A Foreshadowing of 21st Century Art: The Color and Geometry of Very Early Turkish Carpets (Center for Environmental Structure, Vol 7)

Christopher Alexander owns what many now believe to be the finest collection of early Turkish carpets in the western world, with perhaps half being the only specimens of their kind anywhere. In this richly illustrated, oversized volume—featuring four hundred illustrations, eighty in full color—Alexander takes readers on an engaging tour of his fabulous collection. Readers will see a 13th-century Seljuk Carpet with Dragons, a 15th-century Animal Carpet, a scarlet-niched Transylvanian Prayer Rug, a turquoise Lattice Carpet from Alcaraz, a 16th-century blue Medallion Keyhole Design from Bergama, a rare 16th-century White Field Bird Carpet, the dazzling color and brilliant geometry of a 15th-century Karapinar with Three Gulls, and perhaps Alexander's favorite, a 15th-century Star Karapinar with Flowers (whose designs he describes as "the high point of all Sufi art, the state of liberation, in which the artist is so free, that he is able to be completely natural"). In addition, Alexander elaborates on his theory that these carpets teach structure to artists and architects through the beauty of their form. This lavishly produced volume makes an important contribution to the world of rug scholarship. Equally important, Alexander's thoughtful meditations on these pieces will fascinate the many architects, artists, and planners who follow his work. An examination of postmodernism in the Canadian visual arts, which focuses on memory as an essential and recurring issue in the work of some 40 Canadian artists, including Andy Fabo, Claude Tousignant, Joe Fafard, Joanne Tod, Allyson Clay, Janice Gurney and Robert Wiens. A renowned collector of early Turkish carpets discusses the provenance of each of his acquisitions and elaborates his theory that these rugs teach structure to artists and architects through the beauty of their forms.