Antique American Hooked Rug, America, Early 20th Century - At times the
sensibilities of primitive folk culture may converge with the aesthetic
of cutting edge modernist abstraction, as we see from this splendid
antique American hooked rug. Irregular squares of rich and varied color
arranged loosely as an approximate grid comprise the borderless field,
foreshadowing the paintings of Mondrian and Rothko. This piece attunes
us to the world of sophisticated expressiveness that often underlies
folk art if we take the trouble to look closely.
