The 'Vereniging' at Angkor: Sculptures from Cambodia
Lecture by Dr William A. Southworth, curator South-East Asian Art at the Rijksmuseum. With an introduction by Dr Philippe Peycam, director IIAS.
The Verening van Vrienden der Aziatische Kunst in cooperation with IIAS present a lecture by: dr. William A. Southworth, curator South-East Asian Art at the Rijksmuseum. With an introduction by dr Philippe Peycam, director IIAS.
Summary
This presentation will introduce some of the sculptures from Cambodia in the Society’s collection, including four exceptional pieces acquired by the Society’s first president H. K. Westendorp at Angkor in 1931. The lecture will try to show where these sculptures were found and to explain their original meaning and intellectual context. Finally, the presenter will discuss their continued importance for our understanding of Angkor and the art of ancient Cambodia as a whole.
William Southworth has been working since February 2011 as Curator of Southeast Asian Art at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. After studying the history, anthropology and archaeology of Southeast Asia at Hull and London University, he gained a doctorate at the School of Oriental & African Studies in 2001 on the early Champa culture of central Vietnam. He has travelled extensively in the region and was a founding fellow of the Centre for Khmer Studies in Siem Reap, Cambodia. He first came to the Netherlands in 2004 as a fellow of IIAS, where he was introduced to the art and archaeology of Indonesia, researching in particular finds of Buddhist statuary in Java and Sumatra and their relations to mainland Southeast Asia. .