Himalayan Art Resources

HAR History

Introduction | Fifteen Major Improvements | Fifteen Facts About HAR

The Himalayan Art Resources website (HAR) was created by The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation in 1997 with a vision of creating a comprehensive education and research database of Himalayan Art. Since that time the website has grown to include over 100,000 images from hundreds of public and private collections throughout the world. As a result, Himalayan Art Resources serves as the leading resource for Himalayan art research, education and appreciation.

In the first phase of the organization's development, HAR was called The Tibet Art Project and used the url tibetart dot com. The url and name were changed in 2001 to Himalayan Art Project, and then again in 2004 to the Himalayan Art Resources maintaining the current url, http://www.himalayanart.org. This title change reflected better the mission and the large number of countries, traditions, religions, and ethnic communities represented on the website.

Under the leadership and direction of Jeff Watt, who has been with HAR since April 1998, the organization has been supported by the work of three full-time archive, research, and administrative employees including Head of Research, Karma Gelek, Head of Photography, Simon Chantasirivasal, and Head of Outreach and Administration, Tenzin Dharlo.

As of May 1st, 2015 HAR established itself as a not-for-profit 501 c 3 registered corporation, Himalayan Art Resources Inc., in the state of Delaware, USA. HAR from the beginning was a project made possible by the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation. From 1997 until April 30th 2015 HAR was solely funded by the Rubin Foundation. As of May 1st 2015 the new corporation and its Board of Directors assumed full responsibility of HAR.

Himalayan Art Resources is indebted to the many individuals who have supported its development and continued growth. These individuals are too many to name, however, a few individuals must be mentioned here because of the integral role they played in the formation of the project and the contributions they have made to the vision for its future. This includes (alphabetical):
Ben Brinkley,
Keith Bush,
Pema Choephel,
Khedup Gyatso,
Lee Hartline,
Chris Haskett,
Asha Kaufman,
Monty McKeever,
Ariana Maki,
Moke Mokotoff,
Angela Powell,
David Pritzker,
Evie Rich,
Michelle Saferstein,
Jane Casey Singer,
Gene Smith
Melody Ward,
and Chris Wilkinson,
along with the two web development firms Comvision and Singlebrook.

Jeff Watt, December 19th, 2013 [Updated May 22nd 2015, 9-2020]