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

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Profoundly thrilling.... A trip through space and time: for Alexander...Turkish carpets are portals to the Absolute. But this isn't an academic Shirley MacLaine gazing through a rug into his own navel: the tough-minded Alexander shows that the early Turks knew some basic truths about structure, color and light that have been forgotten in our time"--Newsweek

Product Description

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.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; illustrated edition edition (November 11, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195208668
• ISBN-13: 978-0195208665
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 8.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,140,675 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a quick & humble impression, February 15, 1998

By	[e-mail] "[e-mail]" (Marlboro, Vermont, USA) - See all my reviews

I got to take a look at this book in the UMASS non-circulating collection. It was beautiful, covered with a gold patterned cloth. Inside, the paper and reproductions of the carpets and art work were of the very best quality. I read the introduction and skimmed through the subsequent chapters. After my breif encounter with this book, I felt as though I had found the secret heart of Alexander's architectural theories. Somehow his passion for these carpets seemed to be the kernal from which his volumes have sprung.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great but not what you would expect, January 30, 2002

By	"natasa18" - See all my reviews

Christopher Alexander is known among architects and maybe even more among computer enthusiasts. If you are one of them (us) and know his other work, you would be surprised by this book.
It deals with carpets, specifically Turkish carpets.
A friend of mine lent me this book and I was fascinated. It has a certain passion for its subject and its interesting even if you don't know anything and don't care anything about carpets. Author explains about some items in his quite large collection of carpets and why he finds them not only rare and valuable as an antique but also beautiful.
The beauty of a carpet lies in its pattern and here we get to familiar grounds (as for example in his »A Pattern Language«). A pattern consists not only of the ornament but also of the negative space, the area remaining. He explains on examples from his collection. And one wanders if there is yet another application of his theory beside architecture per se, computer design and carpets.
Still its quite expensive, but if you happen to lay your hands on it, go ahead and enjoy.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A pearl of great value, May 19, 2006

By	V. Alexander "thehomeeconomist.blogspot.com" (TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I love and leave my books, but I'll never part with this one. I look at it daily and always find something new and edifying.

The book's raison d'etere is Alexander's magnificent collection, displayed in glorious photos. But if you feel frustrated/disgusted or uncomfortable/uneasy toward modern design, art, or architecture, you'll appreciate Alexander's axioms for objectively evaluating the aesthetic quality of the carpets. Alexander hopes that a generalized version of these axioms will save us from the ugliness of modernism and get human beings back into the business of creating truly beautiful things, whether carpets, buildings, comptuer programs, etc. That's why he titled it "A foreshadowing..."

Alexander comments on each carpet in the collection, describing the fascinating detective work that went into placing and dating each piece, as well as pointing out the most noteworthy elements of the patterns and colors. His commentary causes me to appreciate each carpet as a historical piece with tremendous significance to today -- the carpets are seemingly messengers from the past, reminding us of truths that have long been dormant in the human spirit.

He describes the best carpets as evoking a presence that is both human and divine. He says that a reliable way to judge the "better" of two carpets is to ask people which of the two they would choose to represent their own self or soul. Even carpet-naive people will consistently choose the more valuable carpet, even if it's not the one they "like" best. Interesting, right?