Posted by Yon Bard on March 14, 1999 at 13:30:36:
In Reply to: Re: This Question: One Step Back posted by Marvin Amstey on March 14, 1999 at 10:54:18:
: The point I wish to get to is a quote that Doris Blau once made to me about why she did not like Turkmen art - the aesthetic thing Steve mentions. She used a musical metaphor comparing the rigidity and compartmentalization found in Turkmen rugs to Germanic marches; her preference was for East Turkestan rugs to which she compared them to Vivaldi. Now Vivaldi is OK but gets rather tiresome after awhile just as Germanic march music does. Therefore, the whole metaphor falls apart. Anyone have a better one?
Yes, I think I have a better musical metaphor, namely classical (in the narrow sense, i.e. Mozart and his contemporaries) music: composers were bound by a fairly strict set of rules on harmony, counterpoint, and structure, yet came up with an infinite variety of esthetic invention within this discipline. This, I feel, is very much like Turkoman rugs. People who only see rigidity within the Turkoman esthetic haven't really looked.
Regards, Yon