This program is free and open to the public, but space is limited. Please register to secure your place by emailing umma-tours@umich.edu.

Exhibition co-curator, Professor of Anthropology and Director of Museum Studies Carla Sinopoli will lead this in-gallery program for adults. In 1932, “Michigan Man” Walter Norman Koelz traveled to northwest India, leading a scientific expedition into Himalayan regions, which included the Westernmost outpost of Tibetan culture. Among the twelve large crates Koelz shipped to Ann Arbor---containing thousands of plant and animal specimens and more than 600 objects, including paintings, textiles, bronzes, jewelry, wooden moulds and stamps, and bone artifacts, preserved today at the Museum of Anthropology---were the paintings and other objects on display in Buddhist Thangkas and Treasures. This informal gallery talk will offer an opportunity to look more closely at the items in the exhibition, placing them in the context of Koelz ambitions to create a collection of Tibetan artifacts for the University, and the journey he undertook to reach that goal.

The exhibition Buddhist Thangkas and Treasures: The Walter Koelz Collection, Museum of Anthropology is part of the UM Collections Collaborations series, co-organized by and presented at UMMA and designed to showcase the renowned and diverse collections at the University of Michigan. The UM Collections Collaborations series is generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.