PROFILE

Bill Price INTERVIEWED BY KATHLEEN HAMILTON

Dr William T. Price, a neurosurgeon based in Amarillo, Texas and his wife Jimmie Dell are veteran collectors of oriental rugs, and of much, much more besides, with interests that extend into the realm of South and Southeast Asian sculpture, Japanese paintings and prints and Turkish ceramics.

When most people think of art collections, the high plains of Texas are not the first image that springs to mind. The occasional oil well or cattle herd is the only break in the flatness of these plains. But here, hidden among a landscape some would call desolate is the breathtaking private Asian art collection of Dr and Mrs William T. Price. “Amarillo is a secret city. Most people don’t realise that it is a wonderful place to live,” Dr Price explains. A native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Bill Price graduated from Vanderbilt University, specialising in neurosurgery. During the Korean War he was posted to Tokyo and also to a MASH unit in Korea. It was in Tokyo that he was invited by a colleague to get away for the day and look for Japanese woodblock prints. Not knowing exactly what it was that they were looking for, he opted to go along to see some of the city. But the prints, depicting scenes from Kabuki theatre, landscapes and illustrations from popular myth piqued his interest, and he was immediately bitten by the collecting bug. He learnt Japanese to aid his search for art in the city’s back streets and returned to the United States with the beginnings of a growing collection of Japanese art. Looking for somewhere to settle and start up his medical practice after his return from the Korean War, Dr Price considered several cities. “I went to Fort Worth to take my Texas State Medical board exams and was driving to California to visit a friend when I found myself in Amarillo,” Bill explains. He moved to the city and set up his practice there, and for many years was the only neurosurgeon in the area. And it was in Amarillo that he met his future wife, Jimmie Dell. Living in the Southwestern United States offered the Prices the opportunity to begin collecting Native American rugs and blankets. In 1964 they discovered that oriental rugs were cheaper and more colourful than the Native American ones they had been buying. The geometric patterns and bold colours of Caucasian rugs in particular sparked their passion for textiles and, typically, they began studying and travelling to expand their knowledge of the field. The Prices joined the Hajji Baba Club in New York and International Hajji Baba Society in Washington DC as well as the Chicago Rug Club. In 1973 Dr Price joined the Board of Trustees of the Washington Textile Museum, whose organised tours enabled them to travel the world to learn about and purchase carpets. One of their most memorable trips was in 1978, when they were among the guests invited to travel to Iran for the opening of the carpet Museum in Tehran. From these travels their vast collection has grown over the years to include important Indian and Southeast Asian statues, oriental rugs and kilims and Iznik pottery as well as Japanese prints and paintings. On a trip to Afghanistan in 1975 organised by the Textile Museum, Bill Price discovered the bazaar in the northern Afghanistan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which he considers to have been one of the best places to buy carpets anywhere

“I’ve never

bought art

just as an

investment.

I buy what

I like.”

in the world. One day while he was bargaining with a rather elderly shopkeeper, closely watched over by the man’s sons, they reached a stalemate over the price of a rug. Finally, not wanting to accept such a low offer, the shopkeeper took out a pair of shears, held up the piece and said, “For the price you are offering I will just cut off this much and you can have the rest.” Needless to say, Bill paid the price the dealer wanted. On the way back to Kabul he rented a car and driver with another collector on the tour. As they wound along through the mountains they stopped to buy carpets in roadside villages whose inhabitants were surprised to see the foreigners passing through. “I’ve never bought art just as an investment. I buy what I like.” he says, gesturing around their home which is filled

with priceless Asian statues, prints and textiles. Asian screens and prints dominate the living room, accented by rugs and kilims hanging down the twenty-foot high walls. Laughing about their home collection, Bill says smilingly “My wife has drawn the line on me buying anything more. She says we’ve run out of room.” Long-time supporters of the Amarillo Museum of Art, where selections from their sculpture and rug collections have been exhibited and recorded in a catalogue (Divine Images and Magic Carpets,1987), the Prices have donated 260 pieces to the museum, including 132 Japanese prints and a hundred Oriental rugs and statues. And through the Prices’ generosity the Birmingham Museum of Art, in Bill’s native Alabama, now houses a large collection of Asian art. “Birmingham, in my opinion, now has about the best Asian art collection in the South.” Often referred to as ‘one of the elder statesmen of the rug world,’ Bill Price has inspired countless others with his passion for collecting. He and Jimmie Dell have helped build museum collections to inspire and educate others, thus passing along their love of all things Asian.

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