Born: September 5, 1935, Sylhet, Bangladesh.
Education: B.A., History, Saint Stephen's College, Delhi, 1956; M.A., Ancient Indian History, University of Calcutta, 1958, D.Phil., 1962; Ph.D., History of Nepalese Art, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, 1965.
Spouse: Chitralekha Bose Pal, married 1968; two children.
Senior research associate, American Academy in Benares India, 1966-67.
Keeper, Indian and Islamic collections, Museum of Pine Arts, 1967-69. Lecturer, Indian art, Harvard University, 1968-69.
Senior curator, Indian and Islamic art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art 1970-81; acting director, 1979-80 curator-in-charge, West Asian art, 1981-86; senior curator, Indian and Southeast Asian art, 1981-present.
Lecturer, Indian art, UCLA, 1970.
Adjunct professor, Indian art history, University of Southern California, 1971-89.
Visiting lecturer, art history, 1974; visiting professor, religious studies, 1980, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Visiting professor, Indian art, Columbia University, 1981.
Visiting professor, Indian art, University of California, Irvine, 1993.
General editor, Marg magazine, Bombay, India, 1993- present.
Board of directors, Tibetan Foundation, New York, 1970- 80.
Board of directors, International Documentation Center, San Bernardino, California, 1975-85.
Trustee, Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, California, 1981-82.
Internal Revenue Service commissioner's art advisory panel, 1985-present.
Advisory board. Center for the Study of Art and Culture, Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, 1991-present.
Board of advisers, the Music Circle, Los Angeles, 1992- present.
University prizeman, University of Calcutta, 1958.
Gold medalist, University of Calcutta, 1958.
Commonwealth Fellowship, Cambridge University, 1962-65.
JDR III Fund fellowship, 1964.
Baldwin lecturer, Oberlin College, 1972.
Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts, 1972.
Sir George Birdwood Memorial Lecture, Royal Society for the Arts, 1973.
Centennial lecturer, Art Institute of Chicago, 1979.
Distinguished Indian Award, Conference of Asian Indian Associations of America, 1980.
William Cohn Memorial Lecture, Oxford University, 1983.
Catherine Mead Memorial Lecture, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1985.
Franklin Jasper Walls Lecture, Pierport Morgan Library, 1986.
Ananda K. Coomaraswamy Memorial Lecture, Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, Bombay, 1987.
D.J. Sibley Prehistoric Art Lecture, University of Texas, Austin, 1989.
Honoree, Eleventh Annual Conference of Bengalis, Washington D.C., 1991.
Honorary fellowship, Asiatic Society, Bombay, 1991.
Honoree, Association of Indians in America, New York, 1992.
Bimala Churn Law Memorial Gold Medal for 1991, Asiatic Society, Calcutta, 1993.
Inaugural Anthony Gardner Memorial Lecture, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1993.
Honoree, Cultural Association of Bengalis and Southern California Banga Sammelan, Los Angeles, 1993.
J.N. Banerjea Volume. Alumni Association of University of
Calcutta, 1959.
The Arts of India and Nepal: The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck
Collection. With John Rosenfield, et. al. Boston: Museum of Pine Arts, 1966.
Two Buddhist Paintings from Nepal. Amsterdam: Museum van
Asiatische Kunst, 1967.
Ragamala Paintings in the Museum of Fine Arts. Boston: Museum of
Fine Arts, 1967.
The Astral Divinities of Nepal. With D. Bhattacharjee. Varanasi:
Prithivi Prakashan, 1968.
Art of Tibet. New York: Asia Society, 1969.
Lamaist Art: The Aesthetics of Harmony. With H. C. Tseng.
Greenwich, Connecticut: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1969.
Museum of Fine Arts: Oriental Art. With Jan Fontein. Boston:
Museum of Fine Arts, 1969.
Vaishnava Iconology in Nepal. Calcutta: Asiatic Society, 1970.
Indo-Asian Art from the John Gilmore Ford Collection. Baltimore:
Walters Art Gallery, 1971.
Aspects of Indian Art: Papers Presented in a Symposium at the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art, October 1970. Leiden: E. J. Brill,. 1972.
Krishna: The Cowherd King. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum
of Art, 1972.
Islamic Art: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, Gift of Joan
Palevsky. With Katharina Otto-Dorn and Edwin Binney III. New York: Los Angeles
County Museum of Art in association with Praeger, 1973.
