Title: Genuine Shoowa-Kuba Cloth or "Kasai Velvet"Date/Period: Mid 20th centuryMaterials: Fiber and pigmentsDImensions: 52 x 59 cm.Additional Information: These textiles are handmade by the Kuba ethnic group from the Democratic Republic of Congo, at least since the 16th century, with the knowledge of the craft being passed down from generation to generation until today. Weaving is of paramount importance to the Kuba people, as it is the fabric that identifies social status and royalty, expressing status and power. Traditionally designed to be worn as a skirt during festivals and ritual performances, the main material used is a fiber (raffia) extracted from the palm tree. The skirt is fastened with a sash and usually worn over another embroidered skirt, red or cream. Each cloth is a unique piece due to its motifs, design, and overall complexity of fabric production. Throughout life, they will be inherited, collected, and preserved as a way to celebrate one's position in society and represent a high status, even as a funeral shroud. Kuba, in fact, refers to the region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly known as Zaire, from which the raffia fabric comes, and Shoowa is a tribal group living in this region that produces a specific style of fabric. Their designs are intricate, in strong earthy colors, and have a variety of uses such as currency, dowry, status symbols, and funeral shrouds. The tribes' men are responsible for cultivating, cutting, splicing, and dyeing the fabric using indigo, mud, and other dyes, mainly substances from the "camwood" tree, which are called twool and have a red color. The raffia fiber used in Kuba textile production is woven only by men on looms at a 45-degree angle. It requires great skill and physical endurance. The size of each raffia panel is limited by the length of the fiber, usually about 1m2. The fabric is still rough when it comes off the loom, then it is pounded in a mortar, making it smoother and ready for weaving and sewing by women. The Shoowa people introduced the "cut-pile" technique in the Kuba kingdom in the mid-17th century. This highly specialized and time-consuming technique involves embroidering the base designs, passing and stretching raffia threads between the weft with a needle, without visible stitches or knots, until a density is achieved that allows the creation of a plush or velvet effect. A particularly beautiful and well-executed Kuba cloth can be directly linked to hierarchy and the reinforcement of political authority. The dramatic impact of its design is key to visually cementing this dominion. Contemporaneity and use in the West - art and decoration - Henri Matisse, the French Impressionist painter, acquired several Kuba cloths to hang on the walls of his studio. It is said that Matisse would sit and look at them "waiting for something from their instinctive geometry to reach me." His work "Les Velours" from 1947 is said to have been influenced in this way.
Reserve: $160.00
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