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99' Teppiche- The Cremer Collection: Gabbeh, Baluchi & Tibetan Rugs
Book by Gantzhorn, Volkma
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1997
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March 18, 2024
This is a first for me to pan a quality rug book like this, but as I read it I repeatedly feel something is off with this book. Maybe it's the English translation which is throwing me off (original is in German), but I really don't think so.
The first red flag for me was discovering that this collection of rugs (80% of which are gabbehs) had been amassed - from the very first rug ever purchased by the collector! - in a mere 12 to 18 months (bought, shown in a major museum and published in a fancy book all within this narrow time frame), and then that the rugs themselves didn't do much for me (just a few of the Ghashghai and Luri gabbehs and the few non-gabbeh Baluchi rugs being the exception), and finally that some of the writing just seemed weird (inflated, grandiose and bizarre), such as stating that felt is way more practical and durable for floor coverings than pile rugs (which is only true in that they are easier to produce, cheaper/more expendable and thus more often used this way by the common village/nomadic family), and the claim that ALL pile rugs originated from Armenian weavers - either directly or indirectly through their influence, which may well be true, but it's the first I've ever heard of it, and seems a bit obsessive to claim. So, it leaves me thinking this is the product of a well connected collector/family who had a very strong sense of themself.
As one of the writers says in one of the intros, these rugs are not "art" (because as a material culture they are practical and traditional and not self expressionary), but that the collection itself, the way it was gathered, how it is curated and presented IS art.... which is frankly very insulting to the weavers! And yet the very first line in the book begins with this wonderful quote by a Farsi woman, "Gabbehs? They are our art, what we weave for our own feet." And then the book goes on to explain that most gabbehs (including those here) are meant for bed and not floor coverings....
On the plus side this IS a quality book and the accompanying text and photos do a good job of presenting the collection for what it is (mostly 20th century gabbeh rugs which seem very much what the average rural household would have - ie. mostly plain and very simple geometric designs which really look much more universal than regionally or tribally distinct).
The first red flag for me was discovering that this collection of rugs (80% of which are gabbehs) had been amassed - from the very first rug ever purchased by the collector! - in a mere 12 to 18 months (bought, shown in a major museum and published in a fancy book all within this narrow time frame), and then that the rugs themselves didn't do much for me (just a few of the Ghashghai and Luri gabbehs and the few non-gabbeh Baluchi rugs being the exception), and finally that some of the writing just seemed weird (inflated, grandiose and bizarre), such as stating that felt is way more practical and durable for floor coverings than pile rugs (which is only true in that they are easier to produce, cheaper/more expendable and thus more often used this way by the common village/nomadic family), and the claim that ALL pile rugs originated from Armenian weavers - either directly or indirectly through their influence, which may well be true, but it's the first I've ever heard of it, and seems a bit obsessive to claim. So, it leaves me thinking this is the product of a well connected collector/family who had a very strong sense of themself.
As one of the writers says in one of the intros, these rugs are not "art" (because as a material culture they are practical and traditional and not self expressionary), but that the collection itself, the way it was gathered, how it is curated and presented IS art.... which is frankly very insulting to the weavers! And yet the very first line in the book begins with this wonderful quote by a Farsi woman, "Gabbehs? They are our art, what we weave for our own feet." And then the book goes on to explain that most gabbehs (including those here) are meant for bed and not floor coverings....
On the plus side this IS a quality book and the accompanying text and photos do a good job of presenting the collection for what it is (mostly 20th century gabbeh rugs which seem very much what the average rural household would have - ie. mostly plain and very simple geometric designs which really look much more universal than regionally or tribally distinct).
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