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WASHINGTON (March 26, 2018)—Art collector and textile enthusiast Guido Goldman received the George Hewitt Myers Award for lifetime achievement in furthering the field of textile arts through his efforts to preserve, educate and raise international appreciation of the art of Central Asian ikat. The Myers Award, named for The Textile Museum’s founder and presented by the board of trustees of the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum, is recognized internationally as the highest accolade in the field of textile arts. The award was presented at the museum’s gala event held at the InterContinental Washington D.C. – The Wharf this past Friday evening.
“Receiving this prestigious award serves as a gratifying culmination of having built the foremost Central Asian ikat collection,” Dr. Goldman said. “This collection now belongs to 12 American museums, which have mounted eight major exhibitions over two decades and whose catalogue was designated the best art book of 1997 by the Art Libraries Society of North America.”
Dr. Goldman is director of German studies at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University, the founder and former chairman of the German Marshall Fund and former vice chair of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Dr. Goldman first encountered Central Asian ikats – an art form that employs a sophisticated resist-dye technique to create vibrant abstract patterns – in 1975 and became a passionate collector. He went on to build the world’s premier Central Asian ikat textile art collection. Earlier this month, the museum opened “Binding the Clouds: The Art of Central Asian Ikat,” which showcases 32 ikat hangings from the collection of 100 textiles Goldman donated to The Textile Museum shortly after it moved to GW’s Foggy Bottom Campus.
“We are delighted to honor Guido for his exemplary leadership as an internationally respected collector, benefactor and institution builder,” Bruce P. Baganz, president of the board of trustees of The Textile Museum and co-chair of the board of the George Washington University Museum, said. “His focus to preserve the history of ikat textiles will help future generations of connoisseurs, designers and scholars deepen their appreciation of the art and culture of the people of Central Asia.”
In addition to Dr. Goldman, former GW president Steven Knapp and GW’s executive vice president and treasurer Lou Katz were each honored at the gala with The Textile Museum Award of Distinction in recognition of their roles in establishing The Textile Museum’s affiliation with the university.
“Presiding over the affiliation of The Textile Museum and the George Washington University was one of the easiest lifts of my time as president. My knowledge of textiles was limited when our discussions began, and I regard my growing familiarity with the museum and its collections as one of the most intellectual and culturally enriching experiences of my presidency,” Dr. Knapp said. “It is a tremendous honor to receive this award, and I look forward to watching this partnership continue to thrive and grow in the coming years.”
“It is an honor to receive this award on behalf of the university,” said Mr. Katz. “It takes a great number of people across the entire institution and beyond to complete a project of this magnitude.”
Past recipients of the George Hewitt Myers Award include: artist and scholar Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada (2016); Bruce P. Baganz (2015); scholar and educator Walter Denny (2012); scholar and artist Milton Sonday (2011); author and publisher Michael Franses (2010); scholars Mattiebelle Gittinger (2009) and Jon Thompson (2008); the late Lloyd Cotsen (2007), collector and philanthropist; the late Josephine Powell (2006), an ethnographer and photographer; and textile designer Jack Lenor Larsen (2005).
The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum
The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum opened in 2015 on GW’s Foggy Bottom Campus. The custom-built museum displays The Textile Museum’s globally recognized collections of over 20,000 textiles and related objects, and the Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection of nearly 1,000 artifacts documenting the history of Washington, D.C.
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