Arthur T. Gregorian

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Arthur T. Gregorian , (1909 - 14 January 2003), was an oriental tapestry trader of Greater Boston and author of a book on oriental rugs. He is regarded by some as the world's leading collector of rare and inscribed Armenian carpets.

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Kehidupan awal

Gregorian does not know the date of birth. However, he marked it as 15 November 1909. He was born in Rahvah, on the western shore of Lake Urmia, Western Azerbaijan Province, Iran, Armenian parents, and died on January 14, 2003, in Concord, Massachusetts.

In 1919, Gregorian and his family fled the Armenian Genocide by bullock carts on a thousand-mile journey with hundreds of thousands of Armenian refugees from his ancient homeland of Armenia near Lake Urmia, on the Zagros Mountains in southwestern Iran, to Basra, Iraq. There, they live in an English refugee camp. Gregorian almost died of cholera and worked as a sidekick to a judge or herbal doctor to get food for his family. After traveling by driving to India, Italy and France, he finally reached Boston and settled in New Britain, Connecticut. In high school, Arthur meets with Phebe Ballou, his future wife. He spent his final year in high school at Northfield Mount Hermon School, where he later became director of the alumni board. After high school he worked at the carpet store to earn money to go to night school at Boston University, so he could become a doctor.

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Wellesley

In 1934, Gregorian took his savings of $ 700.00 and moved to Wellesley, Massachusetts, partly to open his own oriental carpet shop there and partly to see Phebe at Wellesley College. The store is small and below street level, so he visits potential buyers in their home or business. He and Phebe married in 1936. His business grew and in 1940, Arthur could move east across the Charles River to a larger place on Washington Street in Newton Lower Falls.

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Newton Lower Falls

In his new store in Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts ( 42Ã, Â ° 19? 34.75? N 71 Â ° 15? 17.10? W ), Gregorian finally has room for his customers to come to him to see his carpet. Business continued well until World War II disrupted imports from carpets and reduced demand for luxury goods. However, after the war, the Greater Boston economy exploded and Arthur's business grew rapidly. He has a shop in Newton Lower Falls and the other in Chatham, Massachusetts. In 1948 he purchased the Crane Paper Company paper mill next to it and expanded his showroom into it. In 1965 and again in 1989, an additional was made for two buildings, which produced 40,000 square feet (4,000 m ² ) space divided into 10 galleries and more than 6,000 tapestries on display.

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Personal life

In 1936, Arthur T. Gregorian married Phebe Ballou (April 14, 1912 - November 19, 1999). They have three children, Lynda, John and Joyce (1946-1991). Phebe is the regional president of the Scouts and founder of the Director of the Asian Women's Institute of the United Nations.

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St. Petersburg, Florida, interlude

Arthur and Phebe Gregorian retired to St. Petersburg, Florida in the mid-1970s, but around 1979, Arthur grew tired of retiring and opened an oriental carpet shop in downtown St. Louis. Pete and then showcased the rugs from his collection at the local art museum. Gregorians returned to Massachusetts in 1999. He was a founding member of the Senior Professional Academy at Eckerd College.

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Impact on oriental carpet study

Perhaps Greogrian's most important legacy is in his study, writing, filming, collecting and teaching in oriental rugs. Fluent in Armenian, Turkish and Persian, he spends months at a time in markets in Afghanistan, Armenia and Iran buying carpets and filming bargains and traveling with the Bell and Howell 16 mm film cameras.

In the study and knowledge of oriental carpets, he would be best remembered for his books, the Oriental Carpets and The Stories They Say , and the Armenian Carpets of the Gregorian Collection , worked on in collaboration with his daughter, Joyce Ballou Gregorian Hampshire and his grandson, Douglas Christian. In the Oriental Carpet and the Story They Told, he divided the carpets into three main categories: tribal, village, and city rugs. He observes that it is often difficult for a beginner to distinguish between Sarouk, Isfahan or Tabriz, but it is not difficult for a beginner to distinguish between the innate characteristics of a Bidjar woven village and a complex and very stylish Qum loom. Oriental Carpets and Their Telling Stories are breakthroughs in carpet studies, as it makes research on carpets clear and accessible.

His book on oriental Armenian rugs came out of the realization that many carpets labeled as Turkish or Kazakh or something else actually originated in Armenia. He is very proud of his Armenian heritage and spent the last decade of his life collecting and documenting certain aspects of Oriental oriental weaving. His Armenian oriental tapestry collection is shown worldwide and is mostly donated to the Armenian Library and Museum of America, where he is a founding member and director. He is also president of the Armenian Carpet Society.

He also wrote a book with his wife, Phebe, titled Armenag's Story, about his own journey with ox carts from Armenian homes to the British refugee camp in Basra in Iraq today.

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Other important achievements

Gregorian is actively involved in social causes in most of his life. He is president of Rotary Club Newton, as well as an active member of Kabul, the Afghan Rotary Club. He is chairman of the board of directors for Damavand College, a women's college located north of Tehran.

In 1953, as President of Morgan Memorial and President of Goodwill Industries, he phoned his friend and Armenian colleague Stephen P. Mugar and asked if he could place the new collection container he had designed in the Star Market parking lot in Wellesley Hills. The container is a blue dyed trash can with rectangular holes cut on the sides for the buyer to deposit their extra clothes for the needy. This first Goodwill collection box is an attraction for grocery buyers who soon become competitors of Pasar Bintang asking for their own containers.

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References

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External links

• Arthur T. Gregorian, Inc.'s site
• The Armenian Rugs Society website
• The Armenian library and the Museum of America website

Source of the article : Wikipedia