ISSUE 144 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006

CONTENTS & EDITORIAL

17 | LETTERS Karakalpak remembered; fakes and half truths.

19 | NEWS Prammer kilims in Linz; new de Young director.

21 | MARKET REPORT Focus on the lively rug and textile scene in Milan.

23 | OUTLOOK Susan Scollay reports from Australia.

27 | PREVIEW Exhibitions: Indonesian ikats; Batak textiles; Anatolian rugs. Conferences: ACOR Boston

38 | CALENDAR Auctions, exhibitions, fairs and conferences.

41 | GALLERY House style advertisements.

47 | BOOKS Reviews ofAnimal Myth and Magic; Mantles of Merit andMarokko/Morocco Mon Amour.

51 | WORKSHOP A unique carpet restoration venture in Izmir.

53 | FORUM Stefano Ionescu gives a Transylvanian update.

54 | THE CULT OF THE SEA Vanessa Drake Moraga Marine imagery in Pre-Columbian textiles.

58 | FROM THE FRONTIER Unknown Ottoman Embroideries Gerard Paquin In search of the origin of a cluster of previously unknown silk embroideries.

70 | THE POINT OF RED Penny Oakley Ottoman velvets from a private collection.

76 | SPLENDOURS OF THE SONS OF HEAVEN Chinese carpets from the recent Cologne show.

101 | REVIEW Exhibitions: Asian Art; Wari textiles;Queen Isabella; Ottoman costume; propaganda textiles; early felts; kilims. Exhibitions: SNY carpets.

115 | AUCTION PRICE GUIDE Highlights from the London and NY sales.

121 | DESIGN FILE The meaning of ‘Ziegler’.

125 | MODERN CARPET FOCUS Aspecial advertorial section.

147 | NETWORK Classified advertisements.

153 | PROFILE The avid art collector from Texas, Bill Price.

154 | PARTING SHOTS From Cologne and Washington DC.

156 | ON THE MARKET Central Asian ikats over $5,000.

Iwas recently in Washington DC for my first Textile Museum Convention (21-23 October 2005). It was preceded by a dinner at which Jack Lenor Larsen, the well-known American textile designer, was presented with the inaugural George Hewitt Myers Award in recognition of his contribution to the textile arts. The dinner was perhaps the most enjoyable event of its kind that I have ever attended. This was due in good part to the professionalism of the TM organisers, but I was also impressed by the eloquence of the speeches made by TM Director Dan Walker and Jack Larsen himself, both of whom spoke enthusiastically about inspiration, creativity and the ability of beautiful textiles to excite and engage people. These sentiments united the two hundred plus audience and are certainly at the heart of this award, as well as underpinning the museum’s mission. The evening was enjoyable for another reason: for me it was a first to dine out with a large and diverse group of people united by a common interest outside the context of a conference, exhibition or fair. The TM should be commended for taking a lead in recognising and celebrating people who have made exceptional contributions to our field. As well as promoting standards, it demonstrates a commitment to developing a wider audience for the textile arts and encouraging a new generation of researchers to enter the subject area – a task that we at HALI share. When it was first mooted, some TM Trustees had considered the late Robert Pinner a likely recipient of the award, and there are similarities between Larsen and Pinner’s contributions. Both adopted a simple, logical, scientific approach to understanding their material, seeking to codify structure, deconstruct design and define function. Their work illustrates the method of analysis and interpretation that meaningful future research should pursue in rug and textile studies. For Pinner, who had a background in metallurgy, these tools allowed him to build groups around which he defined different rug types. For Larsen, who trained as an architect, an understanding of textiles allowed him to create the fabrics most appropriate for their particular context in an interior. The convention itself, on ‘The Japanese Style and the Culture of Cloth’, was just as instructive. The success of any event of this kind should be measured by its ability to interest and inform, and in my case can be quantified by the amount of ideas and new material I was able to bring back to London. By this measure I look forward to next year’s convention, when I hope to see a larger European contingent and more representatives of the carpet and textile trade. Ben Evans

THE COVER

Floating Shrimp, Wari Culture, Huarmey Valley, Peru, ca. 6001000 AD. Camelid wool; tapestry technique, 18 x 23 cm (7" x 9"). Fishing has always been the major occupation of people living along the Pacific coast of Peru. Over the millennia, Andean fishermen developed their own way of life, customs, dances, forms of celebration, and even their own language. Estuaries, rivers, beaches and the ocean itself were brimming with crustaceans, and the trade between the coast and the Andean Highlands in dried shrimp and other marine products such as fish and seaweed, was a cornerstone of the pre-Columbian economy. As with the many Nasca embroideries depicting water birds with shrimp or crayfish in their beaks, this design from a Wari tunic, is suggestive of clouds of shrimp floating amid shafts of refracted underwater light, evokes and celebrates this vital resource. Private collection

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