KUBA
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viewer is encouraged to keep looking—both at
the textile and at the person wearing it.
Given the different viewing relationships
prompted by these designs, the formal transformation
of Kuba textiles must be understood as a
transformation of the ruling class’s relationship
with its subjects. Whereas the eighteenth-century
elites were less interested in broadcasting
their status—at least not for extended periods of
time—it became increasingly valuable for them
to do so in the nineteenth century. And by the
early 1900s, the formal qualities of textile design
indicate that the public displays of authority
were a near necessity for aristocrats and members
of the ruling elite. The natural follow-up
question to these evidence-backed observations
is, of course, “Why?” Why did members of the
Kuba elite begin to commission and wear garments
specifi cally designed to captivate and hold
a viewer’s attention? And why was this more important
FIG. 20 (left):
Prestige cloth.
Kuba, Kasai Province,
DR Congo. 1960s (assumed
date range based on style).
Raffi a palm fi ber. 59.7 x 59.7 cm.
Private collection. R.18060.5.
FIG. 21 (right):
“Bakuba.” Une
brodeuse. (“Bakuba.” An
embroideress). Photograph
by Casimir Zagourski
(1880–1941).
Pierre Loos Collection. Courtesy of
Andres Moraga Textile Art.
in the twentieth century than it was in
the eighteenth?
Defi nitive answers to these questions can be
fi rmly established only through additional testing
and on-the-ground research. However, we
hypothesize that the centuries-long transition
toward bold, inventive, and eye-catching design
occurred as Kuba elites sought new and more
dynamic ways to proclaim and preserve their
status and authority. Indeed, the three moments
of formal innovation that we have identifi ed—
the early nineteenth century, the late nineteenth