My object in publishing this newsletter is to propagate the concept of the Oriental Rug as a work of art.This has been neglected by the so-called scholars in favor of technical, art-historical and ethnological emphasis. This is my only motivation. I am just a collector and NOT in the rug business!

Having reached the ripe age of 88 years and having assembled these delightful artifacts for 50 of these, it may be assumed that I have garnered some knowledge in the process. However, the more I learn, the more I know how little I know! It is hoped that other collectors will learn from me and that I will learn from them.

Since my acquaintance with the computer is very recent and since my technical aptitudes are minute, I have had great difficulty with the necessary expertise. Now, I know what a woman suffers when she gives birth!

When I started, there were very few available books on the subject. My bible became Charles W. Jacobsens's book. Almost all others were devoted to classical carpets and were a rehash of the bombastic orations of Von Bode, Sarre, Trenkwald, etc.

From the very beginning, as a perennial rebel, I preferred the weavings of nomads and peasants to the Persian workshop carpets which had come to be accepted as the stereotype of the Oriental rug. The stark designs, the vivid colors and the very weaving defects stamped these with a humanity which the factory products never achieved! It seemed to me that the best of these rural creations reached heights of artistic expression that our modern artists are unable to scale. Just remember Andy Warhol's "Tomato Can"!! I considered these textiles as far more than utilitarian objects for, in such wonderful expressions of folk art are distilled ageless traditions, fears and attitudes, in fact, the very soul of a culture and life-style rapidly becoming extinct!

In relatively recent times, there has been an avalanche of books on nomad and peasant rugs. Probably this is because of the growing interest in these artifacts and the astronomical rate of increase in their monetary value. Most of these concentrate on other aspects. The writer regards these weavings as works of art and makes their aesthetic appreciation and appraisal his first and foremost concern! He has very little interest in knot-counting, determining the piles of wrap, weft and pile and even less for ethnological studies of rug-producing tribes or the history of the development of carpet designs. He leaves these activities to others who find such pursuits scholarly and profitable!

Nevertheless, I intend to present information and ideas NOT usually covered in the present literature. This is the enlightenment that I needed those many years ago when my collecting career began.

Since the only collectors I have known were male, I will refer to all persons, not specifically named, using the masculine pronoun. I fully realize that this may offend Women's Lib. and, if so, allow me to tender my most abject apologies! On the other hand, it is my considered opinion that there exists a multitude of vestibule collectors for which my experience, garnered over more years than I care to remember, may provide invaluable. I don't care if it raises a storm of protest and that I will be called the "Lincoln Steffins" of the rug world!

In conclusion, this publication's worth or lack of same, I leave to the judgments of my readers!!!
 

Sam