“Add to” and “take away” refer to basic techniques African textile artists use to decorate cloth. “Add to” techniques include embroidery and appliqué. “Take away” refers to the removal of threads from cloth to create intricate patterns. Decorated cloth is often a powerful expressive medium in African life, a kind of visual language that can be read by those familiar with it. This installation of cloths drawn primarily from the DMA’s collection explores these techniques as they have been—and still are—practiced in Mali, Republic of Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Ethiopia. “Add to” and “take away” refer to basic techniques African textile artists use to decorate cloth. “Add to” techniques include embroidery and appliqué. “Take away” refers to the removal of threads from cloth to create intricate patterns. Decorated cloth is often a powerful expressive medium in African life, a kind of visual language that can be read by those familiar with it. This installation of cloths, drawn primarily from the DMA’s acclaimed collection of African art, explores these techniques as they have been—and still are—practiced in Mali, Republic of Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Ethiopia.
Admission is FREE
The Dallas Museum of Art is supported, in part, by the generosity of Museum Partners and donors and by the citizens of Dallas through the City of Dallas/Office of Cultural Affairs and the Texas Commission on the Arts.
images: Tunic with appliquéd designs, Probably 1920s, Cameroon: Kom people, cotton and wool; commercially woven fabrics, machine and hand stitching, Dallas Museum of Art, Textile Purchase Fund; Appliqué banner, 1900-1930, Republic of Benin: Fon people, cotton (including imported fabric), Dallas Museum of Art, Textile Purchase Fund; Man's prestige robe (riga or agbada), 1900-1950, Nigeria: Yoruba, Hausa, or Nupe, wild silk and cotton, Dallas Museum of Art, Textile Purchase Fund; Woman's embroidered shawl, Probably 1930s, Nigeria or Cameroon, Africa, cotton, Dallas Museum of Art, Textile Purchase Fund; Man's tunic, 20th century, Nigeria: Yoruba peoples. glass beads and cotton, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Mr. and Mrs. S. Roger Horchow; Robe for a dignitary (boubou lomasa), Late 19th-early 20th century, Mali: Soninke people, cotton and silk; plain weave and embroidery, Dallas Museum of Art, Textile Purchase Fund; Overskirt with wavy edge (ntshakakot), early 20th century, Democratic Republic of the Congo: Kuba peoples, Bushoong group, palm leaf fiber (raffia), cotton, wool, and vegetal fiber, Dallas Museum of Art, Textile Purchase Fund