The Huntington Archive

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The John c. and Susan l. Huntington photographic archive of buddhist and asian art

The John C. and Susan L. Huntington Photographic Archive of Buddhist and Asian Art represents forty years of field documentation photography by the Huntingtons. In 1986, the two History of Art professors at The Ohio State University formally expanded their photographic collection. Partnering with the History of Art department, the Huntingtons created an institutional archive to house images of art from countries central to their personal research, as well as other areas of the Buddhist world. The Huntington Archive is devoted to providing pan-Asian documentation and resource materials for scholarly research and classroom teaching.

The Huntington Archive is very grateful to the following for assistance and support over the years:

National Endowment for the Humanities
ArtStor
The Mellon Foundation
The Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education
The Samuel H. Kress Foundation
The Ohio Board of Regents, Challenge Grant program
Battelle Endowment for Technology and Human Affairs
H.E. and Carolyn Schmidt

Exhibitions

China

Picturing Power: Posters of the Cultural Revolution

From Heaven and Earth: Chinese Jade in Context

China: 5000 years

Literature in Line: Lianhuanhua Picture Stories from China

India

Meeting God: Elements of Hindu Devotion

Jamini Roy: Bengali Artist of Modern India

Japan

Calligraphy by Doshu Kanayama

A Basketmaker in Rural Japan

Tibet

Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art

Mirrors of the Heart-Mind: The Rezk Collection of Tibetan Art from the Permanent Collection of the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art

Resources

OSU Asian Art History Course Support

For students enrolled in History of Art courses at The Ohio State University. Class presentations and lecture materials including PDFs of PowerPoint presentations given in class and audio recordings of lectures by Dr. John C. Huntington.

Publications by John C. Huntington

Includes downloadable PDF's of articles and links to web publications

Dictionary of Buddhist Terms

Definitions of Buddhist terms taken from the glossary of: The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art by John C. Huntington & Dina Bangdel.

Part 1 (A - L) | Part 2 (M - Y)

(Citation):
Huntington, John C., Dina Bangdel, and Robert A. F. Thurman.
The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art.
Chicago: Serindia Publications, 2003.

Maps of Asia

Detailed Maps

Historical Maps
- Neo & Chalcolithic India
- Early South Asia
- Bactro-Gandharan History

Locator Maps
- East Asia
- Himalayan Region
- Inner Asia
- Near & Middle East
- Southeast Asia
- South Asia (Indic Region)
- Chinese Provinces

Map of Asia

Map of Regions Documented in the Huntington Archive

Visual Encyclopedia of Buddhist Iconography

This section contain computer graphic drawings produced by Professor John C. Huntington, as part of his on-going research on Buddhist art and religion.

A Guide to Digital Photography for Field Research (PDF)

PDF detailing proper procedures for photographing objects and structures to be used as documentation for research purposes.

Lost, Stolen, and Damaged Images of Afghanistan and Nepal

The purpose of this section is:

to provide students and scholars with access to visual materials that have been lost or stolen from their place of origin or museum collections.
to help prevent the perpetuation of art theft throughout Asia by providing collectors, art dealers, and museum curators with visual references to works of art that are know or believed to have been stolen.
to increase awareness about the growing problem of art theft throughout Asia.

Asa Saphu Index

About

Collection Description

The John C. and Susan L. Huntington Photographic Archive of Buddhist and Asian Art contains nearly 300,000 original slides and photographs – photographic documentation of art and architecture throughout Asia. Countries covered in the collection include India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar (Burma), China, and Japan. The documentation covers in situ works of art and architecture ranging from approximately 2500 B.C.E. to the present, as well as pieces found in most major Asian, European, and American museums. This broad, yet detailed collection contains predominantly Buddhist material, but also includes Hindu, Jain, and Islamic works as well. The most comprehensive collection of its kind, The Huntington Archive includes the largest photographic archive of Nepali art and architecture in the world and represents the only formal collection that photographically records the country's artistic heritage.

A Brief History

The Huntington Archive represents the efforts of forty years of field documentation photography by John and Susan Huntington, professors of Asian Art History at The Ohio State University. In 1986, the Huntingtons decided to formally expand their photographic collection beyond the countries central to their personal research to include other major countries in Asia that had not yet been documented. When the move from a personal resource materials archive to a pan-Asian documentation project was made, the Huntingtons and the History of Art Department decided to create an institutional archive that could be used for scholarly research and classroom teaching.

