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Murals of Tibet. BABY SUMO

1000

Art Editions

  • Murals of Tibet. BABY SUMO. Art Edition No. 1–80, ‘Buddha Shakyamuni, Gyantse Kumbum’ (early 15th century)
  • Murals of Tibet. BABY SUMO. Art Edition No. 81–160, ‘White Vairochana, Jonang Puntsoling’ (early 17th century)
  • Murals of Tibet. BABY SUMO. Art Edition No. 161–240, ‘Teaching Buddha, Shalu’ (early 14th century)
  • Murals of Tibet. BABY SUMO. Art Edition No. 241–320, ‘Blue Medicine Buddha, Tsaparang’ (early 15th century)
Edition: EnglishAvailability: November 10, 2026

For over a decade, photographer Thomas Laird traveled across the Tibetan plateau, capturing the most precious surviving murals of Tibetan Buddhist culture and creating the world’s first archive of this World Heritage landmark. Experience these spectacular artworks in vibrant color and intricate detail, and discover the heart of Tibetan Buddhism. 

Collector’s Edition (No. 321–9,980), numbered and signed by Thomas Laird. Originally published as a SUMO edition signed by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, this edition makes the work accessible to a wider audience in a more streamlined format while maintaining the same state-of-the-art reproduction quality.

Edition of 9,660Hardcover with six fold-outs, gilt edges, cold-foil-printed pages and five ribbon bookmarks, 498 pages, 35.8 x 50 cm, in a clamshell box; plus an illustrated 528-page scholarly companion book, 20.5 x 28.6 cm; total weight ca. 19 kg
“Thomas Laird’s Murals of Tibet by TASCHEN is a unique treasure; a timeless gift from Tibet to the world–not only for this generation but for generations to come.”
Richard Gere
New
Baby Sumo
The Baby Sumo's are between 47 and 50 cm (18.5 to 19.7 in.) tall
Murals of Tibet. BABY SUMO

Murals of Tibet. BABY SUMO

1000

Majestic Illumination

A thousand years of Tibetan mural masterpieces

Hidden amidst soaring snowy mountains, deep valleys, and desolate deserts are some of the greatest treasures of Buddhist culture and Tibetan heritage. For more than a decade, photographer Thomas Laird traveled the length, breadth, and far-flung corners of the Tibetan plateau to capture the land’s spectacular Buddhist murals in all their sublime vastness, intricacy, and their spiritual, emotional, and psychological enrichment.

Deploying new multi-image digital photography, Laird compiled the world’s first archive of these artworks, some walls as wide as 10 meters, in life-size resolution. This breathtaking publication assembles Laird’s portfolio in large format with six fold-outs, printed in five colors including gold. Featuring both complete murals and copious details, it immerses readers into these precious, extraordinary masterpieces.

In the 528-page scholarly companion book, Buddhist writer and academic Robert Thurman takes us through this transcendent journey with detailed text on the murals' spiritual significance while captions from experts Heather Stoddard and Jakob Winkler shed light on the storylines and artistic context of each image.

As his Holiness the Dalai Lama has himself explained, these murals are not just objects of beauty, but serve as points of reference and guidance for practitioners of Buddhism, yoga, and meditation, as well as for anyone seeking to incorporate mindfulness into their daily life. Binding contemporary photographic technology with ancient traditions, this book is at once a majestic art piece, a major milestone in the appreciation of Buddhism, a precious monument to Tibetan culture, and a vital source for the contemplative arts and sciences.

Collector’s Edition (No. 321–9,980), numbered and signed by Thomas Laird. Originally published as a SUMO edition signed by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, this edition makes the work accessible to a wider audience in a more streamlined format while maintaining the same state-of-the-art reproduction quality.

The photographer and author
American photographer and writer Thomas C. Laird has explored the art, culture, and history of the Himalayas since 1972. Based in Nepal for three decades, his reporting and photography have been published globally by TIME, Geo, Newsweek, Le Figaro, National Geographic, and many others. His nonfiction books include a history of Tibet written with the Dalai Lama, translated into 14 languages. From 2008, he has created the world’s first life-size images of enormous Tibetan wall murals. Fine art prints of these works have been the focus of several exhibitions and are held in both public and private collections.
The contributing authors
Heather Stoddard is a semi-retired professor of Tibetan literature, history and language at INALCO in Paris. Born in England, she studied Chinese and Tibetan at SOAS and the Sorbonne, becoming one of the first scholars to study modern Tibetan intellectuals. She has authored several essays and books on the history of Tibet, including The Beggar from Amdo, the definitive biography of monk and polymath Gendun Chophel, and Tibet from Buddhism to Communism. She writes extensively on Tibetan literature and art and has traveled annually to the Tibetan plateau for over three decades. She lives today in Oxford, UK.

Jakob Winkler is a Tibetologist (M.A.) who studied in Munich, Kathmandu, and Vienna. He works as a scholar, translator, editor, and teacher in the field of Tibetology and Buddhism. Winkler has studied and practiced Buddhism since the mid-eighties under various masters. His main teacher is the Dzogchen master Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, from whom he received authorization to teach Dharma in 2002 as a Santi Maha Sangha instructor. He is one of the Western experts of Dzogchen and has contributed fundamental research to the understanding of Lhasa’s Lukhang temple, being the first Western scholar to identify Pema Lingpa’s treasure text as the source for the Lukhang mural.

Robert A. F. Thurman (1941–2026) was a scholar of Tibetan Buddhism who held a Vajrāchārya degree from the Dalai Lama’s Monastery, where he was briefly a monk, and a Ph.D from Harvard University. He was the Jey Tsongkhapa Professor Emeritus of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, holding for 31 years the first endowed chair in the West in this field. He co-founded the American Institute of Buddhist Studies, to translate the Tibetan classics, and also Tibet House US, to preserve Tibetan culture, endangered in its homeland. He had been close friends and a student of the Dalai Lama since 1964. A prolific author, he was a strong advocate of the Buddhist spiritual sciences and for the survival of Tibet and its enlightening culture. Upon his retirement in 2019, he received the prestigious Padma Shri Award for his life’s work of helping India enhance the record of its classical Buddhist heritage.

Murals of Tibet. BABY SUMO
Edition of 9,660Hardcover with six fold-outs, gilt edges, cold-foil-printed pages and five ribbon bookmarks, 498 pages, 35.8 x 50 cm, in a clamshell box; plus an illustrated 528-page scholarly companion book, 20.5 x 28.6 cm; total weight ca. 19 kg

ISBN 978-3-7544-0588-8

Edition: English
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