Abrli fabrics were a phenomenon devoid of nationality and transcultural. When Europeans arrived in Turkestan, they remained obsessed with these fabrics for a lifetime. Thus began the period of collecting them as a collection. The attractiveness of these fabrics paved the way for their mass export abroad, resulting in famous collections in private and museum collections around the world today.
As art critics note, these silk colors, which are very unique in their design and appeal, exceed expectations of the brilliance sought by European modernist artists in the early 20th century:
For many artists of the 20th century, the textile creations of medieval masters were the product of a divine prophecy.
Looking at the luxurious abr-velvet robes in the collection of the American collectors Merlin and Marshall Wolfe, one cannot help but remember the works of the French artist Henri Matisse.
When Matisse first visited Algeria in 1906, the bright colors of the magnificent Oriental fabrics he saw there seemed to be transferring to his works. A year later, he visited the same country again, followed by Morocco (1911, 1913). Furthermore, the 1910 Exhibition of Islamic Art in Munich did not escape Matisse's attention. Could he have seen the same Uzbek fabrics? The answer to this question can be quite positive.
First, at that time, Uzbek fabrics, embroidery, and carpets existed in North Africa as well as in Europe.
Secondly, some of his paintings, in particular, the harmony of colors in the painting "The Joys of Life" (1906), show that the color combination on Bukhara velvets, as in one of the robes in the collection of the Wolf family, is practically perfect.
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