ART on view 86 FIG. 12 (below): Lidded box. Kuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo. 19th century. Collected by Father Cambier, 1891. Wood (Crossopteryx febrifuga). W: 15.5 cm. Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, EO.1986.22.78. Photo: J.-M. Vandyck; © Musée Royale de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren. FIG. 13 (near right): Tukula sculpture, mboong itool. Kuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo. 19th century. Collected by Léon Rom, 1890s. Vegetable ngula/tukula powder, sandy clay. H: 21 cm. Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, EO.0.0.28550. Photo: J.-M. Vandyck; © Musée Royale de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren. FIG. 14: (far right): Detail of FIG. 7. tive and informative. Following her introduction to the art and culture of the Kuba, Patricia Darish examines the textiles in the MRAC and Sheppard collections for the first time in their colonial context. She also compares the purposes and viewpoints of de Macar and Sheppard, both pivotal figures who not only collected material represented in the show but also provided early documentation on Kuba art and culture for the West. She then explores in detail the ways in which Kuba men and women from all economic and social levels, and over several hundred years, have produced raffia cloth and created textiles that identify rank and status for both the living and the deceased.2 Analysis of the technical details such as finish, dye, construction, and assembly of three provenanced and three unprovenanced textiles is also featured in a catalog essay by Christine Giuntini, who provides a new in-depth examination of these Kuba garments.3 Some of these skirts and overskirts are characterized by the prevalence of a reddish dye known as tukula/ngula. Where it comes from, how it is processed, and how it is used are subjects examined by Julien Volper in another catalog essay.4 His analysis points out the importance of different types of objects associated with the art of tukula/ngula, which is created by combining vegetable oil and a reddish powder extracted from a hardwood tree. Among the related objects on display are blocks of tukula; a tukula mixing bowl; camwood paste sculptures known as mboong itool (fig. 13); and lidded boxes that serve, inter alia, as containers for tukula powder, used not only for the dyeing of raffia but also as a cosmetic for women’s faces and bodies (fig. 12). Camwood-paste sculptures, carved with geometrically patterned motifs often found on textiles, were also made by Kuba women for use as gifts in funerary celebrations. To reinforce the exhibition’s historical methodology, the installation integrates photographic postcards and trade cards that illustrate the ways in which contemporary Western images popularized the splendor of the Kuba monarchy around the world in the twentieth century. Christraud M. Geary’s catalog essay5 argues that Kuba kings, members of the elite, and artists themselves actively participated in this process. Finally, the exhibition looks at how Western artists in the twentieth century were inspired by Kuba designs. Scholars have previously noted that Henri Matisse and Paul Klee were influenced by these motifs, and reference has been made on occasion to Austrian painter Gustav Klimt, who collected African art and textiles, but this connection has never been examined in depth. Verena Traeger argues for a correspondence between decorative elements depicted in Klimt’s work, particularly during his “Golden Period,” and Kuba patterns.6 With its focus on the textile holdings of the MRAC and Hampton University, Kuba Textiles: Geometry in Form, Space, and Time brings together significant examples from collections more than a century old, while the catalog offers new historical, technical, and contextual perspectives. 7 Drawing on visual and material analysis as well as archival documents and anthropological fieldwork, the examination of Kuba textiles alongside closely related objects in wood, tukula, and other media marks an advance in the scholarship devoted to the study of the art of the exceptionally creative Kuba peoples. Kuba Textiles: Geometry in Form, Space, and Time March 1 through June 14, 2015 Neuberger Museum of Art www.neuberger.org NOTES 1. See Académie Royale des Sciences d’Outre-Mer, Biographie Belge d’Outre-Mer, vol. 6 (Brussels: 1968), s.v., “Charles Henri- Marie Ernest Tombeur de Tabora,” col. 1022–26. 2. Catalog essay: “‘A Land of Great Promise’: Exploration and Kuba- Decorated Textiles in the Late Nineteenth Century.” 3. Catalog essay: “Rare Beauties: Technique and Structure of Early Kuba Garments.” 4. Catalog essay: “Women in Red: The Kuba Art of Tukula.” 5. Catalog essay: “Creating and Disseminating Images of the Kuba and Their Arts, 1885–1971.” 6. Catalog essay: “Gustav Klimt and African Art: Kuba Affinities.” 7. Generous support for Kuba Textiles has been provided by the Coby Foundation, Ltd; the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts; Arts Westchester, with the support from Westchester County Government; and Elisabeth and Bob Wilmers. Additional support has been provided by members of the African Arts Council of the Neuberger Museum of Art, the Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art, and the Purchase College Foundation.
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