This essay considers how Himalayan art is defined today, how it got to be demarcated in this manner, and how it has been investigated in the past. My postulations are trifold. First, Himalayan art as a discrete domain of scholarly inquiry emerged in Western Europe and India in the nineteenth century and crystallized as a subfield in these regions over the long twentieth century. Second, the subfield’s early development was connected to competing outside interests to map and remould the region’s economic, political, and cultural landscape. Third, the burgeoning of Himalayan art as a scholarly subfield today may be linked to the efforts of many stakeholders with varied interests. Interdisciplinary teams of specialists who are assiduously documenting, interpreting, and conserving historical landscapes in the mountain range are one influential subset of stakeholders. Auctioneers – who are just as eager in sustaining the interest of potential buyers in finely crafted portable artefacts as they are in wanting to avoid wading into the troubled waters of unsettled political boundaries and the illicit trade in artefacts – are another powerful subset of stakeholders.

中文翻译：

---

折叠和断层：“喜马拉雅艺术”的形成

这篇文章考虑了今天喜马拉雅艺术是如何定义的，它是如何以这种方式划分的，以及过去如何对其进行研究。我的假设是三重的。首先，喜马拉雅艺术作为一个离散的学术研究领域出现于 19 世纪的西欧和印度，并在漫长的 20 世纪具体化为这些地区的一个子领域。其次，该子领域的早期发展与外部利益竞争有关，以绘制和重塑该地区的经济、政治和文化景观。第三，今天喜马拉雅艺术作为学术子领域的蓬勃发展可能与许多具有不同兴趣的利益相关者的努力有关。跨学科的专家团队，他们孜孜不倦地记录、解释、保护山脉中的历史景观是利益相关者的一个有影响力的子集。拍卖师——他们既渴望维持潜在买家对精巧便携手工艺品的兴趣，又希望避免涉足不稳定的政治边界和手工艺品非法贸易的困境——是另一个强大的利益相关者子集。