Wandering through the Taft Museum of Art’s collection galleries, you might spy a miniature ceramic woman balancing in her bare feet on a huge flower. Her serene expression belies vast power. She represents Guanyin, a deity who transformed from male to female and gained a new name over two thousand years of being venerated.
Guanyin’s fascinating history begins in ancient India. This figure originated as the Buddhist bodhisattva of compassion, named Avalokiteśvara. Buddhists believe that existence is inextricably linked to pain and seek release from the cycle of life, death, and rebirth into a blissful state of peace called nirvana. Bodhisattvas are beings who selflessly delay their own nirvana to help free others from suffering. Ancient Buddhists called upon Avalokiteśvara by name for help with specific troubles: fire, drowning, attack by bandits, and infertility, among others.
An early Buddhist text, the Lotus Sutra, describes Avalokiteśvara’s ability to shapeshift. Depending on the age, gender, profession, and social status of the individual who calls for help, the bodhisattva may appear in a variety of physical forms, even non-human ones. For example, in this medieval Japanese copy of the Lotus Sutra, Avalokiteśvara appears twice in each scene, once enclosed in a circle at top and again below, in a form corresponding to those who need help: as seen below, left to right, gods, children, and monks. This signifies Avalokiteśvara’s nonjudgmental nature—every living being is worthy of the bodhisattva’s help finding safety and peace.
Buddhists also believe that bodhisattvas, as enlightened beings, transcend earthly limitations—such as the need to occupy a physical body—and are therefore neither male nor female. Despite Avalokiteśvara’s elastic gender, Indian artists generally portrayed this bodhisattva as a young man.
The Lotus Sutra arrived in China in the first few centuries CE. The Sanskrit name Avalokiteśvara translated to Guanyin in Chinese. Both names roughly mean “one who hears the world’s cries.” For several hundred years, Chinese artists continued to depict Guanyin in masculine form.
However, during the early Song dynasty (960–1279), Guanyin began appearing more frequently as a woman in art, even as Buddhist artists elsewhere in Asia continued to picture the bodhisattva as a man. Chinese Buddhists also developed their own legends surrounding Guanyin. In one, Guanyin inhabits the body of a mortal woman, Princess Miao Shan. Eventually, Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike in China came to worship the feminine Guanyin as a goddess.
Medieval Chinese women, faced with pressure to produce a male heir and continue the family name, popularized Guanyin as a giver of sons. A pair of ceramic Guanyin figures on view in the Taft Museum of Art’s Gallery 7: Portraits & Prosperity, showcase this version of the deity. Each holds an infant in her lap, ready to relinquish him to a couple desiring a child.
Guanyin’s gender fluidity resonates today with some members of the LGBTQ community, particularly transgender and nonbinary individuals—an uncommon opportunity for those who seldom see themselves reflected in art history. Moreover, queerness is not pictured as a negative characteristic, but is embodied in a benevolent and powerful goddess. Equally significant are Guanyin’s infinite compassion and willingness to engage all living beings on their own terms, cementing the bodhisattva’s latest transformation into a modern queer icon.
Most plant dyes produce warm earth tones that fade away relatively quickly, but indigo’s distinctive, cool hues are colorfast; they may lighten over time, but always remain blue. Explore the history of indigo and how its dyes have been used from the past to the present.
In fall 2023, the Taft Museum of Art received an unexpected email from a direct descendant of Nicholas Longworth—resident of the Taft historic house for over three decades beginning in 1830—resulting in a gift of three new portraits to the Taft collection. Learn more about the acquisition, history, and conservation of these portraits from the museum's Curatorial & Collections team.
The Taft's 2025 Fundraising Gala is a party that makes a difference. The tropical, 1960s-themed event grossed over $320,000 for another record-breaking year, raising funds to help support Taft’s many free educational programs such as Art for All, Artists Reaching Classrooms, and Family Fundays.