Coeval(ism)

How fast does an observation become an “ism”? Here’s an example of the kind of thing Max Allen correctly describes as coeval production: examples of carpets that are clearly made within the same environment, possibly by the same people or persons, with or without an antecedent. The first was this rug collected by Hans Werner Mohm in Kabul in 1992. It is reproduced as Plate 37 in his book (co-authored with Jurgen Wasim Frembgen) Lebensraum und Kalashnikow: Kreig und Frieden im Spiegel afghanisher Bildteppiche (2000).

By coincidence, we spotted the frayed corner of the second carpet peeking out from under about three other carpets in the doorway of a bazaar shop in Herat. It needed a wash.

Comparison of the similarities and differences reveals the extent to which such coeval production reflects the individual design decisions made by makers in close proximity with each other: colours, motifs, texts move around within the common schema of the abstracted map of Afghanistan. Both are dated 1989/90. If you compare the details from the bottom of the carpet upwards, you can see how the elements within the framework are varied by the maker(s). The Herat province (bottom center) can either be represented by buildings or camels, and so on up the design. It’s as if the process allows for a degree of creative freedom, in the hands of the makers.

Max Allen reviews Enrico Mascelloni: Beyond the West

We are pleased to publish the following review of Oltre l’Occidente – Rappresentazioni estreme nei tessuti orientali (2006), which has been the subject of earlier discussions on Rugs of War. Max Allen is the founding curator of the Textile Museum of Canada where, since 1975, he has curated more than 100 textile exhibitions. His review follows:

Exhibition catalogues are sometimes works of scholarship. This one isn’t. Instead it is a work of narrative imagination and polemics, and as such it is a far more striking object than most of the textiles within it. Aside from the fact that everything is from “The East” – as if that meant anything – there is no coherence to the collection, nor any discernible reason for assembling it.

more about war rug dates

Here’s the map of Afghanistan war rug referenced in earlier discussions. Thanks to Enrico for allowing us to publish it. It’s plate 55 in his catalogue and the date attributed by Enrico is 1960s/70s, following his argument in the comments below. It was purchased by Enrico in 2006 in Mazar-i-Sharif. The date woven in the rug is 1368/1989 (or 1990) and (thanks to Maryam Rashidi) the text in Farsi reads “made by Afghan immigrants, Islamic Republic of Iran”. The Islamic Republic of Iran was founded in 1979. So by our reasoning it was made some time between 1979 and 2005. The devil is in the detail…

a post-postmodern map of the world

Here’s an example of a “map of the world” rug where there’s no argument about the date! Except maybe it’s a little too prominent! See our earlier controversy about the attribution of dates to war rugs. In the 1980s and 90s many of the most interesting war rugs (and map rugs) were imported to London by the late Reuben and his son Yuda Ambalo. By Yuda’s account this example was the only map-of-the-world rug they actually commissioned (it’s huge, 3m x 5m) and when it arrived in London it was a great disappointment. Understandably. Beautifully made, but aesthetically morbid. The text in Farsi reads: “ordered by Ambalo, London, 1996″.

Two new war rug collection catalogues

Two new catalogues of Italian collections have been received by rugsofwar. The first, the collection of Amadeo Vittorio Bedini, in Milan, illustrates 28 war rugs. The text is in Italian, and together with Bedini the author Christen Ungennant illustrates the sources of many of the militaria elements in the carpets. The collection is mostly representative of fine examples of the second generation of war rugs (late 1980s and 1990s). We’re awaiting a translation before we can comment on the text. Vittorio assures me the AK47 on the cover illustration is a model!

The second is a wide ranging collection of textiles from the later decades of the 20th century, with 16 examples of war rugs illustrated and discussed (in both Italian and English) by the co-curator/editor/author (and perhaps collector) Erino Mascelloni, from Rome. The catalogue accompanies an exhibition that was held in Todi at the Sala delle Pietre e Monastero delle Lucrezie from December 2006 to February 2007. It’s not clear from the text from which collections these works are drawn, although all the discussions of the texts for war rugs are by Enrico Mascelloni, in a section titled “Asian Modernism”. The author makes a number of claims for an earlier time frame for “war rugs” than accepted by other scholars and collectors, or evidence available to us. He dates some of his “war rugs” back to the 1960s, in one case a rug (purchased in 2006) by interpreting an explicit date woven in the rug (1368/1989 or 1990) by the Turkish calendar! Many of the war rugs have similarly optimistic dates. I will review the text and some of its claims more comprehensively in a later post. The catalogue is published by Skira.

A second generation war rug

Each new discovery creates its own puzzles. This rug is characteristic of the early phase of refugee camp rugs in Pakistan marking the second generation of war rugs – dating from the late 1980s and continuing during the civil wars of the 1990s. This rug, sent by Rob Silcocks, a new reader of the blog, was found in an antique shop in Austin, where it has been sitting “for the last 15 years”. And from what you can tell from the photos, there’s some Turkmen influence in the framing pattern, and the modest kilim skirts. Which is consistent with other expatriate rugs produced in Pakistan in this era.

The texts, although somewhat scrambled, and maybe phoneticised, are revealing: “Made in Afghani refoji (refugee)” (twice) and “nojadim (?) Islami Afghanistan”, then in Farsi “Zendeh Baad, Afghanistan-e-Eslaami” (“Long Live Islamic Afghanistan”).

But then there is the question of the date: 1357 by the solar calendar is 1978 -79 AD, which is clearly not the date the rug was made, but refers to the time of the Saur revolution and the Soviet invasion. It seems to me that most rugs have dates inscribed in them are NOT the date in which they were made – a convention we might desire, but which is rarely substantiated. Some of these may be simply a case of mistaken inscription – instances of war rugs with pre-war dates will excite some theorists more than it should…

In our experience there are three kinds of dates:

1. Dates that make reference to an historical incident – sometimes substantiated by other texts, the date in European numerals, or other visual clues. However dates such as 1979, 1980, or 1989 make sense in relation to the USSR occupation, or withdrawal.
2. Dates that are mis-transcriptions (given that most weavers are non-literate, this seems fairly common)

3. The date of production. This is rare, but more common in second-generation carpets, where other texts in the same rug clearly address an “outside” audience. It’s sometimes possible to substantiate a date of production by comparison with the character of the carpet, and where it sits in the war carpet chronology, or where there’s a makers name – we have seen name, address and phone number in some carpets, and even the price!

How the world looks #2

…this time in the garden of Hans-Werner Mohm, in Wadern-Rathen, Saarland. This rug (two and a half representations of the world map – North and South America is shown once, Europe and Asia twice) was bought by Hans-Werner in 1994 in Peshawar. You can see it’s springtime in Germany…

How the world looks…

from Josephine’s window in Groningen! And my little helpers, Dada and her daughter, Diva…

A war rug from the Khandahar airport market

Here’s a conventional tourist rug bought recently by an ADF Chinook pilot at the Khandahar air base market. Is that a Canadian flag? Catering to the market… Note the unusual detail of a mine-flailer in the centre of the image, and the (somewhat subversive?) opium poppy border.

War rugs on sale in Chicken Street, Kabul

Nasser Palangi is an Iranian artist who lives in Canberra. Recently returned from travelling, he’s shared these images taken in September 2006 on Kabul’s famous “Chicken Street” – our thanks to Nasser for allowing us to post them here.

War rugs for sale on Chicken Street; these depict the defeat of the Soviet army.

A pictorial/map rug hanging outside a Chicken Street shop.

A small boy lounges beneath a “September 11″ rug at a Chicken Street shopfront.