1900 SACK OF NSHENG Colonialism ends, and the Democratic
1960 CONGOLESE INDEPENDENCE
1910 INDIRECT COLONIAL RULE The authority of the Kuba king has
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1886 WARS OF SUCCESSION Belgium recognizes the authority of the Kuba Kingdom and asks
Instability on the Kuba throne throws the
royal court into chaos. Ambitious leaders
jockey for power by wearing textiles with
bold, inventive patterns that were designed
to command attention.
King Kot áPe to administer the territory on its behalf. To impress
colonial authorities and cement their status with rebelling subjects,
Kuba leaders commission the most inventive, abstract, and highly
visible textiles in the kingdom’s history.
CIRCA MARKET SHIFT
1970
greatly eroded at this point. Textile
production continues, but many
pieces are made for the tourist market
and their quality markedly declines.
Belgian colonizers sack the capital of
Nsheng and the kingdom is plunged into
a period of instability and impoverishment.
Textile production declines significantly.
Republic of the Congo comes into
being. This change has little effect
on textile design in the kingdom.
1885–1900 1900–1910 1910–1970
KUBA
century, and the early twentieth century—correspond
with times of profound political turmoil
in the kingdom. During each of these periods,
the ruling class of Kuba society—both the titled
offi ceholders known as kolm and the wealthy
aristocrats called baapash—were struggling
with the rapid changes wrought by colonialism
and globalized trade. And though textile design
was but one of many strategies these individuals
used to cement their status in an era of increasing
complexity and heterogeneity, it was an important
and largely successful one.
The fi rst of these transitions—that is to say,
the switch from private- to public-oriented
design—was, in many respects, the most profound.
In part, this is due to the fact that it set
the course for all subsequent evolutions. More
importantly, however, this aesthetic transition
marks the beginning of what we can think of as
a uniquely Kuba design practice. Vanessa Drake
Moraga has argued that the intimate, intricate
designs found on the earliest of Kuba textiles—
those that we have dated to the eighteenth century—
have their origins in Kongolese weaving
traditions from the Atlantic coast.6 Assuming
this is accurate (and we believe that it is), it is
thus possible to understand this early aesthetic
rupture as the beginning of an aesthetic relating
to the political needs and desires of its patrons
rather than in a backward looking allegiance
with the past.