For centuries, mystics and mendicants have been a subject of fascination for artists and photographers. Through paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, and devotional paraphernalia created between the fifteenth and twentieth centuries from the Middle East, South Asia, Europe, and America, the exhibition will introduce a remarkable group of pious, profound, and sometimes eccentric personalities from diverse cultural and religious traditions.

Through these images, topics including the commonality of many mystical traditions, stages along the spiritual path, the great poet-teachers, mystical allegory, and the Western perception of these personages and their practices will be examined.

Divinely Inspired is organized by Rochelle Kessler, assistant curator of Islamic and later Indian art. Support for the exhibition has been provided with funds from the Hazen Polsky Foundation, Inc. and the John M. Rosenfield Teaching Exhibition Fund.