In May 2020 the TRC Leiden was contacted by the well-known New York publishing firm of Assouline, about a planned book on the various crafts of Saudi Arabia.
The book was being organised by the Ministry of Culture of Saudi Arabia and was intended as a present for visiting heads-of-state to the 15th meeting of the Group of Twenty (G20), 21-22 November 2020 (that was only one year ago, but it seems so much longer).
“Crafts of the Kingdom: Culture & Creativity in Saudi Arabia”, published by Assouline in New York (2020) on the occasion of the (online) G20-meeting in Saudi Arabia, in November 2020. The textile on the front of the cover is from the TRC Collection (TRC 2005.0127).
Everything had to be organised very quickly because of publishing deadlines. At the same time there was the first lockdown due to Covid and the TRC was temporarily shut. However, we were able to organise that all the Saudi items in the TRC Collection would appear online, then a selection of suitable items was made. The photographer, Joost Kolkman, who has been working with the TRC for many years and who also designed the recent TRC brochure, took a range of full-length and close-up images.
Reverse of the box containing the book “Crafts of the Kingdom: Culture & Creativity in Saudi Arabia”, published by Assouline in New York. The textile is from the TRC Collection (TRC 2005.0207).
The book is entitled “Crafts of the Kingdom: Culture & Creativity in Saudi Arabia” (ISBN 9781614289203)) with an introductory text written by HRH Princess Najla bint Ahmad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. The book is lavishly illustrated with colour photographs of craftsmen and women at work in different parts of the Kingdom, including those who are spinning, weaving, making, as well as decorating textiles.
Various of the textile and garment photographs, especially the close-ups, are very evocative, and include many items from the TRC Collection. The front cover of the book presents a detail of a beaded face veil in the TRC Collection (TRC 2005.0127), which was repurposed (!) from an older, mid-20th century dress from southwestern Saudi Arabia. The book also comes in a beautiful box that is embellished with images of textiles, including several items that again were taken by Joost and once again are based on objects from the TRC collection.
Alas, due to the Covid crisis a physical meeting of the G20 never took place, although there was a virtual one. Nevertheless, the book did come out in time, and the print-run soon ran out. So it was only yesterday that we received our copy (coming after all the important guests, etc., but we were on the list!) and we can now tell our part of this international and very prestigious project.
Gillian Vogelsang, 28 November 2021
