Thomas Laird. Murals of Tibet. Art Edition No. 41–80 ‘Green Tara, Gyantse Kumbum (ca. 1420)’
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This Art Edition comes with a large-scale reproduction of a mural depicting Green Tara, limited to just 40 copies. Printed on plaster and hand-gilded with 23.75-karat gold, this piece evokes all the overpowering radiance of its centuries-old original. The result is a work of breathtaking beauty and a truly immersive experience of the World Heritage landmarks preserved in our SUMO.
Art Edition (No. 41–80), with a hand-gilded print on plaster Green Tara, Gyantse Kumbum (ca. 1420) in a handmade hardwood frame with 23.75-karat gold. This artwork comes with the limited-edition SUMO, signed by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, and the Shigeru Ban bookstand.
Thomas Laird. Murals of Tibet. Art Edition No. 41–80 ‘Green Tara, Gyantse Kumbum (ca. 1420)’
60000Deploying 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 extra-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 recognition of this World Heritage landmark and preservation of Tibetan culture, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama has signed all copies of this Collector’s Edition. In the 528-page scholarly companion, 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.
The Art Edition comes with a handmade, large-scale reproduction of a mural depicting Green Tara, a masterpiece from the Gyantse Kumbum painted by Gewa from Dechen in the early 15th century. Limited to just 40 editions, this piece evokes all the overpowering radiance of its centuries-old original. It is crafted on plaster using the finest over-size printers and presented in a handmade hardwood frame. The result is an immersive meditation piece and a unique experience of the monuments preserved in our SUMO.
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 and artwork are a major milestone in the appreciation of Buddhism, a precious monument to Tibetan culture, and a vital source for the contemplative arts and sciences.
SUMO-sized Art Edition (No. 41–80), with the hand-gilded print on plaster Green Tara, Gyantse Kumbum (ca. 1420), in a handmade hardwood frame. This artwork comes with the limited-edition SUMO, signed by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, and the Shigeru Ban bookstand.
Also available as a second Art Edition (No. 1–40) with an alternative artwork, and as a Collector’s Edition (No. 81–998).
The designer of the bookstand
Shigeru Ban (born in 1957) attended the SCI-Arc in California and the Cooper Union School of Architecture in New York. A member of the Voluntary Architects Network and winner of the Pritzker Prize in 2014, Ban’s innovative use of recycled materials has supported humanitarian efforts around the world. He is based in his native Tokyo, Paris, and New York.
The photographer and author
The contributing authors
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.
Thomas Laird. Murals of Tibet. Art Edition No. 41–80 ‘Green Tara, Gyantse Kumbum (ca. 1420)’
Edition of 40Print with 23.75-karat gold on plaster in a handmade, hand-gilded hardwood frame, 122 x 194 cm; hardcover volume signed by the Dalai Lama, 50 x 70 cm, 498 pages, 6 fold-outs, with a modular bookstand designed by Shigeru Ban, plus an illustrated 528-page scholarly companion bookISBN 978-3-8365-7358-0
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