Indian Textiles: 1,000 Years of Art and Design

Indian Textiles 1,000 years of art and design

Indian Textiles 1,000 years of art and design

Artists on the Indian Subcontinent

Spanning time, region, technique

most ancient and illustrious

the fabrics are arranged in

maintain some of the world’s

textile traditions. Generations of cultivators, weavers, dyers, printers and embroiderers

have ingeniously harnessed the region’s rich natural resources

to create a remarkable range of

fine fabrics. Uniting masterworks

from the collection of The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum with exceptional pieces from the collection of London-based

Karun Thakar, this exhibition celebrates Indian artists’

extraordinary achievements in textile production and design.

and levels of patronage,

three thematic sections that

correspond to the predominate

ornamental elements traditionally used by Indian textile makers: abstract, floral and figurative.

From simply woven stripes and checks to complex narrative

scenes requiring many skilled

specialists, the designs on these textiles may impart color and

beauty, communicate personal and group identity, express

deeply felt spiritual beliefs, or

render fabrics appropriate for a

particular person, place, occasion or consumer market. Dating

from the ninth to the early 20th

centuries, these textiles and their

vibrant patterning tell fascinating stories of the people who

originally made and used them and the worlds they inhabited.

Cover | Hanging, Southeast India, 17th/18th century. Cotton, plain-weave, hand-painted mordants, dyes. Karun Thakar Collection, London.

ABSTRACT PATTERNS Geometric patterns based on

Geometric and abstract designs

straight lines are inherent in all

occur in the oldest textiles

textiles from the moment they are

known from South Asia, and for

woven. Vertical stripes, horizontal

centuries these were the preferred

bands and checks can be created

patterning for dress fabrics. While

as an integral part of the weaving

floral motifs later became the

process itself. Although surface

favored ornament for clothing,

decoration techniques such as

particularly in northern India, some

printing and embroidery more

floral designs became highly

easily allow representational

abstracted, and in Southern India

patterning, South Asian printers

traditional checked and striped

and embroiderers maintain a

patterns continued to prevail.

rich vocabulary of circles, stripes, zigzags and other geometric designs, certain styles of which have become associated with specific communities.

Fig. 5 | Woman’s shawl or head-cover (bagh), Hazara region, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, 19th century. Cotton plain-weave ground embroidered with floss silk thread in surface darning stitch (four panels stitched together). Karun Thakar Collection, London

FLORAL PATTERNS Flowers and plants have inspired Indian artists for centuries. In textile ornament, floral patterns first started to become widespread during the Sultanate period (12061526), when Islamic cultures began to influence Indian art and design.

Floral motifs became particularly popular under the patronage of Mughal emperors (1526-1857), and myriad interpretations of Mughal floral styles arose in communities across India.

Indian fabrics patterned with flowers and scrolling vegetation were exported across the globe.

Indian textile artists excelled in adopting designs for various consumer markets, and this cross-cultural exchange enriched ornamental vocabularies worldwide. In India, no one floral style ever fell out of fashion to the point of disappearance, and new floral designs continue to be used in conjunction with older styles.

Fig. 4 | Detail of Fragment of chintz, coastal southeast India, made for the Dutch market but found in Japan, 1700-1730. Cotton, plain-weave, handpainted mordants and dyes. Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection T-2864.

Photo by Bruce M. White Photography.

FIGURATIVE PATTERNS Textiles with figurative patterns –

Although there are many technical

including humans, deities, real and

hurdles to producing textiles

imagined animals, and objects –

ornamented with figural forms,

are created across South Asia by

the skill and ingenuity of South

people of all faiths. Providing a

Asian textile artists have enabled

window into religious beliefs and

an abundance of fabrics patterned

observances as well as a broad

with these designs. Various

spectrum of lived experience,

communities have developed

figurative patterns on textiles tell

their own distinctive figural styles,

stories of gods and heroes, offer

resulting in designs as diverse

glimpses into the luxurious courts

as the people of the Indian

of kings and rulers, and record

Subcontinent.

countless scenes of everyday life.

