Notes on George Washington O'Bannon

My favorite picture of George from Charlie's Archive. Many people saw George in many different ways but here behind Charlie Ellis is the way I picture him in my mind.

When I got to know George I realized he was more than just the respectable father of four. He in his way was every bit the equal of his dynamic wife. George and I were not friends. I liked him and admired him but he was always too reserved for me to presume that we were friends.

George was the protege of the late Don Wilbur. O'Bannon and Wilber first teamed up at American Friends of the Middle East. Later George went to Afghanistan as Deputy director of the Peace Corps in Afghanistan.

George and Helen with their sons Patrick, Colin, and Sean and Casey. George W. O'Bannon

George's strengths and to some extent his weakness were focus and specialization. Those things that George focused on he mastered. It seemed when he set out to study an area he did his homework. His bibliography as an outgrowth of that he wanted to focus on the available information so he made a comprehensive list.

In 1973 George opened a carpet store in Pittsburgh and later moved to Philadelphia. In 1987 O'Bannon Ron O'Callaghan and Don Wilbur launched a color magazine version of Oriental Rug Review. After Helen's death George sold his business and retired from ORR and moved to Tucson Arizona. George spent his time writing, traveling and enjoying life. He passed away after an illness October 2, 2000.

O'Bannon, G. W. From Desert and Oasis; Arts of the People of Central Asia. 1998.

Another solid performance from one of the great rug authors. George does a good job but what makes this book special is the accessibility of the goods. What I mean is the rugs are the types of rugs that people with homes and families are collecting. As such it will help most collectors understand what is in the market and in their collections. From the Publisher: This catalogue documents the Georgia Museum of Art's landmark exhibition of over 100 artifacts from the urban and rural peoples of Central Asia. The major ethnic groups represented include Uzbeks, Turkmens, Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, and Arabs from the recently independent countries of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkeminstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, as well as from Iran and Afghanistan. This publication features a comprehensive essay and technical analyses by internationally recognized textile scholar George O'Bannon. Exhibition Dates: February 14-April 26, 1998 Essay by: George O'Bannon 114 p.; Illustrated (includes 32 color plates); Essays: 9; Published: 1998; $30.00 ISBN 0-915977-34-6 Georgia Museum of Art | Publications

Moshkova, V.G. edited by George W. O'Bannon. Carpets of the People of Central Asia. Tucson 1996

Moshkova is controversial but this work is pivotal; in understanding Turkmen Rugs and Turkmen Rug scholarship.

Oriental rug scholar, George W. O'Bannon, passed away in Tucson, Arizona on 2 October, aged 64 years. The cause was lymphoma. O'Bannon's writings on the carpets, textiles, costumes and people of Central Asia inspired a generation of enthusiasts.

After serving in the navy in the 1950s, he studied Political Science at Cornell University and earned a Master's degree in Middle Eastern Studies at Stanford. While studying in California he met his wife-to-be, Helen Bohen. Soon after their marriage in 1962, the couple moved to Washington DC, where George worked for the Department of Agriculture and the American Friends of the Middle East. Three years later, he was appointed Assistant Director of the Peace Corps in Afghanistan, where he began his lifelong study of carpets and Central Asian culture. "Carpets seemed like the only things that had any value in Afghanistan," he often remarked.

He returned to the US in 1968, and after a stint at the University of Pittsburgh, opened O'Bannon Oriental Carpets. It was around the same time, in 1975, that he published his first book, The Turkoman Carpet. In the early 1980s, O'Bannon sold his Pittsburgh business and moved to Philadelphia, opening a gallery there specializing in textiles and Central Asian art.

After his wife's death in 1988, he closed the gallery and concentrated on his career as a writer, curator and speaker on oriental rugs. From 1987 to 1991, he served as Editor of the Oriental Rug Review, the only American magazine reporting exclusively on the rug and textile market. He retired to Tucson in 1993.

O'Bannon is survived by his four sons and three daughters-in-law, two grandchildren and his longtime companion, Arlene Cooper.

Written by Colin A. O'Bannon

George W. O’Bannon, oriental rug scholar whose writings on the textiles, costumes and people of Central Asia inspired a generation of enthusiasts of tribal arts, died in Tucson, Arizona on October 2, 2000.  He was 64.  The cause was lymphoma.

