Vol. X, No. 4 Mar. 20, 2003
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View from the Fringe Newsletter of the New England Rug Society Vol. X, No. 4 March 20, 2003 www.ne-rugsociety.org April Meeting: Bertram Frauenknecht on ‘Collecting Through the Eyes of a Dealer” Our next meeting is co-sponsored by Skinner, on whose Boston premises it will take place. Our Next Meeting Details speaker will be Bertram Frauenknecht, a well known Date: Friday, April 4 rug dealer and scholar based in Munich, Germany. Time: 6 PM. PLEASE NOTE EARLY He specializes in tribal weavings with particular START! fondness for the Shahsavan. See his website at www.frauenknecht.com for information on his pub- Place: Skinner, Heritage on the Park, lications, exhibitions, and inventory. 63 Park Plaza, Boston, MA In his talk, Bertram will address the questions Pkng: Street and neighboring lots and garages of what characterizes a world-class rug and what are the criteria that collectors use to choose their acqui- and their cultures. One thing led to another, and sitions. Based on his own experiences as a collector before long he found his avocation in the field of and dealer, he will show how collections develop oriental rugs. After accumulating a small (about 20 and change as the collector becomes educated, of- pieces) collection of his own, he decided that he ten under the guidance of dealers. His slogan is: could best finance this hobby by establishing his own “Only through knowledge can you open your eyes rug gallery in Nürnberg, Germany. By 1980 he de- and see!” cided that collecting and selling were incompatible: Bertram’s academic fields of study were chem- clients always assumed that he was withholding the istry and biology, which he taught for three years. best pieces from them, so he gave up collecting. He However, shortly after graduating he made the ac- moved to Munich in 1999. quaintance of some rug collectors. He also started Attendees arriving before the meeting (note traveling in the Middle East (Iran, Afghanistan in early start!) will be able to view Skinner’s offer- the 70s and Turkey in the 80s), attracted by the people ings for the next day’s rug auction. May Meeting: Picnic, Show & Tell, and Moth Market On Saturday, May 10, our annual Show & Tell Participate in our moth market. We are in- meeting will get underway at noon, starting with a viting our members, dealers or not, to bring a few picnic in a delightful outdoor setting. It will again things for sale, and we’ll hold our own small infor- take place in a finished old barn situated on an ex- mal flea market (moth market in ruggie terms). In panse of rural acreage adjacent to the Concord River case of inclement weather, we’ll move things indoors. in Concord, MA. It’ll be a great setting, rain or shine. Share up to two of your treasures. Please limit Here’s how it will work: yourself to two pieces for the Show & Tell session. Bring your own picnic. Pack up your own That way we’ll keep the event from becoming an munchies, and we’ll provide the beverages, includ- overly-long marathon. So load up your most spec- ing soft drinks, coffee, tea, beer, and wine. If you tacular recent (or not so recent) finds and you’ll have can, bring a blanket or a lawnchair or two to make plenty of time to share them with the group. things comfortable. We’ll provide tables and chairs. See directions on page 10. We need your help with the second NERS on-line exhibition! See page 11 Page 2 View from the Fringe February Meeting: Bethany Mendenhall and Charles Lave: “Out of the Cedar Chest” By Yon Bard It’s mid-afternoon on Friday, February seventh. • Photographers are always advised to place Eight inches have already settled on the ground and the main subject off-center. it’s still snowing heavily. No way can there be an • Measurements have shown that brain-waves NERS meeting tonight! I call Mark to check. “We’ll persists longer when a person is shown an asymmet- hold the meeting come hell or high water” he says. I ric composition than a symmetric one. can see his point: not only have Bethany and Rich- • Charles’s love for symmetric pieces simply ard traveled all the way from California; they have does not last. sent a cedar-chest full of rugs ahead of them for show- Often, Charles prefers fragments to complete ing and telling; they must catch a plane tomorrow; rugs. “Whole rug would be boring; fragment has how can we possibly not hold the meeting? everything.” Fragments’ advantages are numerous: By 7 PM things are looking a mite better. It has they cost less, take up less room, and, perhaps best stopped snowing