COLLECTORS WITH PANACHE Beyond
the Himalayas Tibetan art teachings on Seventh Avenue.
Donald
and Shelley Rubin at the opening ceremony of the Rubin
Museum of Art.
New
York received a magnificent gift in October – the
stunning 70,000-square-foot Rubin Museum of Art dedicated
to paintings, sculptures and textiles of the Himalayas.
Located in the former Barneys building, the $60-million
museum and its collection of more than 950 works from Tibet,
Nepal, Bhutan and Grandhara are a result of the largesse
and dedication of Donald and Shelley Rubin, founders of
the healthcare company MultiPlan and committed collectors
of Himalayan art.
The couple's passion for Himalayan art began 30 years
ago with an impulsive purchase of a Tibetan painting of
the Buddhist goddess White Tara that was on display in a
Madison Avenue gallery in New York City. “We fell
in love with the painting – the composition, the coloring,
the dynamism, the absolute beauty of it,” says Donald
Rubin. The Rubins continued to purchase art that they loved
and were passionate about – “pieces that spoke
to us directly” – at auctions and galleries,
never intentionally setting out to assemble a museum collection.
“Donald has had the passion and the drive to collect,”
says Shelley Rubin. “I love the art, particularly
the mandalas, which convey a sense of order and peace, yet
have energy and beauty wrapped up in them.” She adds
that the couple felt a need to give back to the community
and that she wants to use the collection to bring people
together. A primary goal of the museum is to make the art
of the Himalayas accessible and relevant to Western viewers.
Donald Rubin believes that Himalayan art might alienate
people who are horrified by its depictions of death and
destruction and fierce deities. He would like those who
are not scholars to be able to understand the violent images.
In his preface to the catalog for Demonic Divine: Himalayan
Art and Beyond, Rubin explains that violent paintings
“are meant to aid us in our journey to understand
the nature of the heart, and beyond that to the hard work
of change.” In his own life, Rubin admits to being
influenced by the unspeakable loss of his father's
family during the Holocaust. He writes that followers of
the Himalayan traditions conquer their limitations by going
to war with their personal demons. “They are visualizations
of our own inner battle, and exhortations to victory.”
Top left: Guhyasamaja – Akshobhyavajra, Tibet, 1600-1699.
Top right: Lama (Teacher), Tibet, 1300-1399. Bottom left:
Mandala of Hevajra, Central Tibet, 1700-1799. Bottom right:
Vajrapani, Tibet, 1100-1199.
Rubin
Museum of Art
150 West 17th Street, NYC
212.620.5000; www.rmanyc.org
