A new museum for Himalayan Art

Art in America, Nov, 2004 by David Ebony

The Rubin Museum of Art, focusing on art from the Himalayas, opened Oct. 2 in New York at Seventh Avenue and 17th Street. Occupying six stories of a building that was once home to Barney's department store, the 70,000-square-foot privately funded museum was designed by Richard Blinder of the architecture firm Beyer Blinder Belle; designer Milton Glaser contributed sculptural details throughout the museum as well as its logo and related designs. A steel-and-marble staircase spirals through five floors of exhibition areas showcasing the collection of Himalayan paintings and sculptures assembled by Donald Rubin, a businessman in the insurance industry, and his wife Shelley.

The Rubins began collecting art in the 1970s, but less than a decade ago decided to concentrate exclusively on Himalayan pieces. So far, they have assembled some 1,000 major works in the field, from Tibet, Nepal, India, China and Bhutan, dating from the 12th century on. About 200 pieces are currently on view [through Jan. 9] in the museum's inaugural exhibition, "Demonic Divine: Himalayan Art and Beyond," organized by museum curator Rob Linrothe. According to Linrothe's essay in the exhibition's handsome catalogue (designed with Glaser's help), the tanghas and other religious paintings, bronzes, stone carvings and embroideries on display were selected for their exceptionally grotesque imagery intended to convey a wide variety of Buddhist values and spiritual concerns. For instance, numerous pieces depict the so-called wrathful deities--hideous monsters which, according to Buddhist thought, embody the three principal mental poisons of desire, anger and ignorance.

The Himalayan works are augmented with several ancient Greek, Egyptian and African sculptures. A fourth-floor display of pre-Columbian and Mexican Day of the Dead pieces, on loan from private and public collections, is an effort to elicit cross-cultural dialogues on the show's theme.

Below street level is a gallery showing photographs of the Himalayan region, as well as a classroom and an auditorium. Other education facilities in the museum include a computer alcove and side-room displays that explore techniques used by Himalayan artists. The ground floor's lobby encompasses a bookstore and cafe.