A Decade of Eastern Art: Rubin Museum of Art Celebrates 10 Years Serving the Public

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Rebecca Bratburd

17th-18th century statue of Virupaksha, the Guardian King of the West.

NEW YORK---At the Rubin Museum of Art's 10th anniversary celebration, designer and actor Waris Ahluwalia excitedly showed his friends the way to his favorite statue in the museum's permanent collection. On Thursday night, Shelley and Donald Rubin celebrated the 10th anniversary of the museum with Mr. Ahluwalia and about 650 other guests. In 1998, the Rubins founded the museum to share the art and beauty of the East with New York. It opened to the public in 2004. "The idea was bigger than the space," Ms. Rubin said. "It's very hard to turn your mind back, but China really was alien then. It was barely on anybody's radar. We grow up with Monet, Gauguin and Renoir; we all have a sense of understanding it, even knowing nothing about it. This art nobody knows." [link]