James Turner: The Persian Carpet

You know you are in for a treat when the lecture begins with the speaker quoting the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:

Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night

Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:

And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught

The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light.

James Turner gave a fascinating talk on The Persian Carpet, touching on the main themes of his recently published book of the same title.
For Mr. Turner there is the obvious beauty of these carpets, the aesthetic thrill, but there is as well an inner meaning to be discovered. Many wonderful ideas woven into the talk....the persian mind which bends toward the metaphysical, Y.B. Yeats' vision of a whole world, and (I particularly loved this image) the dervish belief that they can polish the human heart like a mirror...to reflect the divine reality.

Here are some photos from our first lecture of the season which was very well attended.

Louise de Tonnancour speaks with James Turner before the lecture

President Leslie Cohen opening the 2009 season

Carol Donoghue and Leslie Cohen at the reception table

James Turner after the lecture

Louise de Tonnancour signing up people for this fall's cultural outings