Fig. 2 | Fragment of a furnishing fabric or garment, probably Gujarat, western India, late 14th/mid-15th century. Silk, lampas weave, main and binding warps bound in 2/1 S warp-faced twill, pattern and ground wefts bound in weft-faced 2/1 S twill. Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection T-1209

Fig. 3 | Detail of Shawl or waist-cloth, Paithan or Aurangabad, Maharashtra, early 18th century, with stamp with date 1120 AH/1708-9 CE. Silk and metal-wrapped thread, plain-weave field, tapestry-woven ends, side and cross borders.

The Textile Museum Collection 6.315 Museum purchase.

Fig. 6 | Sari (patolu), Patan, Gujarat, 19th century.

Silk, double ikat (resist-dyed warp and weft), plain weave. The Textile Museum Collection 6.63.

Acquired by George Hewitt Myers in 1931.

Support for this exhibition, its accompanying publication and related programming is provided by the following:

Alastair and Kathy Dunn Roger and Claire Pratt E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation Bruce P. and Olive W. Baganz Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection Endowment Tina M. deVries Helen K. King Norma and Ted Lonoff The Markarian Foundation Edwina M. Nelon Mary Jo Otsea and Richard H. Brown David M. Sloan Barbara and Jefferey Steele Corinne M. Berezuk Sylvia Bergstrom, Joe Rothstein, and Marin Hagen Cynthia R. Boyer Sheridan and Richard Collins K. Burke Dillon Grace and David Pratt Jay M. Schippers

VISITOR INFORMATION GALLERY TOURS

Join one of our drop-in tours or book a custom exhibition tour for your group. Learn more at www.museum.gwu.edu/visit.

PROGRAMS

Check the monitor in the lobby or talk to our receptionist to learn about programs happening during your visit. For a full list of onsite and virtual programs, visit www.museum.gwu.edu/programs.

TEXTILE LIBRARY

To schedule an appointment at the museum’s Arthur D. Jenkins Library, email our librarian at museumlibrary@gwu.edu.

ARTISANS GALLERY

Purchase and learn about handmade textiles representing global traditions from India, Japan, Peru and more. Follow our Instagram @ArtisansGalleryShop.

JOIN OR DONATE

Support from our members and donors enables us to showcase textile art through exhibitions, programs and publications. To join or renew a current membership, or to make a donation, visit www.museum.gwu.edu/ support, call 202-994-5579 or stop by the front desk.

The limited-edition catalog for this exhibition is available

1,000 years of art and design

Indian Textiles

Indian Textiles

Karun

1,000 years of art and design

The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum

for sale in the museum’s Artisans Gallery.

Located on GW’s campus in downtown D.C., The Textile Museum celebrates art, history and world cultures.

Public programs and exhibitions are inspired by diverse collections of global textiles and local history. Resources for students and scholars include the peer-reviewed The Textile Museum Journal, the Cotsen Textile Traces Study Center and the Albert H. Small Center for National Capital Area Studies.

The Textile Museum Collection includes more than 21,000 examples of handmade textile art from Middle Eastern, Asian, African, and Indigenous American cultures, and a growing collection of contemporary art.

The museum also houses the Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection, one of the world’s most significant textile study collections.

You can place an order at 202-994-7945 or

Karun Thakar An avid collector since childhood, Karun Thakar is guided by his own curiosity—as a result, his collections are remarkably diverse. At their heart are textiles from India, Africa, Japan, Afghanistan, Central Asia and Europe, but they also encompass bronzes from Africa and India, jewellery, trade beads, gold adornments, Asian pottery and English furniture. Karun is passionate about sharing his collections with audiences across the world. Through museum exhibitions, publications and scholarship he wishes to contribute to a wider understanding of the postcolonial cultural and personal narratives of different communities, while inspiring in others the same curiosity that set him on his path.

Indian Textiles 1,000 years of art and design

artisansgallery@gwu.edu.

Karun

TextileMuseum

@GWTextileMuseum

701 21st St., NW, Washington, DC 20052

202-994-5200

@GWMuseum wwwmuseum.gwu.edu