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Unusual and Overlooked: Antique Textiles from Central Asia
ACOR exhibition review by Raoul Tschebull, May 1st 2006
 This exhibition in the hotel at ACOR8 in Boston, 20-23/4/2006, was, for me, the
best of the lot, and they
were all pretty good. I was charmed by, among other
things, the familiar Turkmen pile-woven shapes in
other media, the huge variety of color, material,
format, and texture, and the very idea of "unusual and overlooked".
Indeed, the curator, Jeff Spurr, notes that while many of the pieces exhibited,
140 in total, are "manifestly beautiful", "the curious and
interesting" are given almost as much weight. They were produced at the end
of an era, about 100 years ago, not as tourist goods, but as part of the local
material cultures. The very volume of objects displayed gives a good view of a
bygone way of life.
It is very refreshing to hear an authority like Jeff
Spurr tout ethnographic art objects as 1) not very
very old, and 2) not necessarily finalists in a beauty
contest. There is an exhaustively researched catalogue, but
without illustrations. It is possible that it will be
reissued with plates of each piece.
In the meantime,
here are some images of pieces that caught my eye:
1) One of a pair of appliqued Yomud asmalyks; velvet,
wool broadcloth, white cotton, metal thread
2) A wall of felt bags, covers and yurt decorations.
The large black and red panel, one of three that would
have decorated a yurt on the outside or inside,
depending on the occasion, is spectacular.
3) Kamarbands, Lakai, Uzbek
4) Kirghiz mirror cover, felt applique, fringes
original
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5) Kirghiz part pile and pile-less warp-faced tentbands; unusual, beautiful. |
6) Lakai gadgeri, 6'5"X10'9", spectacular wool textile
made up of warp-faced bands with warp-substitution weave, sewn together horizontally.
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7) Lakai ilgitshes; a wall of these decorative bags;
the volume of ilgitshes shown gave considerable
perspective.
8) Lakai ilgitsh, exhibiting "tribal" sensibility
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Text and photos by Raoul Tschebull May 1st 2006, Tschebull
Antique Carpets
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