Current Exhibition Resources

The Rubin Museum of Art is dedicated to enhancing our visitors' appreciation and understanding of Himalayan art with stimulating and interactive educational tools located throughout the galleries.

Featured Exhibition Resource


Modernist Art from India: Radical Terrain Website

Timeline thumbnail Explore an interactive website featuring contemporary artists and their works within the exhibition.
Launch Website

 

Current Audio Tours

Explore Areas: Exhibition Exploration Resources

Museum Guides, Docents, and Tours

Current Audio Tours

Gateway to Himalayan Art

Download from iTunesU

This keystone exhibition equips visitors with a working knowledge of the principal concepts of Himalayan art.

Masterworks: Jewels of the Collection

Download from iTunesU

This audio tour takes visitors through the museum's most stunning works of art. The guide will compare the stylistic diversity and relationships between various strands of Himalayan artistic traditions.

Fiercely Modern-Art of the Naga Warrior

Download from iTunesU

 This audio tour discusses the vivid works of art and aesthetic culture of the Naga.

Modernist Art from India: Radical Terrain

 Download from iTunesU

This audio tour for the exhibition, Radical Terrain, features contemporary artists who participated in the exhibition discussing modern Indian artwork.


Spanish Audio Tour-Gateway To Himalayan Art

Download from iTunesU

This audio tour explores the exhibition Gateway to Himalayan Art for Spanish speakers.  

Verbal Description Audio Tour-Gateway to Himalayan Art

Download from iTunesU

This verbal description audio tour is for the exhibition Gateway to Himalayan Art.

Living Shrines of Uyghur China: Photographs by Lisa Ross

Download from iTunesU

 This podcast interview with artist Lisa Ross discusses her featured work at the Rubin Museum of Art and describes her eight-year exploration in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. 

Spiral Wall

For millennia, Asia’s vast Himalayan region, which stretches from present-day Afghanistan to Myanmar, has supported a vibrant cultural exchange between the people of India, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, China, and Mongolia. Expressions of this diversity and interaction are featured in this display of the Rubin Museum’s collection.

Many of these works were gifts to the museum from its founders, Shelley and Donald Rubin, whose contributions form the core of a collection that continues to grow. Their generosity, and that of many others whose gifts continue to enrich and expand the collection, make the Rubin Museum the preeminent institution for the display and interpretation of the art of Himalayan Asia. We hope that this small selection will encourage you to explore the museum galleries and plan a future visit.

Explore Areas:
Exhibition Exploration Resources

Gateway to Himalayan Art

Gateway to Himalayan Art introduces visitors to the art of the Himalayan cultural sphere, presenting the major concepts comprehensively and equipping visitors with the tools to understand, appreciate and contextualize many of the works of art throughout the museum's six floors of galleries. Along with the exhibition are educational interactives that will help refine the tools given.

Looking Guide

This Looking Guide booklet is designed to help visitors recognize common symbols and important figures that can be seen in the art throughout the museum.

Educational Interactives   ↓

Explore a Tibetan scroll painting, known as a thangka and how lineage of Buddhist teachers play an important role in understanding the Buddhist religion and its practice.

Explore Lineage Paintings

Explore Mandalas

Explore Narrative Paintings

Explore Wheel of Existence

 

Additional Resources   ↓

 

Masterworks: Jewels of the Collection

As an exhibition the Masterworks: Jewels of the Collection showcases the stylistic diversity and relationships between various strands of Himalayan and neighboring cultural and artistic traditions.  Within Explore Areas visitors can experience the following written literature and use hands-on interactives for further informitive information about the museum's collection.

Educational Interactives   ↓

Reading List   ↓

Additional Resources   ↓

 

Modernist Art from India: Radical Terrain

Approaching Abstraction examines works of Indian art from the early 1940s to the mid-1980s, ranging from traditionalist representations of Indian representations of the metaphysical "man" to the socially and politically charged narrative representations that predominated in the 1980s.

 

Educational Interactives   ↓

Timeline thumbnail Timeline: The Modernist Art Movement from India

Explore an interactive timeline discussing the Modernist Art movement and the historical events that helped shaped the art in India through photographs and videos.   Launch Interactive

Radical Terrain Website
Explore an interactive website featuring contemporary artists and their works within the exhibition.
Launch Website

Reading List   ↓

Lisi Raskin: Mobile Observation
by Raskin, Wilson, Lind, and Scardi

Janaina Tschape: 100 Little Deaths
by Francois Quintin and Michael Reade

Seher Shah: Jihad Pop
by Tom Finkelpearl, Peter Nagy

Isca Greenfield-Sanders: Against the Fall
by Trinnie Dalton

Byron Kim: Dark
by Mark Dow and David Hinton

Additional Resources   ↓

 

 

What's an Explore Area?

Located in each gallery, Explore Areas provide a wealth of age-appropriate background information and interpretive materials that complement the art on display.  Installations include: multimedia stations for relevant websites and documentary films; a display of the materials and techniques involved in the creation of Himalayan paintings; interactive activities that utilize concepts found in the exhibitions; and guided viewing and hands-on opportunities to enable visitors to learn about the art, culture, and history of the Himalayas through differentiated methods. 

  • Directions
  • By Subway
  • A, C and E to 14th Street (8th Avenue)
  • 1 to 18th Street (7th Avenue)
  • 1, 2, 3 to 14th Street (7th Avenue)
  • F and M to 14th Street (6th Avenue)
  • L to 14th Street (6th Avenue)
  • N, R, Q, 4, 5 and 6 to 14th Street Union Square
  • By Bus
  • M6, M7, or M20 to the corner of 7th Avenue and 18th Street.
  • M5, M6, or M7 to the corner of 6th Avenue and 18th Street.
  • Parking
  • There is a 24-hour parking lot on the corner of 17th Street and 6th Avenue. In addition, there are parking garages along 17th Street going towards Union Square.
  • Hours
  • Monday: 11 a.m – 5 p.m.
  • Tuesday: Closed
  • Wednesday: 11 a.m – 7 p.m.
  • Thursday: 11 a.m – 5 p.m.
  • Friday: 11 a.m – 10 p.m.
  • Saturday and Sunday: 11 a.m – 6 p.m.

  • The museum is closed on Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year’s Day.

  • The Café and the Shop are open during the museum hours.

  • To find out more about our tours
    view our Tours page.
  • Accessibility
  • The Rubin Museum of Art strives to meet the needs of all visitors. For information about general accessibility and special programs at the museum, view our Accessibility page.
  • Admissions
  • Adults - $10.00
  • Seniors 65+ - $5.00
  • Students 13+ - $5.00
  • Children (12 and younger) - Free
  • Museum members - Free
  • Gallery admission is free every Friday from 6-10 p.m.
  • Gallery admission is free for seniors (65 and older) on the first Monday of every month.

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