Gateway to Himalayan Art

Gateway to Himalayan Art is a traveling exhibition for colleges and universities, based on the Rubin Museum of Art’s cornerstone exhibition of the same name that introduces the main forms, concepts, meanings, and traditions of Himalayan art. It is part of the Rubin’s multi-part educational initiative Project Himalayan Art: a resource that aims to support the inclusion of Tibetan, Himalayan, and Inner Asian art and cultures into undergraduate teaching on Asia.

Traveling Gateway is a flexible, scalable exhibition designed to meet the needs of diverse educational institutions. It serves as an entry point to the three integrated components of the project (exhibition, publication, and digital platform), highlighting a thematic approach for teaching and engagement with objects. Traditional scroll paintings (thangka), sculpture in various media, and ritual objects comprise the diverse range of what is on view. Among the featured installations are in-depth displays that explain the process of Nepalese lost-wax metal casting and the stages of Tibetan thangka painting. Multi-media features developed for this traveling exhibition include videos of art making and religious practice, voices of the Himalayan community that highlight the living tradition, plus an integrated digital platform that offers rich contextual material to dive deeper.

The exhibition will travel to eight college and university museums across the country through 2026.

Learn more about the traveling exhibition.

Curated by Elena Pakhoutova

EXHIBITION SCHEDULE

Spring 2023: Lehigh University Art Galleries, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA

Fall 2023: McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston, Massachusetts

Spring 2024: Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

Fall 2024: Frank Museum of Art, Otterbein University, Westerville, Ohio

Spring 2025: Utah Museum of Fine Arts, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah

Fall 2025: AVAILABLE

Spring 2026: Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon

Fall 2026: USC Pacific Asia Museum, University of Southern California, Pasadena, California

Contact us if you are interested in bringing this exhibition to your university museum.

Leadership support for Project Himalayan Art is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation.

Project Himalayan Art has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.

This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Lead support is provided by the Ellen Bayard Weedon Foundation, Bob and Lois Baylis, Barbara Bowman, the E. Rhodes & Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, Noah P. Dorsky, Fred Eychaner, Christopher J. Fussner, Matt and Ann Nimetz, The Randleigh Foundation Trust, Shelley and Donald Rubin, and Jesse Smith and Annice Kenan.

Major support is provided by Daphne Hoch Cunningham and John Cunningham, Stephen and Sharon Davies, the Edward & Elizabeth Gardner Foundation, Mimi Gardner Gates, Hongwei Li, the Monimos Foundation, Edward O’Neill, The Prospect Hill Foundation, Sarah and Craig Richardson, Rossi & Rossi, the Andrew Sabin Family Foundation, Namita and Arun Saraf, Eric and Alexandra Schoenberg, Eileen Caulfield Schwab, UOVO, and Sandy Song Yan, and the Zhiguan Museum of Art.

Special Support is provided by:

Dr. Bibhakar Sunder Shakya, to honor the memory and legacy of Professor Dina Bangdel, art historian, curator, cultural activist, and educator from Nepal.

Samphe and Tenzin Lhalungpa, to honor the memory and works of L.P. Lhalungpa, Tibetan scholar, broadcaster, and educator.