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Washington Post
April 30 2014
In surprise U-turn, the White House may display rug woven by orphans
of 1915 Armenian killings
By Adam Taylor
On Friday, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) announced that the White
House would soon display the "Armenian Orphan Rug," bringing a
historically important artwork out of storage for the first time since
1995.
The news appears to mark a U-turn for the administration. In late
2013, the White House decided against loaning the artwork to the
Smithsonian for an event that would include a book launch for Hagop
Martin Deranian's book on the rug, "President Calvin Coolidge and the
Armenian Orphan Rug." At the time, The Washington Post's Philip
Kennicott reported that Armenian American organizations suspected that
the refusal was due to the fear of a response from Turkey. "It is
without a doubt a political decision," Aram S. Hamparian, executive
director of the Armenian National Committee of America, told the Los
Angeles Times in November.
The potential fear of a Turkish response is rooted in the rug's
origins. The Armenian girls who created it were living in an orphanage
in the town of Ghazir, now in Lebanon, while they worked on the rug.
The children had been made homeless by the mass killings of Armenians
in 1915 in what is now modern Turkey during the final years of Ottoman
Empire, and the rug was gifted to the President Calvin Coolidge in
1925 as a thank you for American help during that time. It is said to
have taken the orphans 10 months to create the roughly 12-by-18-foot
rug, which features more than 4,000,000 hand-tied knots.
The killings of 1915 are better known to many as the "Armenian
Genocide," and many historians consider it the first genocide of the
20th century. Turkey has vocally rejected the label for decades -- just
weeks ago, the country's Foreign Ministry criticized a U.S. Senate
committee resolution that described the killings as a genocide,
arguing that it "distorts history and law." President Obama, who used
the word "genocide" to describe the killings before taking office, has
avoided the terminology in the past few years.
There have been some minor signs of rapprochement between Turkey and
Armenia recently. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently
made an unprecedented acknowledgement of the "inhumane" killings, but
he stopped short of calling them a genocide. It is unclear whether
this played a factor in the White House's decision.
"I'm pleased to be able to say that planning is underway for the
Armenian Orphan Rug to be displayed as early as this fall," Schiff
said Wednesday. "I have worked out with the White House that the
display will take place in a venue that is open to the general public,
and I appreciate their willingness to place this significant artifact
on display for all to see."
Regardless of the political connotations, the rug is said to be an
extraordinary work of art. As Kennicott, The Post's art and
architecture critic, described it, it is a "complicated, richly
detailed work that would hold its own even in the largest and most
ceremonial rooms."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/04/30/in-surprise-u-turn-the-white-house-may-display-rug-woven-by-orphans-of-1915-armenian-killings/
April 30 2014
In surprise U-turn, the White House may display rug woven by orphans
of 1915 Armenian killings
By Adam Taylor
On Friday, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) announced that the White
House would soon display the "Armenian Orphan Rug," bringing a
historically important artwork out of storage for the first time since
1995.
The news appears to mark a U-turn for the administration. In late
2013, the White House decided against loaning the artwork to the
Smithsonian for an event that would include a book launch for Hagop
Martin Deranian's book on the rug, "President Calvin Coolidge and the
Armenian Orphan Rug." At the time, The Washington Post's Philip
Kennicott reported that Armenian American organizations suspected that
the refusal was due to the fear of a response from Turkey. "It is
without a doubt a political decision," Aram S. Hamparian, executive
director of the Armenian National Committee of America, told the Los
Angeles Times in November.
The potential fear of a Turkish response is rooted in the rug's
origins. The Armenian girls who created it were living in an orphanage
in the town of Ghazir, now in Lebanon, while they worked on the rug.
The children had been made homeless by the mass killings of Armenians
in 1915 in what is now modern Turkey during the final years of Ottoman
Empire, and the rug was gifted to the President Calvin Coolidge in
1925 as a thank you for American help during that time. It is said to
have taken the orphans 10 months to create the roughly 12-by-18-foot
rug, which features more than 4,000,000 hand-tied knots.
The killings of 1915 are better known to many as the "Armenian
Genocide," and many historians consider it the first genocide of the
20th century. Turkey has vocally rejected the label for decades -- just
weeks ago, the country's Foreign Ministry criticized a U.S. Senate
committee resolution that described the killings as a genocide,
arguing that it "distorts history and law." President Obama, who used
the word "genocide" to describe the killings before taking office, has
avoided the terminology in the past few years.
There have been some minor signs of rapprochement between Turkey and
Armenia recently. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently
made an unprecedented acknowledgement of the "inhumane" killings, but
he stopped short of calling them a genocide. It is unclear whether
this played a factor in the White House's decision.
"I'm pleased to be able to say that planning is underway for the
Armenian Orphan Rug to be displayed as early as this fall," Schiff
said Wednesday. "I have worked out with the White House that the
display will take place in a venue that is open to the general public,
and I appreciate their willingness to place this significant artifact
on display for all to see."
Regardless of the political connotations, the rug is said to be an
extraordinary work of art. As Kennicott, The Post's art and
architecture critic, described it, it is a "complicated, richly
detailed work that would hold its own even in the largest and most
ceremonial rooms."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/04/30/in-surprise-u-turn-the-white-house-may-display-rug-woven-by-orphans-of-1915-armenian-killings/