KUBA
77
repeats across the surface of the garment. Yet,
in the thickness of the embroidered lines and the
contrast between the blacks and tans of the triangular
lines, one sees a notable shift from the
work’s eighteenth-century cousin. And though
the dark brown of the skirt’s base panels detracts
from this contrast, there is no mistaking
the design. This is a work that calls attention
both to itself and to individual wearing it.
Each of these works appears staid in contrast
to the textiles produced by Kuba artists in the
late nineteenth and early to middle twentieth
centuries. In these later works, an allegiance to
repeating pattern gives way to a visual cacophony
of large-scale designs rendered in starkly
contrasting color. These are works that loudly
proclaim their status as symbols of wealth
and power and practically assault the viewer
with their visual intensity. Note, for instance,
the contrasts between the previously discussed
overskirts with one manufactured between
1890 and 1910 (figs. 1 and 12). Like those produced
before it, the central panels are defined
by a single geometric unit—a triangle in this
case—that repeats across the length of the woven
composition. Yet there are critical breaks
with the past. For one, the standard design unit
is larger. Moreover, the dark colors chosen for
the pattern make the design much more visible
against the light base panels. Most importantly,
however, is the inclusion of secondary design
units. Whereas earlier textiles allowed for empty
space between the basic geometric units of
design, the artist(s) who created this piece chose
to fill those voids with additional subsidiary
patterns stitched in green and dark brown.
FIG. 8 (above):
Prestige cloth.
Kuba, Kasai Province,
DR Congo. 1812–1920
(date range determined
by carbon-14 testing).
Raffia palm fiber. 40.6 x 59.7 cm.
Private collection. R.18060.20.
FIG. 9 (right):
Overskirt.
Kuba, Kasai Province,
DR Congo. 1962–1963
(date range determined
by carbon-14 testing).
Raffia palm fiber. 147.3 x 61 cm.
Private collection. R.18060.14.