The mission of the Himalayan Art Resources website (HAR) is to create a comprehensive education and research database and virtual museum of Himalayan art:
First, the website exhibits images of art from museum, university and private collections throughout the world.
Second, the website documents all Himalayan art objects that are known through past or present collections or publications.
Third, the database identifies and catalogues all images (comprised of painting, sculpture, ritual objects, murals, etc.). When an object image is not available for lack of permission from the copyright holder, the database uses a place card image. Book cover images are used for publications and generic place cards for collections.
Fourth, the Himalayan Art Resources website owns no actual or material art. The only image rights, photographs, scans, etc, which are owned by the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation (Foundation) are those material artworks (photographed) and owned, or previously owned, by the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation.
Other organizations, museums, institutions, and individuals may also co-own, or have their own images of those same images appearing as owned by the Shelley & Donald Foundation on the Himalayan Art Resources website. All other images on the Foundation site belong to the individual institutions, museums, private collections and individuals that have loaned their images to the Himalayan Art Resources Website.