European Rugs

The "Arts and Crafts" movement and "Jugendstil" in Europe changed forever the paradigm of court-endowed pile carpet manufacture and set the scene for the modernist movement in European pile carpets.
    The Fins were the first modernist rug makers with designers, architects and artists combining folk arts with the modernist movement's aesthetic. Seeing rugs as art and part of everyday culture was a concept, begun by the previous Jugenstil generation, that became really fashionable from the 1920's throughout Europe and America.
    Cubism and functionalism were great trends with later pieces being more toned and less starkely constructivist. In Germany the Bauhaus movement with Gunta Stolzl was focused on handmade rugs with Paul Klee and Benita Otte adding designs. In 1925 the Paris Exhibition showed Cubist rugs with no borders and white/bone fields, revolutionary at the time. The majority of designers/weavers were women, echoing the eastern village traditions.
    The big factories were wary of these new designs which was a further push towards small boutique manufactories. The one-off designer rug became a reality. Confusing copyright compounded by designers selling their designs on the open market resulted in small firms printing designs for women to make rugs for their own home. Gypsy caravans would park around towns and make rugs to order from a swag of new designs as well as producing oriental design rugs from memory.
The hand-knotting of carpets by women in their own homes spread throughout Europe.This was enhanced by an influx of migrants from customary rug producing countries like Morocco and Turkey.
    This Modern Movement showed great daring in abstract forms, new treatment of classical themes and freedom from the restraints of the traditions of floor design. They were characterized by a carefully controlled use of space, line and colour, with transitions of tone against lighter backgrounds
They are knotted with a symmetrical knot onto a woven cotton warp and weft system where, in most cases, the warp runs across the narrowest part of the rug instead of along the length, as in Oriental rugs. They are also more portable and easier to work on in the home environment.
     This collection includes small format and larger room-sized rugs from the 1920's to the 1960's and offers a range of designs from early Modernism to historic Oriental and European themes. They are long piled in a lustrous and long-stapled wool with good consistent dyes.
    This collection represents one of the last truly spontaneous Folk Arts of Europe and there seems to be little doubt that this type of artisanal work is virtually lost to the world.

Click to see larger photo	Description	Price US$	Click to see larger photo	Description	Price US$
	#337 French Rug good condition 138x78cms	$650		#473 French Rug good condition 165x97cms	$650
	#477 Dutch Rug good condition 115x70cms	$400		#482 French Rug good condition	$650
	#135 Oushak Design Rug. Good condition, colours, great balance.	$600		#317 Art Nouveau Rug low pile/nap with circa 1900 period colours. 125x65cms	$300
	#318 Turkey Design Good condition, light and floppy handle. Striking balance. 155x95cms	$500		#322 Art Deco Condition good. Handle is light flexible, a luscious feel with good patina. 146x100cms	$300
	#328 Art Deco good condition, signs of wear. 152x82cms	$300		#330 Constructivist Rug Good condition, luxurious handle. 168x98cms	$550
	#333 A Pair of Eye Dazzlers Perfect condition Really thick and heavy. Each 120x80cms	$400 Pair		#340 Orientalist Rug in good condition with superb colour. 135x75cms	$250
	#484 A Pair of Ethnic Perfect condition Really thick and heavy	$300 Pair		#488 Art Deco Rug 143x82cms	$300

There has been a weaving tradition in Europe since before the 15th century with strong pile rug traditions developing from the 18th century. Famous court tapestries were created at Brugge, Tournai, Brussells, and even before that at Ghent, Ypres, and Arras. The French workshops at Aubusson and Gobelins developed pile carpet workshops as well as at Savonnerie and the Louvre. There was Cork, Limerick and Donegal in Ireland. Cordoba and Granada had an unbroken tradition of knotted pile carpets. The Royal Denever factory was founded in 1797 with many more Dutch manufactories following and Dusseldorf became a production centre in the 19th century, as did numerous manufactories in England at London, Kidderminster, Axminster and Wilton with a Glasgow School developing in the north. Imperial Poland imported great quantities of carpets from Persia and Turkey but had also their own manufactories at Lwow and Brody. Romania had a few distinct styles, as did Italy which also had, like France and Scandinavia a peasant tradition of knotted pile carpets. The rya and ryaji of Scandinavia are famous.