Marilyn Wolf and Jason Nazmiyal

During the weekend of April 11 through 13, New York witnessed a major antique rug event. A symposium sponsored by the Hajji Baba Club was held on Saturday at the New York Historical Society, along with an exhibition, From Timbuktu to Tibet , which open Friday evening, comprised of outstanding pieces from New York private collections. In conjunction with these events Nazmiyal was pleased to host an exhibition on Sunday, Early Anatolian Kilims from the Collecton of Marilyn and Marshall Wolf . Early Anatolian kilims have come to be widely recognized as some of the greatest artistic achievements of the Oriental rug weaving tradition, and the pieces from the Wolf Collection certainly attest to the validity of such opinion. These kilims, some twenty-five in number, represent a variety of designs and regional types from Anatolia or Turkey produced between the seventeenth and the nineteenth centuries.

They are works of great artstic individuality and power, demonstrating that kilims are not simply the humble country cousins of urban workshop rugs in pile technique, as they were once thought to be. Rather, they exemplify a cultural authenticity, and a sophistication of design and color that can match and even outstrip the finest classical pile Oriental carpets. In fact Anatolian kilims represent an extremely archaic artistic tradition which disappeared early on in the process of expanded production throughout the rug-weaving regions of the Orient in the later nineteenth century. Works of this kind have rarely been exhibited even in the museums dedicated to textile arts and design. But here in this exhibition, it was possible to appreciate all the magic that these wonderful kilims have to disclose, both individually, and collectively, where each piece challenged its neighbors for the viewer”s attention. One example from the exhibition especially demonstrates the passion and dedication of the collectors. Marshall Wolf acquired a fragment of this piece in the market in Istanbul. Some time later the rest of the kilim came up at auction, where he went the distance needed fend off all other buyers, so that both halves could be happily re-united as they now appear.The symposium and the exhibitions attracted a wide audience of rug enthusiasts and experts from all over North America and Europe as well. The gallery of photos from the exhibition at Nazmiyal provides a nice sample of the distinguished particpants.

 

Jason Nazmiyal and Walter Denny

 

Barbara Davis and Christopher Andrews

 

Marshall Wolf and Bruce Baganz

 

Sally Sherill, and Jason Nazmiyal

 

at center, David Castriota, Emily Kiefer, Michael Kiefer, right, Roger Pratt

 

Danny Shaffer and Jason Nazmiyal

 

Kristin McCarthy and Roger Pratt

 

 

 

Paul Ramsay

 

in foreground Marilyn Wolf and Jason Nazmiyal

 

Marshall Wolf, Jeanette and Tripp Miller

 

Beate Maeder-Metcalf

 

Marilyn Wolf

 

Maris Gailitis

 

Giammaria Zanderighi, Paula Krugmeier

 

Mary Jo Otsea and Judith Glass

 

Joe Doherty, Michael Chagnon

 

Catherine Bennion and Mary Jo Otsea

 

Mark Shilen

 

Jason Nazmiyal, Alberto Boralevi , Betsy Murphy, Karin and Moshe Tabibnia, and Baby Tabibnia

 

background Vinay Pande, Marilyn Wolf, Elizabeth Williams, Joe Forte, David Castriota, Jim Allen

 

Karin and Baby Tabibnia

 

Dr. Jon Thompson

 

Shiv Sikri and Allen Freedman

 

Daniel Nadler and Ladan Akbarnia from the Brooklyn Museum

 

Thomas Murray

 

at center Anette Rautenstengel

 

at center Dr. Jon Thompsom

 

Vinay Pande and Susan Lukats

 

Klara Nagy and Jason Nazmiyal

 

 

William Robinson of Christie”s London