George’s first love, developed while still a youngster growing up in Artesia, New Mexico, was gardening and horticulture.  He frequently credited his early interest in plants and taxonomy for his ability to see connections in the myriad combinations of patterns and designs in oriental carpets, particularly those of the nomadic tribes of Central Asia.  Until the time of his death, George remained an avid gardener.

After serving in the navy in the 1950s, George studied Political Science at Cornell and earned a master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies at Stanford.  While studying in California.  He met his wife, Helen Bohen, a graduate student in economics.  Shortly after their marriage in 1962, the couple relocated to Washington, D.C., where George worked for the Department of Agriculture and the American Friends of the Middle East.  In 1965, he was appointed Assistant Director of the Peace Corps in Afghanistan where he began his lifelong study of carpets and Central Asian culture.  “Carpets seemed like the only things that had any value in Afghanistan,” he said on several occasions.  In time, though, George developed an appreciation for all aspects of the culture of the region that he came to love and write about so passionately.

In 1968, George and Helen returned to the United States where George took a position with the department of foreign studies at the University of Pittsburgh.  In 1971, George organized an exchange program between Pitt and the University of Kabul, Afghanistan with funding from the Fulbright Foundation.  He remained Director of the program until 1975 when he went into business for himself.  That year, he opened O’Bannon Oriental Carpets in Pittsburgh, at about the same time, he published his first book, The Turkoman Carpet, a seminal work in its field.

In 1979, the O’Bannon family moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania when Helen, despite being a  Democrat, was named Secretary of Welfare for the state under Governor Thornburgh.  In those years, George commuted frequently to Pittsburgh to run his business while continuing his studies and scholarship in tribal arts.  In 1983, after Helen was named Senior Vice President at the University of Pennsylvania, the family again relocated to Philadelphia.  Shortly after moving to Philadelphia, George sold his business in Pittsburgh and opened a gallery in Philadelphia specializing in textiles and Central Asian art.

After his wife’s death of cancer in 1988, George closed the gallery and concentrated on his career as writer, guest curator and speaker on oriental rugs.  From 1987 to 1991, he served as the Editor of the Oriental Rug Review, the only American magazine reporting exclusively on rug and textile art.

In 1993, George O’Bannon retired to Tucson where he wrote and spoke extensively on textiles and returned to his hobby of gardening.  In Arizona, his love for the flora and fauna of the Sonoran Desert was rekindled.  During his years in Tucson, he argued for the preservation of wildflowers and clashed with those who, he thought, wished to sanitize the desert.  He also led frequent study trips to Central Asia and the Far East.  Trips to India, Indonesia, Turkey Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan occupied much of his time.  George also shared his love for textiles with southwesterners: in 1998 he served as curator for “Tribal and Village Rugs from Arizona Collections,” a part of the “Tucson Collects” series of exhibitions at the Tucson Museum of Art.

In 1996 George realized a long held dream by co-editing the first English translation of Carpets of the People of Central Asia, by famed Russian ethnographer of the 1920s, Valentina Moshkova.  In 1998, he organized the award-winning exhibition, “From Desert to Oasis: Arts of the People in Central Asia,” at the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens, Georgia.  At the time of his death, George had recently finished editing two works on the carpets of Kyrgyzstan.

In addition to his numerous written and edited volumes, George was co-founder of the Pittsburgh Rug Society and the Arizona Oriental Rug and Textile Association.  For his scholarship and stewardship in Islamic textiles, George was the 1993 recipient of the Joseph V. McMullen award given by the Near Eastern Art Research Center.  He leaves a legacy as a brilliant and talented man, whose many accomplishments include horticulture, photography, dancing and cooking.  His quick wit and exceptional intellect endeared him to many: to be fair, others found his honesty abrasive.

George O’Bannon is survived by his four sons and three daughters-in-law, Patrick and Pia Deinhardt of Philadelphia, Colin of Columbus, Ohio, Sean and Nancy of Boca Raton, Florida and Casey and Susan of Philadelphia; two grandchildren; and his longtime companion Arlene Cooper of Manhattan.

The family requests that those who wish to make memorial donations direct them to the Textile Department of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, to which George recently bequeathed a substantial portion of his collection of Central Asian textiles and costumes.  Donations can be sent to the George W. O’Bannon Memorial Fund, c/o Niloo Paydar, Textile Department Curator, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1200 West 38th St., Indianapolis, IN 46208-4196.

Written by Colin A. O'Bannon