A Portrait of Lost Tibet

“… Here is a photographic evocation of Tibet just before its disappearance. In these 131 rare and handsome photographs, A Portrait of Lost Tibet gives an unforgettable glimpse into this exotic land, as recorded by two OSS officers, Brooke Dolan and Ilya Tolstoy (grandson of the writer), as they traveled through the country in 1942 on a diplomatic mission for the Allies. Their tenmonth trek produced thousands of photographs hat represent the best pictorial study of Tibetan civilization in existence. Even more extraordinary in fact than the romancers imagined, Tibet is shown here at a time when nomads roamed the vast central plateau, when religious festivals punctuated the year, when yaks and ponies provided the only transportation, when mail was carried by relays of runners … In all these pages all levels of Tibetan society come to life, from lavishly dressed nobility to scheepskin-clad nomads, from monks performing ritual dances to peasants plowing with yaks.

Accompanying the photographs is a text by Rosemary Tung, former curator of the Jacques Marchais Center of Tibetan Art, which describes Tibetan society and incorporates what Tolstoy and Dolan saw on their journey. For many years professor of Oriental art history and student of Tibetan Buddhism, Rosemary Jones Tung has traveled widely in the Far East, interviewed the Dalai Lama in India, and had numerous exhibitons of her own paintings in the Unitd States. …”

Contents:
Foreword by Robert Payne
Acknowledgments
Introduction
The Environment
Portaits of the People of Tibet
The Way of Life
The Festivals
Religion
Notes
Bibliography