He has assembled more than four hundred examples of ikat work from virtually every area of the world with a tradition of ikat production.
The two later men’s robes in the Paly collection were made with synthetic dyes and are more loosely woven than the earlier examples, with simple bold patterns. The aesthetic qualities of these brilliantly colored robes is a point of contention amongst connoisseurs of traditional textiles. Because of their synthetic dye colors, they are often placed in a different category from so-called “classical” ikat forms by many Central Asian textile collectors. One school of connoisseurs holds to a valorization of color as the measure of quality within textile studies of Central Asia. From this viewpoint, all colors obtained from natural dyes are superior to those created by synthetics. Less traditionalist Central Asian textile collectors are, however, prepared to overlook the brilliancy of color which results from the use of synthetic dyes, perhaps because of the purely incidental resemblance of these ikats to modernist abstract painting.
The use of synthetic dyes does not, in fact, represent any diminution in quality or ‘authenticity’ in the work. As has often been the case for art forms throughout history, the appearance of an ikat textile reflects the economic and political conditions at the time of its creation. Around the turn of the 20th century, Central Asian craftsmen faced a textile market flooded with inexpensive Russian machine made cloth and an increasingly impoverished customer base. In response, rather than abandoning the earlier, time consuming and expensive ikat techniques, they made the best of a bad situation by employing simpler designs with fewer, more brilliant colors. Although they lack the complex designs and the warm glowing colors of the best 19th century examples, there is still verve and life in the bold patterns of these later examples.
You can learn more about the topic in the book-album "The Cultural legacy of Uzbekistan in private collections of the USA and Canada" (volume XXXI) in the series "Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in the World Collections".
The main sponsor of the project is the oilfield services company Eriell-Group.
