NEWS

CREATIVE DIVERSITY The Lentos Museum in Linz is one of Austria’s most important modern art museums. Opened in 2003 in a state-of-the-art building designed by Zurich architects Weber & Hofer, with its generous glasswalled exhibition spaces flooded with natural light it provides an ideal environment for displaying large scale works of art such as Anatolian kilims. Thus the exhibition ‘Nomads in the Art Salon. Encounters with Modernism’ which opens on 26 January and lasts until 10 September 2006 is an event that should satisfy the appetites of many HALI readers. The show juxtaposes early kilims belonging to the Austrian collector Dr Norbert Prammer (see catalogue review in HALI 142, pp.53-55), with important 20th century artworks, thereby examining the notion that elementary creativity is as diverse as it is multifaceted. The museum’s own collection will provide the art, including works by Richard Serra, Sean Scully and Herbert Bayer to name but a few. A focal point of the exhibition will be a 3-day symposium (3-5 March 2006) organised in co-operation with the Austrian carpet and textile group, the TKF, entitled ‘Kelim & Moderne’, which will provide an insight into the unique relationship between ancient textiles and modern art. For further information visit www.lentos.at.

NEW BROOMS The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco have announced the appointment of a new Director for the new de Young Museum (see HALI 143) and its sister institution, the Palace of the Legion of Honor. John E. Buchanan Jr. (right) takes up his post on 1 February 2006. He replaces Harry S. Parker Jr., who held the directorship for 18 years until his retirement in a blaze of glory at the end of December 2005. For the past eleven years Buchanan has been Executive Director of the Portland (Oregon) Art Museum, where he organised many major international exhibitions and was responsible for an ambitious and successful programme to build collections.

Elsewhere in the USA, Fred Ingham has been elected to the Board of Trustees of the Textile Museum in Washington DC. Ingham, a Seattle-based rug and textile collector who also serves on the ACOR Board of Direct

ors, co-chaired the 2004 ACOR event in Seattle. In Europe meanwhile, the annual meeting of the Bundesverband der Sachverständigen für orientalische, handgeknüpfte Teppiche und Flachgewebe, a.k.a. the German oriental carpet appraisers’ association (BSOT), saw the handover of its offices to a younger generation, including Franz Ten Eikelder as President, Peter Mauch as DeputyPresident, Georg Bergerfurth as Treasurer, Herrmann Pennekamp as Auditor and Stefan Drechsle as Secretary. The association, long based in Hamburg, has also relocated to Cologne and can be contacted at Severinstrasse 239, 50676 Köln, Tel:+49 221 272 3614; Fax: +49 221 216 568, or via the BSOT website, www.bsot.de.

LOOKING FORWARD A selection of new galleries opening begins with veteran New England dealer John J. Collins, who has moved the Collins Gallery in Massachusetts from Newbury to 694 Mt. Auburn Street, Watertown, closer to central Boston. Expect a major event in his new gallery for the upcoming Boston ACOR. Over in Europe, Udo Langauer, who

founded Langauer Textile Art in 2000, has moved to larger premises in Vienna (left) with his father, the effervescent Fritz Langauer. The joint venture will combine the company with their new rug production Oritop. In London, Derek Owen of Tribe Contemporary Rugs in Islington, has recently opened a second shop at 92 Heath Street in Hampstead. See www.tribe-london.com.

GERHARD KÄBISCH Detlef Maltzahn writes:On 2 May 2005. Dr Gerhard Käbisch died at home in Rheinfelden, Switzerland. With his death the carpet world has lost a man of profound knowledge, a tireless critic and a gifted classifier who, over many decades, built the world’s largest rug index. Gerhard Käbisch was born in 1921 in Gurau, Silesia and attended school in Breslau, Poland. From late 1941 he was with the German Afrika Corps, and was captured during the second battle of El Alamein, spending several years in British and Canadian POW camps. On his return to Germany, he completed chemistry studies in Hannover and Braunschweig. After getting his PhD, he worked for BASF in Ludwigshafen before switching to Degussain Rheinfelden, where he made his name through a series of patented inventions. In the 1960s Gerhard Käbisch discovered a passion for carpets and textiles, shared with his wife Hedwig. Travels in the Middle East, participation in international rug conferences and membership of German and Swiss collectors’ clubs deepened this interest and brought the couple into contact with major protagonists in the field. Gerhard’sfriendship with Robert Pinner and Michael Franses resulted in lasting support for HALI. His preference was for old Turkish rugs because of their exquisite colours, but he was increasingly interested in textiles, particularly suzanis. His collection of rare double-bags was exhibited and published in 1985 after their sale to Helmut Reinisch in Graz. A critical, independent spirit, as a scientist Gerhard welcomed all serious attempts at research, and was unsparing with his comments, even uncomfortable ones. Not easy to please, his criticism was always constructive. His index or ‘Registration’, which eventually comprised more than fifty thousand cards, was intended to bring order into the confusing abundance of material, identify groups and families. It was used by manyauthors, gallery owners and carpet enthusiasts on visits to Rheinfelden. Plagued in latter years by ill health, Dr Käbisch had withdrawn from events. He will never be forgotten by all those who knew him as a true friend.

See www.hali.com for news updates I HALI 144 I 19