion about the visual history of yoga, opens Oct. 19 at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and explores yoga's rich diversity and historical transformations during the past 2,000 years. 

On view through Jan. 26, 2014, “The Art of Transformation” examines yoga’s fascinating meanings and histories through more than 130 objects from 25 museums and private collections in India, Europe and the U.S. Highlights include three monumental stone yogini goddesses from a 10th-century south Indian temple, reunited for the first time, 10 folios from the first illustrated compilation of asanas (yogic postures) making their U.S. debut, and a Thomas Edison film, Hindoo Fakir (1906), the first movie produced about India. 

"This exhibition looks at yoga's ancient roots, and how people have been trying to master body and spirit for millennia," said Julian Raby, The Dame Jillian Sackler Director of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery of Art. "By applying new scholarship to both rarely seen artworks and recognized masterpieces, we're able to shed light on practices that evolved over time—from yoga’s ancient origins to its more modern emergence in India, which set the stage for today’s global phenomenon. 

A free public festival, “Diwali and the Art of Yoga,” Saturday, Oct. 26, will mark both the opening of the exhibition and Diwali, the Indian festival of lights. Visitors can discover exhibition highlights through spotlight tours, play games from across Asia, attempt intricate rangoli (rice powder) drawings and make their own yoga-inspired art in hands-on workshops. Indian classical musician K. Sridhar will demonstrate the yoga of sound, and storyteller Louise Omoto Kessel will share tales of Indian deities. Free yoga classes will be offered throughout, and the day will conclude with a traditional lamp-lighting ceremony and a classical Indian music concert. 

In conjunction with “The Art of Transformation,” the Freer and Sackler galleries will also host “Yoga and Visual Culture,” a free interdisciplinary symposium for scholars and yoga enthusiasts Nov. 21–23. Seventeen scholars from a range of disciplines will present cutting-edge research on diverse aspects of yoga’s visual culture, organized around such topics as "Yoga and Place" and "Yoga and Print Culture." A full schedule and registration is available at asia.si.edu/events/yoga-symposium/. 

Yoga classes in the galleries will be offered through “Art in Context,” an interactive 90-minute workshop combining tours of the exhibition with the practice of yoga. Led by a teaching team of a museum docent and guest yoga teachers, the workshops will be held on Wednesdays and Sundays throughout the exhibition, with special sessions offered for ages 50-plus, teens and families. 

Following its Washington, D.C., debut, “The Art of Transformation” will travel to the San Francisco Asian Art Museum (Feb. 21–May 25, 2014) and the Cleveland Museum of Art (June 22–Sep. 7, 2014). 

Jina. ca. 1160. India, Rajasthan, probably vicinity of Mount Abu. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, The Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund, 2000.98. © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Three Aspects of the Absolute, folio 1 from the Nath Charit. By Bulaki, 1823. India, Rajasthan, Jodhpur. Mehrangarh Museum Trust, RJS2399.

Bifolio from the Gulshan Album. First quarter of the 17^th century. India, Mughal dynasty. Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin — Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Orientabteilung, Libri pict. A 117. 

Detail, Krishna Vishvarupa. ca. 1740. India, Himachal Pradesh, Bilaspur. Collection of Catherine and Ralph Benkaim.

Yoga Narasimha, Vishnu in his Man-Lion Avata. ca. 1250. India, Tamil Nadu. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Dr. Norman Zaworski, 1973.187.

Yogini. first half of the 11th century. India, Uttar Pradesh, Kannauj. San Antonio Museum of Art, purchased with the John and Karen McFarlin Fund and Asian Art Challenge Fund, 90.92.

Yogini with Mynah. ca. 1603-4. India, Karnataka, Bijapur. Trustees of the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 11A.31.

Mystery girl: why can’t she be killed? September 28, 1937. Look Magazine, United States, Iowa, Des Moines, Private Collection.

The Chakras of the Subtle Body, from the Siddha Siddhanta Paddhat. By Bulaki, 1824. India, Rajasthan, Jodhpur. Mehrangarh Museum Trust, RJS2376. 

Anatomical Body. 18^th century. India, Gujarat. Wellcome Library, London, Asian Collections, MS Indic Delta 74.

Shiva Bhairava. 13^th century. India, Karnataka, Mysore. The Cleveland Museum of Art: John L. Severance Fund, 1964.369. 

Battle at Thaneshwar, from the Akbarnama. Composed by Basawan; left folio painted by Basawan and Tara the Elder; right folio painted by Asi, 1590-5. India, Mughal dynasty. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Is 2:61-1896; IS.2:62-1896.

Swami Vivekananda, Hindoo Monk of India. United States, Chicago, 1893-94; Vedanta Society of Northern California, Harrison series, V22. 

Group of Yogis. Colin Murray for Bourne & Shepherd, ca. 1880s. Albumen print, 22.2 x 29.2 cm. Collection of Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck, 2011.02.02.0004.