Focus On: Emaciated Buddha

As part of an on-going* theme--Art of the Week from the Indiana University Art Museum! The work this time is an Emaciated Buddha from 2nd century Gandhara. Now, here is the bummer part--this image is NOT the work from the IU Art Museum. I found the correct image on their website, but it seems to be under copyright, so I can't use it. But do check out the link to look for it, because it is a really nice piece.
(Thanks to azibaza.com for the image, which should at least give you an idea of what another Emaciated Buddha from Gandhara looks like.)

The IU Buddha is smaller, and depicts the torso, head, and halo (might be a mandorla, but I don't think it is) of the Buddha. As far as I know, Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama, as he was then) departed from his family's wealthy enclave for a life of aestheticism, as he was looking for a way to find enlightenment. After 6 years (that was the time frame given on the museum label, anyway) Gautama decided that meditation and moderation were a better way to go than straight starvation, and he modified.

Why did I pick this artwork? Because in person the sculptural affect of it is astounding, the way all of the veins, ribs, and disturbing details are rendered. Gandhara would be modern-day Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Northern India, and you can see some of the Greco-Roman/Hellenistic influences in the wavy hair of the Buddha, which isn't as common in Buddhist depictions further South or East. These images of Buddha definitely remind me of Greek icons, which reminded me of something which I learned from watching QI (so it obviously must be true!): companies that make devices to detect people trapped in rubble take samples of the breath of fasting monks, particularly at Mount Athos in Greece, because this is the closest smell to human starvation, which the devices need to be able to pick up.

It's all SO macabre. But I can't help but be interested in ascetic practices and how they play out in art. Like how certain saints are renowned for their asceticism, yet they are often depicted as robust and healthy (cough St Jerome cough cough) . Or nuns who were purported to live on the Body of Christ alone--I mean, it's no wonder they were having visions!! In one of my art class we're looking at diffusion of art styles between "the West" and Islam, so this has been much on my mind lately, and it's cool that you can see that in the Emaciated Buddha.

*"on-going" in the sense that this is the second time I'm doing it.