The Art of Nepal, I: Sculpture. Leiden: E. J. Brill, Buddhist Art
in Liechavi Nepal. Bombay: Marg Publications, 1974.
The Sacred and Secular in Indian Art: Selected from the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art. Santa Barbara: University of California, Santa Barbara,
1974.
Bronzes of Kashmir. Graz: Akademische Druckwerk Verlagsanstalt,
1975.
Nepal: Where the Gods Are Young. New York: Asia Society, 1975.
The Flute and the Brush: Indian Paintings from the William Theo Brown
and Paul Wenner Collection. Newport Beach, California: Newport Harbor Art
Museum, 1976.
The Sensuous Line: Indian Drawings from the Paul F. Walter
Collection. With Catherine Glynn. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
1976.
The Sensuous Immortals: A Selection of Sculptures from the Pan-Asian
Collection. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Los Angeles County Museum of Art in
association with Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1977.
The Classical Tradition in Rajput Painting: From the Paul F. Walter
Collection. New York: Pierpont Morgan Library, 1978.
The Divine Presence; Asian Sculptures from the Collection of Mr. and
Mrs. Harry Lenart. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1978.
The Ideal Image: Gupta Sculptural Tradition and Its Influence. New
York: Asia Society in association with J. Weatherhill, 1978.
The Arts of Nepal, II: Painting. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1979.
In Her Image: The Great Goddess in Indian Asia and the Madonna in
Christian Culture. With Gerald J. Larson and Rebecca P. Gowen. Santa Barbara:
University of California, Santa Barbara, Art Museum, 1980.
Elephants and Ivories in South Asia. Los Angeles: Los Angeles
County Museum of Art, 1981.
Hindu Religion and Iconology According to the Tantrasara. Los
Angeles: Vichitra Press, 1981.
A Buddhist Paradise: The Murals of Alchi, Western Himalayas.
Basel: Lila-Kala, 1982.
Indian Paintings in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. New
Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi, 1982.
Art of Tibet: Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Berkeley: Los Angeles County Museum of Art in association with University of California
Press, 1983. Expanded edition, LACMA and Abrams Art Books, 1990.
Court Paintings of India, Sixteenth to Nineteenth Centuries. New
York: Navin Kumar, 1983.
The Light of Asia: Buddha Sakyamuni in Asian Art. Los Angeles: Los
Angeles County Museum of Art, 1984.
Tibetan Paintings: A Study of Tibetan Thankas, Eleventh to Nineteenth
Centuries. Basel: Ravi Kumar Publishers; London: Sotheby Publications; 1984.
Art of Nepal: Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Berkeley: Los Angeles County Museum of Art in association with University of California
Press, 1985.
American Collectors of Asian Art. Bombay: Marg Publications, 1986.
From Merchants to Emperors: British Artists and India, 1757-1930.
Ithaca: Pierpont Morgan Library in association with Cornell University Press, 1986.
Indian Sculpture, I: Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of
Art. Berkeley: Los Angeles County Museum of Art in association with University of
California Press, 1986.
Icons of Piety, Images of Whimsy: The Walter-Grounds Terra-Cotta
Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1987.
Buddhist Book Illuminations. With Julia Meech. New York: Ravi
Kumar Publishers; Hurstpierpoint: Richard Lyon-Chimera Books, 1988.
Indian Sculpture, II: Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of
Art. Berkeley: Los Angeles County Museum of Art in association with University
of California Press, 1988.
Norton Simon Museum Asian Collections. Pasadena, California:
Norton Simon Museum of Art, 1988.
A Potpourri of Indian Art. Bombay: Marg Publications, 1988.
Art and Architecture of Ancient Kashmir. Bombay: Marg
Publications, 1989.
Romance of the Taj Mahal. New York: Thames and Hudson; Los
Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1989.
Changing Visions, Lasting Images: Calcutta through Three Hundred
Years. Bombay: Marg Publications, 1990.
Art of the Himalayas: Treasures from Nepal and Tibet. New York:
Hudson Hills Press, 1991.
Indian Painting, I: Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of
Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1993.
Pleasure Gardens of the Mind: Indian Pictures from the Jane Greenough
Green Collection. With Janice Leoshko and Stephen Markel. Los Angeles: Los
Angeles County Museum of Art, 1993.