The Rubin Museum of Art, also known as the Rubin Museum is a museum dedicated to the collection, display, and preservation of the art and cultures of the

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

s, the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

and other regions within

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago a ...

, with a permanent collection focused particularly on

Tibetan art The vast majority of surviving Tibetan art created before the mid-20th century is religious, with the main forms being thangka, paintings on cloth, mostly in a technique described as gouache or distemper, Tibetan Buddhist wall paintings, and sm ...

. It is located at 150 West 17th Street between the

Avenue of the Americas Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...

(Sixth Avenue) and Seventh Avenue in the

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

neighborhood of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

History

The museum originated from a private collection of Himalayan art which Donald and Shelley Rubin had been assembling since 1974 and which they wanted to display. In 1998, the Rubins paid $22 million for the building that had been occupied by

Barneys New York Barneys New York Inc. is an American luxury brand founded in New York City in 1923. It has introduced major designers including Armani, Azzedine Alaïa, Comme des Garçons, Christian Louboutin, and Ermenegildo Zegna to the US market. Barneys N ...

, a designer fashion department store that had filed for bankruptcy. The building was remodeled as a museum by preservation architects

Beyer Blinder Belle Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners LLP (BBB) is an international architecture firm. It is based in New York City and has an additional office in Washington, DC. The firm's name is derived from the three founding partners: John H. Beyer, Ri ...

. The original six-story

spiral staircase Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps which enable passage ...

was left intact to become the center of the of exhibition space. The museum opened on October 2, 2004, and displays more than 1,000 objects including paintings, sculpture, and textiles, as well as ritual objects from the 2nd to the 20th centuries. The new facade on 17th Street and the five floors of galleries were influenced by

, and were conceived by New York-based

museum architect Museum architecture has been of increasing importance over the centuries, especially more recently. A challenge for museum architecture is the differing purposes of the building. The museum collection must be preserved, but it also needs to be made ...

s Celia Imrey and Tim Culbert. Its graphic identity was conceived by

graphic designer A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, ...

Milton Glaser Milton Glaser (June 26, 1929June 26, 2020) was an American graphic designer. His most notable designs include the I Love New York logo, a 1966 poster for Bob Dylan, and the logos for DC Comics, Stony Brook University and Brooklyn Brewery. In 1954 ...

Funding

The museum's exhibitions and programs are supported by the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

, the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

, the New York State Music Fund, the

New York State Council on the Arts The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) is an arts council serving the U.S. state of New York. It was established in 1960 through a bill introduced in the New York State Legislature by New York State Senator MacNeil Mitchell (1905–1996 ...

, the

New York City Department of Cultural Affairs The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) is the department of the government of New York City dedicated to supporting New York City's cultural life. Among its primary missions is ensuring adequate public funding for non-profit cultur ...

, other corporate and foundation donors, and a roster of corporate and individual members. In 2011, the museum announced that founders Donald and Shelley Rubin would give a five-year, $25 million gift to support operations, exhibitions, and programs. Donald Rubin also planned to step down as chief executive, although the couple were to continue to lead the museum's board. This presented challenges and led to a restructuring ahead of the funds running out in 2020.

Building

The 70,000-square-foot museum occupies what was formerly a portion of the Barneys department store in Manhattan's

neighborhood. It was acquired in 1998 and renovated extensively from 2000 to 2004. The renovation and new design elements were the results of a collaboration headed by the architectural firm of

and including Atelier Imrey Culbert (associate museum designers) and Milton Glaser Incorporated. Many of the architectural details within the building were retained, most notably Andree Putman's steel-and-marble staircase that spirals through the six-story gallery tower. In addition to gallery space for featured exhibitions, the museum includes space for contemporary and historical photography, an art-making studio, a theater for multimedia events and performances, a café, and a gift shop. In September 2011, the museum opened a new 5,000 square-foot Education Center adjacent to the main museum building. The building is also home to the Rubin's other art project,

The 8th Floor The 8th Floor is an exhibition and event space established by Donald and Shelley Rubin in 2010. It is located at 17 West 17th Street in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood in the same building as the Rubin Museum. The space features a rotating sele ...

, which opened in 2010.

Exhibitions

Among the museum's inaugural exhibitions were "Methods of Transcendance", "Portraits of Transmission" and "The Demonic Divine in Himalayan Art". In 2006, a three-part exhibition called "Holy Madness" spotlighted

siddhas ''Siddha'' (Sanskrit: '; "perfected one") is a term that is used widely in Indian religions and culture. It means "one who is accomplished." It refers to perfected masters who have achieved a high degree of physical as well as spiritual ...

with "Portraits of Tantric Siddhas," "Mahasiddhas at Gyantse," and "Mahasiddhas at Alchi." After a shift in the volume of rotating exhibits in 2019 due to funding challenges, the museum began to focus more on experiences and the permanent collection. In September 2021, the museum opened a new permanent installation, called ''Mandala Lab'' dedicated to emotional health and wellness. In addition to its exhibits, the museum is also known for its wide-ranging public programming series.

References

External links