and the main roads have been made of all, a fragment is likely to be asymmetrically pat- passable. The Armenian Library is only a mile from terned, even when the complete rug sports a sym- our house—we, at least, will make it. Will anyone metric design. While somewhat sympathetic to this else? view, I do worry that if too many people accept it, The hubbub of voices grows louder as we climb dealers will cut up all their rugs to be sold as frag- the stairs to the third floor. Surprise! More than ments (a strategy rumored to be already practiced by thirty people have shown up, some even from re- some dealers). mote suburbs. The food and drinks have been set It is impossible for me to describe each of out. Bethany and Charles are pulling their treasures Charles’s (and this goes for Bethany’s too) pieces out of the chest—all is going to be well. individually. The accompanying illustrations show Bethany and Charles constitute a self-pro- some of their favorites: “Primitivity and naiveté are claimed rarity: a married couple with separate rug good,” says Charles. The pieces mostly date from collections. Fortunately, both of them collect mainly the 19th century and hail from Central Anatolia, i.e., Anatolian rugs, so they can travel to Turkey to- the Konya and Cappadocia regions, but some are gether—something they do frequently. Fortunately, from the west (Bergama and environs). Many were too, their specific interests differ, which helps main- Kurdish, and there was one Baluch—a piece tain domestic peace. There is some overlap, though, sprinkled haphazardly with quirky botehs. Most were which means that when they visit a dealer and one pile, but there were some kilims. A yastik (pillow- of them spots a piece he or she likes, but suspects cover) with a particularly asymmetric design formed the other one would too, they yell “dibs!” to estab- a bridge to Bethany’s pieces with its hint of the ‘glow- lish precedence. worm’ design. At our meeting, Charles went first, showing his Charles exercises great care in the mounting of pieces and explaining his collecting philosophy. The fragments and other heavily damaged pieces. The latter is dominated by an attraction to asymmetry and background material must match the piece’s domi- quirkiness. As proofs for the proposition that asym- nant color, and a narrow border should bring out one metry is esthetically superior, Charles cites the fol- of the auxiliary colors. lowing arguments: Then it was Bethany’s turn. Her tastes vacil- • The flyers for various rug exhibitions show late between instinct and rationality, between “heart asymmetric pieces (or at least asymmetric portions pieces” and “head pieces.” Pieces appeal because of pieces) on their covers. Continued on page 3 Page View from the Fringe 3 February Meeting: “Out of the Cedar Chest” Continued from page 2 What does one do with so many treasures? of color, character, and composition (there are those Twenty or so can be hung on the walls, the rest are “C’ words again!). But other reasons may also trig- kept in the closet (cedar chest?) and the display is ger an acquisition: The Head is interested in ethnog- periodically rotated. raphy and in relationships to other pieces in the col- This was the kind of show that makes me won- lection; the Heart experiences greed (“somebody else der why I haven’t been collecting those things all wanted it”—may even have been Charles); pity— along. Now it’s too late: Bethany and Charles have need to give a piece a good home; “last rug in the them all. Those of us who braved the weather have world” syndrome (I’ll never find another one like been more than amply rewarded; those who missed it!); “best of the lot” (can I leave a dealer who has the show will, most likely, get another chance in April turned over a dozen huge piles of rugs without buy- 2004 at the ACOR conference in Seattle. ing something?); “eye candy”—it’s simply too pretty We thank our speakers for their extraordinary to leave unbought; things that just appeal—“funky effort in putting this show together, and ALMA for things with character;” and, above all, pieces with hosting it! ‘color, color, color!” Top, left to right (Bethany): Central Anatolian rug (mounted fragment), early 19c, 36" x 57" Bergama area rug, late 19c, 36" x 38" East Anatolian Kurdish yastik, 19c, 22" x 33" Bottom, left to right (Charles): Manastir rug (mounted fragment), 19c, 35" x 35" Malatya area kilim, 19c, 43" x 68 Page 4 View from the Fringe Two Dozen Recent Rug Books Worth Knowing About By Mark Hopkins There have been many new books on oriental pp, and The Kyrgyz Carpet II, by L.