What Herrmann has given over the years is lots of beautiful rugs from all the weaving regions of the world to look at and study. By publishing these volumes he not only has recorded his own taste of what is best but also established an international standard for others to follow.
X reflects the changes which have taken place over the years not only in Herrmann's values but in those of the Oriental rug collecting world in general. It is perhaps indicative that the item on the cover is an embroidery, not an orietteppiche! And this divergence is reflected in the catalog itself for it contains embroideries from Turkey, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. But most significant, we feel, is the inclusion of numerous kilims. We have not counted the number of kilims published in prior volumes but in X they seem for the fIrst time to have emerged as weavings equal to pile rugs.
Perhaps Herr Herrmann's greatest contribution has been to elevate the Oriental rug as an art form to an equal level with abstract painting. Time and again one sees this aesthetic propounded in X. In flipping through this volume, these pieces caught our attention: Plate 22, West Anatolian kilim; Plate 36, Kuba rug; Plate 61, Lori saddle cover; Plate 97; Ersari rug; Plate 117, Tibetan rug; and Plate 125, Chinese rug.
None of these pieces is a typical Oriental rug. Plate 61, a saddle rug, for example, has a plain blue field with a bright red triangle of color floating in it. We understand that at the auction in which the rug was acquired it was called the "Marilyn Monroe rug" because this diamond so closely resembled her lips. The red pile is higher than the rest of the pile in the weaving. It's better than an Andy Warhol painting.
That is not equally true of Plate 97. An anomaly for a rug collector, it is a deviant in the lattice group of Ersari rugs. Herrmann publishes this rug vertically; it would have been more impressive presented horizontally, which is the way the flatwoven rugs to which it relates have always been published. But it is so different in concept and pattern that it is effective either way. An element of Herrmann's aesthetic is shown in the amount of ivory ground space used to set off the design elements. It further illustrates another Herrmann aesthetic, the selection of a rug which does not fit into the static "ethnographic" style of its type.
Why is Herrmann ending this series? Like many of us, he is tired. It not only takes money but energy to produce books like this. It means planning and writing a text. Rugs which could have been sold months earlier must be held off the market until the October show. August, the month for holiday in Europe has been devoted to writing a catalog rather than enjoying the Majorcan beaches.
The pieces illustrated in Herrmann X may represent the last group of rugs of this quality that can be assembled by a dealer on an annual basis. Comparable pieces are appearing less often in today's market, and the next generation of collectors will begin focusing on those unusual weavings of the early 20th century.
Herr Herrmann is not ending his publications, only changing the way in which he publishes his inventory. He will continue to publish catalogs for specific exhibits but not under the same pressures of time and quality as these volumes have demanded.
Many of these volumes have included essays in German which many readers have missed; X contains an essay by Herrmann on "The Abstract Animal Style, a Theory for Carpet Design of Western and Middle Asia." In early volumes the text was offered in both German and English, but in later ones it was published in German only; we have been critical of this limitation as Herr Herrmann is a dealer who strives to be the most important international rug dealer. His ideas are therefore known only to German-speaking readers.
As with the earlier volumes, this is a book any rug collector will want. It should be available from most specialty rug book dealers for approximately $80.
