Gendun Chopel (1903-1951) is widely regarded as one of the most important Tibetan figures of the twentieth century, famous for his skills as a poet and infamous for his controversial views. In November 2003 a remarkable event was held at Trace Foundation's Latse Library in New York to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of his birth. It brought together from all over the world Tibetans who had known Gendun Chopel, as students, friends, and family members, as well as American, European, Chinese, and Tibetan scholars of Gendun Chopel s life and works. This volume brings together their many insights into this multifaceted figure. Gendun Chopel was also a talented artist, developing a style previously unknown in the long and illustrious history of Tibetan painting. Presented here for the first time are Gendun Chopel's remarkable watercolors and pencil sketches, works that attest to yet another of his many distinctions: as Tibet s first modern artist. With essays by Donald S. Lopez, one of the world's leading scholars on Gendun Chopel, this book sheds new light on the life and legacy of a Tibetan icon.

Jaroslav Poncar was born in Prague in 1945. He now lives in Cologne, Germany, where he was professor at the Department for Imaging Sciences at Cologne University of Applied Science from 1973 to 2010. His countless, photographically motivated travels have usually taken him to the Himalayas, Tibet, India, Burma, Yemen and Cambodia. For twenty years he was concerned with the photographic documentation of the early buddhist all painting in the Himalayas (Alchi, Tabo, Mustang) and Tibet (Tholing). Between 1996 and 2005 he was the deputy director of the German Apsara Conservation Project in Angkor Wat, Cambodia and during this period he performed the most comprehensive photographic documentation of the largest temple in the world. His most recent publications are Burma: the Land that Time Forgot, Himalayas: Where Gods and Man Meet, Angkor: A Photographic Portrait, Himalayan Kingdoms and Tibet (all published in Germany). In Europe, during the short leaves he could take from his teaching, it was France where he pursues panoramic projects. To date he has published his panoramics from the Loire Valley and from Paris.