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Contemporary and Traditional Rugs from
Armenia
The World Bank Art Program’s mission is to support the
vocation of the World Bank to give voice to all parts of society. Art is an
engine for promoting thinking differently and it offers an effective way to
display the constant enrichment that our member countries offer to human
history and to the contemporary world.
With this in mind, the Art Program, in cooperation with
the Embassy of Armenia to the United States, under the auspices of the World
Bank Vice Presidency for Europe and Central Asia, is honored to present:
Contemporary and Traditional Rugs from Armenia, an exhibition organized in
celebration of the 15th anniversary of independence of Armenia.
Contemporary and Traditional Rugs from Armenia
showcases the country’s artistic and spiritual creativity and ingenuity, as
well as the vitality of its cultural industries. It presents for the first
time to the World Bank staff and visitors a selection of exquisite
classic/traditional and contemporary Armenian carpets from the collections
of Mark Keshishian & Sons, Inc. and Megerian Brothers Oriental Rugs, Inc.
which showcase the connection between the ancient tradition of textile
design and the works of emerging talents in invention and craftsmanship.
Armenian rugs have been admired and celebrated for
centuries. Among the most ancient archeological founds, fragments of burial
rugs from the 2nd and 1st millennium B.C., witness of this long and admired
tradition. Greek, Roman, Arab, Christian writers praised the Armenian
rugs. The Italian Marco Polo, one of the first European cultural diplomats,
traveled through Armenian cities in the 13th century and admired the
industriousness and creativity of their people calling the Armenian […] rugs
“the most beautiful of the world”. And still this was not yet the peak of
the Armenian production, which only two centuries after Polo reached
unrivalled levels of craftsmanship and elegant intricacy. In the 15th
through the 17th centuries Armenian carpets reached the apogee of their
glory and became a status symbol “fit for a king”.
Today, however, we do not admire only an ancient art,
but also the reawakening of a wonderful trade in the respect of an ancient
cultural heritage.
In the wake of the globalization process, the Armenian
cultural industries are aiming at becoming one of the key players in the
international arena. With this in mind, please enjoy the ancient and the
contemporary carpets in display, a selection of artistic masterworks
highlighting the wealth and complexity of iconographic tradition of carpet
weaving.
Our gratitude goes to Mr. John Megerian and Mr. Mark
Samson Keshishian - collectors/connoisseurs/merchants - who, like new “Polos”,
have been the generous cultural ambassadors of this art and fulfilled the
vision that the Embassy and the Art Program shared, making this exhibition
possible.
Opening Reception
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
World Bank H building lobby
600 19th street NW, Washington D.C. 20433
The exhibition is open to the public
December 6, 2006 through January 7, 2007
No pass requested
Note: If you fall in love with one of the rugs, we
fully understand. Please contact the art program and we will be happy to
provide you with the contact information for acquiring it for your home or
office.
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Mark S. Keshishian: In front of "My Pride and Joy",
Karatchoph-Karabagh, Dated 1838. Once part of my Father's collection and one
of his favorites, as well as being in, and on the back cover of the book
"Weavers, Merchant and Kings", this carpet was also published in
"Inscribed Rugs of Yesteryear", by James M. Keshishian. (Part
of the Mark S. Keshishian Collection, X Edison Collection, X James M.
Keshishian Collection)
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