Centuries of cross-cultural flows of creativity weave together the Metropolitan Museum of Art's ancient and modern art abstractions. Aiming to spotlight the origins of abstract textile art, this compact exhibition brings together two of his textile-based artworks, around 50 in total. To one side of the gallery is a collection of textiles created by artists from the Andean region of South America, approximately from the 4th century BC to the 16th century AD. On the other side, works by four of his contemporary weavers are displayed: Olga de Amaral, Ani Albers, Lenore Tawney, and Sheila Hicks. They reference the methods and aesthetics of his pre-weaver work in South and North America from the mid-20th century onwards. Colombian textiles.
Similar to Albers' famous book On Weaving, which he dedicated to his “great teachers, the weavers of ancient Peru,” this exhibition pays homage to the designs and incredible innovations of the weavers of old. Masu. Set against a dark gray gallery wall (with some hot pink edges here and there), the show emphasizes the connection between old and new. Wall text details the cultural significance of the Andes (such as clothing, fringed bags for carrying coca leaves, and quipu, the Incan knotting system for encoding messages), and explains textile techniques ( Create them using double fabrics, tubular weaves, multilayer structures, discontinuous weave patterns, openwork, knotted fringe, tassels, etc.).
Olga de Amaral, Entrelazado en blanco y turquesa (1965), wool, 51 x 19 1/2 inches
By juxtaposing these ancestral items with the 20th century artworks that took their cues from them, this exhibition explores how large-scale archaeological excavations in the early 1900s led to The purpose is to show how this led to the popularity of textiles and, in turn, the advent of abstract visuals. Vocabulary of contemporary art. This positioning shows how textile technology is poised to become widespread. Albers and Hicks called the weaving process a “thread event” and a “line journey,” respectively. And the journey is built into the fabric. For example, a Wari weaver used six to nine miles of fine thread to make one tunic.
In the show, united by fibers and lattice structures, the divide between ancient and modern textiles acts as a conceptual mirror. Colors, patterns, techniques and materials resonate between the pieces on either side of the installation. The black and white checkerboard pattern of a 16th-century Incan tunic is repeated in Tawney's seven-foot-long linen wall hanging titled “Peru” (1962). De Amaral's wool “Juegogeométricode colores” (1962), with its vibrant palette (magenta, violet, brick red, peach) and graphic shapes surrounded by rectangles, depicts camelids. Textile graphics remind of his symbol. Inca and Wari tunics. The sinuous cream threads of Hicks's airy wall piece (Untitled, 1986) echo the lace openwork of Chancay's headcloth. And the vast earth-toned cotton zigzags of his Chimu wall hanging pattern appear in Albers' Red Serpentine (1954).
Annie Albers, “The Red Meander” (1954), cotton, 20 1/2 x 14 3/4 inches
Seeing ancient images imbued with cultural meaning used outside of their original context inspired contemporary artists to connect with the influential weavers who taught at Black Mountain College. I am reminded of the interview with Zapotec American textile artist Porfirio Gutierrez in the dedicated Weaving at Black Mountain College chapter. school. Asked about his relationship with Albers' work, Gutierrez replied: [Anni’s] “Her work is deeply influenced by the work and forms of my ancestors. Some of the designs she is famous for have very deep spiritual meaning to my culture.”
But Weaving Abstraction curators Ilia Candela and Joan Pillsbury say analyzing cultural appropriation is not the exhibition's mission. “Albers, Hicks, Tawney, and de Amaral were deeply influenced by and deeply invested in the study of Andean heritage, and dissecting how these contemporary artists drew on this tradition'' “That was not our intention,” they wrote in a 1948 essay. – Publication of pages accompanying the exhibition. “Rather, we are learning how artists from these far-flung societies mined the rich veins of textile structure to create works of art of exceptional technical and formal sophistication. I want to find out.”
Time collapses and you feel a sense of awe as you stare at the quadrant field of sparkling light blue and banana yellow that fills the 7-foot-wide Wari feather-covered panel (600-900 AD). Melt together. What initially resembled brushstrokes are actually masses of macaw feathers, precisely tied and arranged to form a velvety, geometric surface. I am struck by the timelessness of these shades and the freshness of this design, which is well over a thousand years old. “It feels very modern,” a gallery visitor murmured to my companion behind me, as if echoing my thoughts. As I stand in front of this and other works in the exhibition, I am struck by how the textiles created by the nimble hands of these late artists still have the power to resonate in vastly different times and places. Did.
Ica Artist, Miniature Dress (12th-13th Century), Ica Valley, Peru, cotton and feathers, 8 3/8 x 8 1/4 inches, 8 3/4 x 8 5/8 inches, 9 1/2 x 8 7/8 inch
Olga de Amaral, “Alchemy 13 (Alquimia 13)” (1984), linen, rice paper, gesso, indigo red, gold leaf, 72 x 62 inches
Sheila Hicks, “The Principal's Lady” (c. 1965), silk, linen, wool, and synthetics, 96 x 86 x 8 inches
Chimú Artist, hanging (12th-15th century), North Coast, Peru, cotton, 61 x 79 1/8 inches
Lenore Tawney, “Peru” (1962), linen, 86 x 18 inches
Installation view of Abstract Textiles in Ancient and Modern Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Left: Wari artist, tunic (7th-11th century), Peru, cotton and camelid fibers, 39 3/8 c 39 3/8 inches.Right: Wari artist, tunic (7th-9th century), Peru, camelid fiber, 42 11/16 x 42 15/16 inches
Inca Artist, “Quipu”, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, or Chile (15th-16th century), cotton, 30 x 30 inches
Left: Anni Albers, “Black White Yellow” (1926, original version lost), rewoven by Gunta Stölzl (1965), mercerized cotton, silk, 80 1/4 x 47 3/ 8 inches.Right: Lenore Tawney partial drawing, “The Bride” (1962), linen and feathers, 138 x 13 inches.
Weaving Abstraction in Ancient and Modern Art runs through June 16 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan). The exhibition was curated by Ilia Candela and Joan Pillsbury.