The Huntington Archive accepts donations of photographic collections of Asian art. The Archive also collaborates with scholars to preserve their personal collections and make them publicly available for research and teaching. If you are aware of photographic collections that need a home now or in the future, please contact us.

Susan L. Huntington

Susan L. Huntington, Ph.D., is Distinguished University Professor and Professor of History of Art, Emerita, but continues to teach and advise graduate students at The Ohio State University. Her research area is South Asian art, with emphasis on Buddhist art; her teaching ranges from ancient to modern South Asia and the Himalayas. Her main publications include The Art of Ancient India, Leaves from the Bodhi Tree, and The Pala-Sena Schools of Sculpture.

Separately, and with her husband John C. Huntington, Susan has done extensive field research and photographic documentation throughout Asia. Susan served as Dean of the Graduate School and Vice Provost for Graduate Education at The Ohio State University from 1995 to 2005.

John C. Huntington

John C. Huntington has dedicated the past 45 years to the study of Buddhist art in all of its forms. His primary interests are the communication values of the various art forms, how the arts set the environment of attainment for the practitioner, and the practice methodologies that involve art as part of rituals and the like. He has taught at the Ohio State University since fall of 1970 and during his time there has helped build a flourishing program in Asian art history that currently has approximately twelve graduate students and about fifteen undergraduates. He also teaches in East Asian Studies programs where he oversees additional graduate students in the M.A. program in East Asian Studies. He continues to teach and publish with no plan of immediate retirement.

John Huntington is also both the principal photographer for and the Co-founding Director (with Susan L. Huntington) of the Huntington Photographic Archive of Buddhist and Asian Art at the Ohio State University. The archive has made available nearly two hundred thousand photographs and other resources to scholars and the interested public of Buddhist art from many areas of Asia.

Ankur Desai

Ankur Desai is currently working to digitize thousands of film and slide photographs from The Huntington collection as well as keeping track of image and publication inventory. He is also pursuing a PhD in South Asian temple architecture and religious practice.

Gregory Shonk

Gregory Shonk is currently in charge of overseeing the daily operations of The Archive as well as helping to select and implement a new database solution to accommodate the expansion of The Huntington Archive's Digital Database Collection.

Links at The Ohio State University

Visual Resources Library

Department of History of Art

The Ohio State University

Contact

Dr. Susan L. Huntington

Director/Co-Founder

Distinguished University Professor
Professor, History of Art
201 Pomerene Hall
1760 Neil Avenue
Department of History of Art
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio 43210-1318 U.S.A.
Phone: 614.688.8185
Fax: 614.292.4401
E-mail: huntington.1@osu.edu

DR. JOHN C. HUNTINGTON

Co-Founder

Professor, History of Art
202 Pomerene Hall
1760 Neil Avenue
Department of History of Art
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio 43210-1318 U.S.A.
Phone: 614.688.8198
Fax: 614.292.4401
E-mail: huntington.2@osu.edu

AIMEE PHILLIPS

Webmaster

201 Pomerene Hall
1760 Neil Avenue
Department of History of Art
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio 43210-1318 U.S.A.
Phone: 614.292.5374
Fax: 614.292.4401
E-mail: aimee_harchive@osu.edu

Image Requests

Please use a desktop browser to request images, thank you.

Web Site Issues

For questions, comments or concerns pertaining to The Huntington Archive web site and downloadable materials stored on our web site, please use this contact form to reach our Webmaster.
Please allow for up to 48 hours for us to resolve your issue or respond to your inquiry.

General Inquiries

For general inquiries, or for further information regarding The Huntington Archive and its Digital Database Collection, please e-mail us at: harchive@osu.edu. You may also contact us by phone at: 614.292.5374. The Huntington Archive operates Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 5:00pm Eastern Standard Time.
Please allow us up to five business days to respond to your inquiry.

Photographic Donations

In the interest of preservation and access, The Huntington Archive gladly accepts donations of photographic collections of Asian art. The Archive also collaborates with scholars to preserve their personal collections and make them publicly available for research and teaching. If you are aware of photographic collections that need a home now or in the future, please contact harchive@osu.edu.