IMAGE DETAILS

Palepai, Lampung, south Sumatra, Indonesia 20th century

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22 December 2008

Stephen Blackwelder reports on ‘Island Magic Court and Tribal Textiles from Indonesia’, which he curated at the Minasian Oriental Rugs in Evanston, Chicago (7 November 2008-10 January 2009), a first venture in the art of Indonesia for the gallery:  

The vast archipelago of Indonesia comprises more than 17,500 islands and the diversity of textiles from those cultural traditions is staggering. When one museum specialist suggests that “textiles are to Indonesia what painting is to Italy,” that is no understatement. In fact, the textile designs and patterns handed down by the “ancient peoples” of Indonesia are a true living language for many groups who until recently had no written alphabet at all.

A number of these textile languages are currently on display at the Minasian Textile Arts gallery in Evanston, IL. Long known for its inventory of antique oriental rugs, Minasian have now mounted eleven critically acclaimed exhibitions of rugs and ethnographic textiles, with this offering being only the third to feature outstanding textiles from around the world. Over 90 examples from various sources, including several private collections are presented in the showroom’s expansive and high-ceilinged gallery with flexible lighting and movable wall panels for display.

Yet even a wide-ranging sampling of Indonesian textiles only scratches the surface of a field that has recently benefited from the scholarly attentions of Mattiebelle Gittinger, a research associate at the Washington Textile Museum, and Robyn Maxwell, senior curator of Asian Art at the National Gallery of Australia, among others. In fact, recent major exhibitions by the Art Institute of Chicago (2007) and the current exhibition of Mary Hunt Kahlenberg’s collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art were the inspiration for the Minasian effort. The textiles are presented in groupings by culture and location, with perhaps the most impressive and diverse being from Sumatra, the largest of the Indonesian territories.

No display of Indonesian textiles would be complete without an iconic palepai or ship’s cloth and there are two outstanding examples. The strong graphic appeal of the ship image was a reminder of the Lampung sea-trading economy and also the soul’s eventual passage from one life into the next. In addition to the sumptuously decorated traditional palepai (Fig. 1), there is also an example with a format favoured by the Krui people – repeating rows of alternating compartments holding a figure adorned with the ram’s horn motif. Sumatran court traditions are also well represented by several richly brocaded and woven songkets and tapis, with their gold and silver threads and highly stylized designs.

On the opposite side of the spectrum are three powerfully tribal pua or ceremonial cloths from the Iban people of Kalimantan/Borneo. These cotton ikats were woven by the wives of village headhunters, who put themselves at spiritual peril while weaving such images. A group of smaller kain keban or skirts (both Iban and Kantu) display similar designs and workmanship but without the fierce spiritual rigour. The Iban people are also represented by several fine beadwork panels created to adorn baby carriers.

The island of Bali is well-known for its celebrated double-ikat geringsing cloths, of which there are three examples. The largest (Fig. 2) is of exceptional quality and displays Javanese wayang figural scenes framed by sumptuous gold-wrapped songket end panels. The show also included a rare embroidered tabing or shrine panel boldly displaying a pre-Islamic joy of figural representation in a scene from the 7^th century Calonarong epic (Fig. 3). The lesser islands of Flores, Sunda and Lembata are represented by traditional woven ikat sarongs or tube skirts, and many of the Timorese textiles shown, which tend toward a sunny, boldly colourful style in their sarongs and shoulder cloths, were enhanced with fanciful buna embroidery.  

Modern visitors to the island of Sumba often purchase a brightly coloured ikat hinggi or man’s shoulder cloth (Fig. 4) as a souvenir but few travellers ever get to see a 19^th century piece like the one on display here – the softly saturated colours and supple, fine weave clearly distinguish it as a genuine work of art. Finally, no selection of Indonesian textiles would be complete without the intricate wax-resist batiks from Java: of particular note are three early, tulis (hand-drawn) kemben or breast cloths. A group of four 20^th century iket or head cloths shows the degeneration (or adaptation) over time of the old Hindu sawat motif (representing the wings of Garuda).

The various island cultures of Indonesia have always been at the crossroads of travel, international trade and the exchange of spiritual traditions. In this rich tradition, the influences of India, China, the Middle East and (eventually) Europe have left their indelible impression on the designs, techniques and ceremonial purposes of the Indonesian textile arts. We are fortunate that these labour-intensive and spirit-laden artifacts are still available to us for acquisition, study and inspiration.