The Arts in NYC Fall 2012

The Rubin Museum really doesn’t look like a museum from the outside.  Its extremely modern and the interior is covered with dark colors and wood.  Even with 6 floors, the Rubin Museum is pretty small.  The walls are covered with art and stone and metal sculptures.  I thought that there would be a variety of art but most of the pieces are Asian in origin.  The pieces included Tibetan, Mongolian and Indian art.  A lot of the art was religious depicting things like the “Four Mandalas of the Vajravali Cycle”, “Major Events of the Buddha’s Life” and “Great Hierarch”.  All of the art was extremely detailed even though it was created centuries ago.  For example, the “Great Hierarch” is covered with monastic robes that are etched with thin and detailed designs.  It can’t be seen from the picture but every inch of the inner robes has a constant pattern and is amazing.

The Rubin Museum has low lighting and the security guards work to keep the noise level down.  It’s very different from the Met.  Instead of high ceilings and bright lights, the Rubin has no windows on the upper floors and gives a more intimate feeling.  Most of the light is focused on the art and immediately places your attention on it. The museum gives free daily tours and the building is small so you can always hear people speaking or walking but the experience was still pretty nice.  All of the floors are connected by one spiral staircase in the center of ever floor.  Every floor was pretty similar with the exception of the art.  A lot of the art was from the 1400’s or earlier and were very well kept.  After Salma’s comments about how museums get the art in IDC, I really had to wonder where all of the pieces came from.  A lot of the pieces are small, especially the little sculptures but there were a lot.

Overall, I think that it was a very different experience and very interesting.