this weekend was the grand opening of the rubin museum of himalayan art in nyc. on the corner of 7th ave and 17th streets. there were some great performances on saturday, including an intense throat singer from mongolia and a terrific naachne gurung couple. was anyone else there?

Palpali Gaule ji: I was not there but I did hear about the new museum. Did they have a significant number of art/artifact pieces from Nepal? What do you think of the collection itself?

One museum I have been interested in is the one on Staten Island--Jacques Marchais Museum which apparently houses the second largest collection of Tibetan Art outside of Tibet. Would certainly love to visit there.

the museum's collection was impressive and it is definitely worth checking out, but it was almost entirely thangka paintings. and they were beautiful and exquisite, but i was really hoping and expecting to see more statues and idols. and almost the entire collection was religious (buddhist) art, which is wonderful, but that is neglecting quite a lot- including the awesome idols of the hindu gods (of which there were only a few) and the beautiful newari woodcarving and craftsmanship. it was also strange to see all of these sacred objects in a museum, out of their religious context and the purpose for which they were originally intended. and i can't help but wonder how these wealthy rubin people got a hold of so many tibetan thangkas. perhaps it's better that they are in a nyc museum as opposed to having been destroyed by the chinese government. but ideally, shouldn't they be in tibet?!?!

you might also want to check out the newark museum in nj if you haven't already. they have a pretty hyped up collection of tibetan work as well, including a small altar which was, apparently, consecrated by hh the dalai lama. i have heard that the one on staten island is wonderful, but i have yet to go there myself.