Kundalini

Date1953

Maker Morris Graves American, born Fox Valley, Oregon, 1910; died Loleta, California, 2001

Label TextGraves has here created an icon for the body’s internal energy. Kundalini is a form of Tantric Yoga in which psychic power is said to be raised through the central nervous system of the body by way of vital forces, to unite with the “lotus” center of the skull, meaning the brain.

Object number2009.52.25

Photo CreditPhoto: Elizabeth Mann

Exhibition HistoryWashington, D.C., The Phillips Collection, Morris Graves: Vision of the Inner Eye, 1983–1984.

Credit LineGift of the Marshall and Helen Hatch Collection, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum

Dimensions24 7/8 x 13 15/16 in. (63.2 x 35.4 cm)

MediumInk, transparent and opaque watercolor with graphite and gold leaf on laminated Japanese papers