IHBS Zoom and Webex Events Subject: The Evolution of Rug Scholarship Date: IHBS Zoom Talk on Sunday, November 22, 2020 Time: 3 pm EST Speaker: Dr. Theodore “Ted” Mast Description Historically, the West has developed an increasing interest in rugs and carpets from the Islamic world. Art historians, connoisseurs and collectors have long considered these textiles as among the world’s great art forms, on par with oil paintings and Chinese porcelain, yet much of their histories and precise origins remain conjectural. A brief survey of how rug scholarship evolved from its emergence as a discipline in the late nineteenth century to the present will reveal that as generations of rug scholars and collectors looked at the same rugs, what they saw was often restricted by the paradigms and mindsets of their eras. The focus of this presentation will be the second half of the twentieth century – the bedrock of present-day scholarship, when rug collectors, enthusiasts and serious scholars flourished with prolific publications, conferences and rug societies. In retrospect, many of the conclusions and practices are, or should be, viewed with reservations. Pictures of rugs that have been seen by and written about by generations of rug scholars will be discussed. Theodore “Ted” Mast inexplicably developed an interest in oriental rugs in 1979, and two years later entered graduate school to further his rug studies. He received a PhD. from the University of Pennsylvania, Department of Folklore and Folklife, and has curated and designed exhibitions, including “Highstyle to Homestyle” in conjunction with the 1996 Philadelphia ICOC. He has authored multiple articles in Hali magazine, and is also a contributing editor to Hali. return to home page