Curator and Art Scholar Pratapaditya Pal Receives LMU's Doshi Family Bridgebuilder Award

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Sep 17, 2015, 06:31 ET

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 17, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dr. Pratapaditya Pal, an art scholar and former curator at LACMA, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, will be given the annual Doshi Family Bridgebuilder Award in a ceremony at Loyola Marymount on Sept. 20.

Dr. Pal's extraordinary work as a scholar of South, Southeast Asian and Himalayan art has constructed bridges between India and the world through visual culture. Born in Bangladesh, he went on to study in Calcutta and Cambridge before beginning to curate the Indian art collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

In 1970, he began a 25-year association with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, helping to build the museum's collection of Indian and Southeast Asian art to more than 4,000 pieces.

"Honoring Dr. Pratapaditya Pal with the Doshi Family Bridgebuilder Award is so appropriate when one considers the bridges he has built by bringing Indian and Southeast Asian art to so many who would otherwise never have seen it," said Professor Christopher Chapple.

Dr. Pal is a prolific author in two languages – his native Bengali and English – and has authored fiction and nonfiction, academic and popular books and articles, and has almost 70 volumes to his credit. He was the general editor of Marg magazine for 17 years, has taught at Harvard University, USC and the University of Indiana.

The Doshi Family Bridgebuilder Award, which comes with a $10,000 stipend, is given annually to honor an individual or organization dedicated to fostering understanding between cultures, peoples and disciplines. The award was established in 2005, along with the Navin and Pratima Doshi Professorship of Indic and Comparative Theology, which Chapple holds.

"It is a great privilege this year to recognize Dr. Pratapaditya Pal for his contribution to build bridges in the field of art forms for humanity, transcending time and place," said Navin Doshi. "The sublime message of bridge-building between two polarized views, to come to a middle ground of moderation for balance and harmony, is a corollary of Buddha's message of the middle path of moderation, avoiding extremism."

Previous recipients of the award include: Vandana Shiva (eco-feminist and scholar of biodiversity and bioethics), Deepak Chopra (physician, philosopher, author), Zubin Mehta (world-renowned conductor), Thich Nhat Hanh (Zen master, peace advocate), Greg Mortenson (author, educator) and Huston Smith (religious scholar, author).

About Loyola Marymount University
Located between the Pacific Ocean and downtown Los Angeles, Loyola Marymount University is a comprehensive university offering 60 major and 55 minor undergraduate degrees and programs. The Graduate Division offers 39 master's degree programs, one education doctorate, one juris doctorate, one doctorate of juridical science and 10 credential/authorization programs. Founded in 1911, LMU is ranked third in "Best Regional Universities/West" by U.S. News & World Report. LMU is the largest Jesuit Catholic university for undergraduates in the Southwest, with more than 6,000 undergraduate students and more than 3,000 graduate and law students. For more LMU news and events, please visit newsroom.lmu.edu.

Contact:
Mason Stockstill
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SOURCE Loyola Marymount University