October 6th marked the last day you can visit the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art in New York's Chelsea neighbourhood. This was a sad moment since the Rubin is one of my favourite museums in the world.
Founded in 2004 by Donald and Shelley Rubin, the museum occupied a space that formerly housed a Barney's department store on West 17th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue. The founders' paid USD 22 million for the property back in 1998.
At its peak, the museum had over 1,000 objects, most of which were highlights from the Himalayan region and South Asia. The artwork featured were primarily from Tibet, but areas like Nepal, Bhutan, China, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, and India were also represented. And in addition to Buddhism, Asian religions like Hinduism, Jainism and Bon were a at the forefront.
Image 1. A view of the Rubin Museum's main entrance in New York's Chelsea area. (Photo by Dave de Armas, courtesy of the Rubin Museum of Art)
I started visiting the Rubin very early on in my Asian art career in the late 2000's while attending Asia Week New York. I was still learning my Buddhist art and the complexity of the various deities, regions, and styles was rather overwhelming.
So being familiar with the collection at the Rubin helped me a lot. Many of the Himalayan artwork on view were exceptional highlights in their own right that really facilitated my studies.
I was very impressed with the Rubin's permanent galleries and various exhibitions, and the museum's publications are incredible resources for studying. I have about a dozen of their catalogues in my library and they are instrumental for my Asian art research and appraisal projects.
Over the years, I was also introduced to Jeff Watt, the founding curator and leading scholar of the Rubin's early years. His knowledge on the subject of Himalayan art is unsurpassed, and his non-profit online repository Himalayan Art Resources has helped me immensely. There are so many aspects of the Rubin Museum that helped shape my career!
Image 2. The Rubin Museum is also known for their Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room (Photo courtesy of the Rubin Museum of Art's website).
This space contains over one hundred objects and soundtrack of chanting monks that repeats on a loop. The display contains Buddhist sculptures, furniture, paintings, wall hangings and religious implements. It is such a wonderful space to just relax and/or meditate.
And of course there is the artwork! There are hundreds of Himalayan art pieces I viewed over the past fifteen years at the Rubin Museum, and these were some of my favourite items I saw during my final visit in the early Fall.
Image 3. A Central Tibetan gilt copper alloy figure of the Buddhist guardian Mahakala. Dated to the 14th/15th Century and possibly from the famed Densatil Monastery.
Image 4. A Mongolian gilt copper alloy figure of the Buddhist Goddess of the Dawn, Marichi. This piece is dated to the 17th/18th Century and attributed to Zanabazar (1635-1723), Mongolia's first recognised incarnate lama and founder of his country's most important Buddhist sculpture workshop.
Image 5. A Tibetan gilt copper alloy figure of the Buddhist bodhisattva Vajradhara and consort, dated to the 14th Century.
Image 6. A highly important and large Northwestern Nepalese gilt copper alloy figure of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni. Dated to the 13th/14th Century during the Khasa Malla rule.
Image 7. A tall Nepalese gilt copper alloy standing figure of the Buddhist bodhisattva of compassion Avalokiteshvara from the 13th/14th Century
Image 8. A Mongolian gilt copper alloy figure of the Buddhist protector Begtse Chen. Dated to the 18th/19th Century and with some of the most detailed armour (and human head necklace) ever.
Image 9. A Tibetan brass seated figure of Green Tara attributed to Choying Dorje (1604-1674) or his workshop.
Image 10a. A Chinese gilt copper alloy figure of a standing arhat (Buddhist monk), dated to 1439 of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
Image 10b. The figure's inscription 大明正統四年三月造 (made in the 3rd month of the 4th year of the Zhengtong reign during the Ming Dynasty).
Image 11. The famous Nepalese gilt copper alloy figure of the Hindu female deity Durga slaying the Buffalo Demon from the 12th/13th Century. This is an exceptional sculpture since the base and guardians on the side are complete.
Image 12. A really old and large Tibetan thangka painting of the Buddha Ratnasambhava surrounded by various wealth deities from the early 14th Century.
Image 13. An important mandala painting depicting the four mandalas of the Vajravali Cycle from Central Tibet. This painting is number thirteen from a set of fourteen paintings comissioned by Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo (1382-1456) for his teacher, and completed by a group of six Newar artists visiting from Kathmandu Valley.
Image 14. And the last of one of my favourite objects at the Rubin Museum is this small yet highly detailed Nepalese gilt copper alloy figure of Garuda, the animal companion and mount to the Hindu deity Vishnu.
Made in the 17th Century, this figure would have been the top part of an elaborate throne. And most importantly, this figure was one of the very first images I used when I started my Instagram account @anthonywuart back in 2016 when I had pretty much '0' followers!
And believe it or not, since I took that photo about ten years ago, I never saw this Garuda figure again until my recent visit, just a few weeks before the museum's closing.
Image 15. In addition to the permanent galleries and special exhibitions, there's a lot more about the Rubin Museum that I will miss. For one is the restaurant on the ground floor which for many years served some of the best South Asian and Himalayan lunches in Manhattan. My favourite was the chicken tikka masala rice bowl paired with a glass of merlot.
A trip to the Rubin's gift shop was also a must. They had a wide selection of books on Himalayan art and religion, instruments for meditation, various incense, and adorable children's toys. The gift shop also sold Orientations Magazine, so I would often try to find my latest published article on the Chinese art market.
Despite the Rubin's closing, the museum itself will still exist. The space will probably be sold off as stated in a New York Times article, but parts of the collection will be loaned off for various exhibitions around North America and Europe.
The Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room is possibly moving to the Brooklyn Museum for a long period of time, while a section of their permanent gallery 'Gateway to Himalayan Art' will be traveling to the Utah Museum of Fine Art during the first half of 2025.
So despite the museum's closing, the Rubin Museum will reincarnate itself to a new 'mobile' museum in spirit, and hopefully I will get to see sections of it in the coming years.
If you have any questions or comments about the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, please feel free to contact me!
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