ART on view
94
FIG. 1 (left):
Textile fragment.
Paracas, Peru.
200 BC–AD 100.
Camelid fi ber, cotton. 14 x 52.7 cm.
Saint Louis Art Museum, museum
purchase, inv. 49:1942.
Balance and Opposition
Balance and Opposition in
Ancient Peruvian Textiles presents works from
the Saint Louis Art Museum’s impressive collection
of Andean textiles that have never before
been seen together as a group. This display of
works from diverse cultures spanning more than
1,500 years demonstrates the array of pre-conquest
traditions and innovations in textile technology.
For example, a fragment from a Paracas
mantle, c. 200 BC–AD 100 (fi g. 1) features
composite beings embroidered in numerous
bright colors, while an Inka coca bag, c. AD
1450–1600 (fi g. 10) repeats abstract imagery in
tricolored warp-faced weave. The exhibition, on
view until November 25, 2018, illustrates the
pervasive concept of duality in ancient Peruvian
cultures. A range of material evidence shows
that the peoples of ancient Peru understood every
aspect of the lived and supernatural worlds
as being divided into two halves that converge
to create a balanced whole. Consequently, the
religious, political, and physical worlds were organized
into two opposing parts that operated in
a continual pursuit of balance. The notion of the
balance between complementary opposites permeated
cosmology, economics, the human body,
political relationships, and gender. Textiles
themselves served as metaphors for the necessary
balance of dual elements, as they come into
existence only when the warp (vertical threads
attached to the loom) is woven with the weft
(horizontal interlacing threads).
Peru’s geography can itself be divided into two
contrasting environments: the Andes mountains
and the Pacifi c coast. For millennia, groups living
in Ancient Peruvian Textiles
in opposing regions traded and interacted
with each other, benefi tting from the variety of
natural resources and exchange of ideas. Textiles
produced by numerous cultures were buried
in the coastal desert, where extreme aridity
allowed for their survival. Ancient Peruvian textiles
were made from two primary fi ber sources
indigenous to and evocative of opposing ecological
zones: pima cotton that grows on the coast
and fi ber from the camelids that graze in the Andean
highlands. Cotton is stronger than camelid
fi ber but does not take natural dyes as well. Typically,
when both materials are found in a single
textile, the visible, vibrantly colored yarns are
animal fi ber and the cotton is often undyed and
not apparent on the surface. When woven together,
as in the Chimú tapestry fragment, these
fi bers enact the harmonious intersection of opposing
materials and geographical regions (fi g.
6). Here, the pelican motif playfully emphasizes
facture and the illusionistic capabilities of textiles.
Although the yarns in this fragment are fi ne
enough to allow for the birds to look realistic,
the weaver created blocky imagery to emphasize
warp and weft, thus highlighting the process of
textile manufacture. Dualities of form are further
enacted by the stark contrast between imagery
and background, established by the vibrant
cochineal-based magenta color and emphasized
by the illusion of outlining created by the slit
tapestry technique that creates slight openings
emphasizing the shape of the birds.
The majority of the textiles in the Saint Louis
Art Museum collection were purchased in lots
from dealers around the mid-twentieth century,
By Deborah Spivak
FIG. 2 (top right): Panel.
Wari, Peru. AD 650–900.
Feathers, cotton. 68.4 x 209.1 cm.
Saint Louis Art Museum, museum
purchase, inv. 285:1949.
FIG. 3 (above): Tunic.
Ica, Peru. AD 1000–1400.
Camelid fi ber. 59.1 x 124.9 cm.
Saint Louis Art Museum, museum
purchase, inv. 284:1949.
FIGS. 4a and b (right and
above right): Mantle (full
object and detail of felines).
Paracas, Peru.
200 BC–AD 100.
Camelid fi ber. 127 x 260 cm.
Saint Louis Art Museum, museum
purchase, Friends Fund, and
funds provided by the Maymar
Corporation, inv. 21:1956.