Fred Balling's Afghan war rug
Cynically, one could note how many of the scholars in our vast number of publications are really major dealers. And yet many are sensitive people undeniably responsive to art and capable of conveying this in either role -- as dealer or scholar.
Vying with this group are "pure" scholars, who are few, and "pure" dealers, who are many. Among the latter there are a good number who will never take up a pen, but often have great gusto and drive.
Our third group, the "collectors", are, in my opinion, the least developed and most diverse of all. The state of "collecting", as I've witnessed it in ten years, has almost completely deteriorated. The often noted paucity of museum collections and displays, when major examples could be obtained overnight for little cost, bears witness to this whole state of affairs. In other words, the whole business of promoting a feeling for Oriental rugs is in the hands of dealers and scholars -- who are often one and the same!
Collectors generally fail because they just lack the scope and experience of certain dealers who see more than they see and have better financial judgment. Collectors hamper themselves with ego, anxiety about what to pay, personal dogma; and as a result few cohesive and worthy prlvate collections are ever formed to fill the museum void. In fact, many major commercial auction house sales easily exceed in quality the holdings of almost any museum or private collection many years in the making.
The state of "collecting" is usually aimless "accumulating". Ideally, the private collector should seek out the best sources and try to keep on top of them, as a dealer of quality does. He should also get publications, see other collectors, attend auctions etc. Instead, most collectors (even those with great means) almost always make aesthetic and financial fools of themselves.
Extending above all this, completely distinct from it, is the vaster drama of centuries of toil and evolution out of which rug art has been created. Down below, a few of us in our limited roles only occasionally do this art some justice.
Keith Rocklin
Los Angeles, CA
The significance of this piece lies in the transformation of traditional border figures -- boteh, leaf and tendril, split hair, blossoms, camels, into contemporary images -- armored personnel carriers, tanks, missile launchers, trucks, guided missiles, helicopter gunships and jet fighter-bombers. As for the repeat medallions in the field and the lily stalks linking them, their arrangement is clearly indicative of large high altitude aircraft emitting vapor trails. In every instance, the transformation is accomplished through shifting only a minimal number of knots to a new location. While the technical changes are minor, the net visual result is considerable.
| Fred Balling's Afghan war rug | |
Unlike in Turkey or India, for example, these images have not been found in imported rug literature or Time magazine; instead they are taken from the immediate environment and rendered with the greatest economy. Historically, new imagery in oriental weavings has arrived with invaders who become consumers, but I can hardly imagine exile Balouchi weavers in Pakistan or Iran creating rugs for the Soviet (military) tourist market.
Even while this rug draws our attention to the hardware of warfare and the banality of these killing machines, we still can take some esthetic pleasure in seeing into the creative mind of a weaver trying to exist and work under the greatest duress. The ironic brilliance of these visual conceits is dazzling.
Fred Balling
Cornwall, CT
I have not seen such modern totemic symbolism in textiles since my excursions to the Far East in the post-World War II era, when the local natives (perhaps emulating the cargo cult mentality) busily stitched and embroidered pillows, short jackets, and even robes with the names of great warriors and war chiefs, i.e., U.S.S. Ticondaroga, U.S.S. Oklahoma, "Live Free, Or Die," etc.
 |  |
I hope to return to Konya later this winter, where, if I am fortunate, I will be admitted further into their inner mysteries.
Saul Yale Barodofsky
Charlottesville, VA
Dear Sirs,
I was very pleased to receive my copy of your first issue in the new format. Bravo! I also applaud your determination to cover the major auctions in some detail. For someone at a distance like myself, it provides a much needed feel for the market.
Particularly pleasing was the rug you choose for your first color cover. It is in our collection having been purchased from James Opie some years ago.
James B. Henderson
Houston, TX
