Kuba Textiles

KUBA TEXTILES

DECEMBER 4-23, 1998 - JANUARY 2-31, 1999

This page is a record of an exhibit that took place
in 1998-99. The individual links below will take you to
the CURRENT VERSION of the pages
that formed part of that exhibit.

The gallery begins its ninth season with a show of traditional tribal raffia textiles from the Kuba kingdom in the Congo. This major exhibit includes hundreds of beautifully designed works, large and small and in many styles, to show the spiritual beauty, complex interplay and variety in these treasures of textile art. Collected by Matisse, Klimt and Klee, they influenced modern art early this century and continue to speak to us today.

Kuba skirts, Tcaka, long cloths from 8 - 25 feet long, from the Ngeende, Bushoong and Ngongo peoples incorporate appliqued "patches", embroidered shapes and patterns, openwork, tie-dye, cowrie shells, barkcloth and border elements. All are covered with geometric symbols; many are restrained, subtle and rhythmic designs using one technique; others create amazing quilt-like assemblages of old pieces of many forms. The full skirts are worn bunched up and wrapped around many times. The exhibit also includes smaller, ornate pieces and individual panels from the large skirts.

The true jewels of textile art are the smaller Shoowa cut-pile cloths. Their compex interplay of geometric symbols, inventive rhythm and balance, uniquely individual designs and tight "velvet"surfaces created objects so mysteriously alluring the Kuba people traded them as currency and were the standard by which a family's wealth and status were judged. This is an opportunity to see, handle and own museum quality textiles.

KUBA, SHOOWA TEXTILE, Zaire

These raffia cut-pile cloths, woven by men, were embroidered by women with no stitching visible on the back. Highly prized for their inventive patterns, they are further embellished with tight tufting, leading to the nickname "Kasai velvet". They were sewn together for ceremonial dress, covered royal stools, and even exchanged as currency. As a sign of status they were buried with kings or those fortunate enough to own many.