Rijksmuseum Seeks Textile Curator: Perfect Job for a Dyed-in-the-wool Textilian
Good news for textile scholars. The Rijksmuseum has an extraordinary vacancy. They are looking for a textile curator. Full information on the vacancy, in English, here. Application period closes 1 September 2010. Just think off all the beautiful, ancient and important textiles you will have the opportunity to work with. Shown above is a detail from a Coptic textile in the musuem’s collection, ca. 5th to 6th century CE. Image © Rijksmuseum.
Tilleke & Gibbins : The Only Law Firm in Southeast Asia with a Textile Collection
We must salute these lawyers in Bangkok, Tilleke & Gibbins, who proudly display their collection of Southeast Asian textiles online and in-office. They even put a “Textile Collection” page on their official website to show off their woven assets. The collection includes this marvelous antique head cover from Cambodia (above), as well as numerous other heritage textiles from Cambodia, Burma, Thailand and Laos.
The firm has garnered significant publicity related to the textile collection, including in-depth articles in the Asia Times and the highly-respected magazine of world carpets and textiles, HALI, which gave them four pages. Naturally, we would love to see law firms and other businesses in Indonesia follow suit.
Indian and Islamic Textiles at Christie’s 15 April
Among the 149 lots offered at Christie’s South Kensington’s upcoming auction of Indian and Islamic textiles is this striking Egyptian appliqué wall hanging from the 1920s (detail above). The sale includes only two Indonesian textiles, a pair of “lawon” headcloths from Palembang, with the low estimate at a mere ₤1,000 which is well below the market price for good lawon these days.
Bored with Boring Bali Furniture? Yaari Rom’s Got Insane Alternatives
This is seriously crazy furniture from certifiably wacky Bali-based artist, Yaari Rom. So if you’re bored of synthetic rattan sectionals and routine teak garden furniture, go see Yaari. Bali is a magnet for creative eccentrics, but few are as prolific and irrepressible as Yaari is. He does furniture, furnishing fabrics, fashion and body painting events (for which he is internationally famous, or more accurately, notorious). Read more…
The Splendour of Sumatran Textiles on Show in Phoenix
The Phoenix Art Museum presents an exhibition of Sumatran textiles from the collection of Dr. Thomas J. Hudak, through 4 July 2010. The island of Sumatra is far larger and more diverse than most people might think. It’s five times the size of Great Britain and Ireland combined, and is home to a variety of peoples and cultures, some of them little known and studied. This exhibition offers a representative selection of textiles which reflect the island’s cultural diversity and rich history. Dr. Hudak is a professor of linguistics at Arizona State University, focusing on the languages and literature of Southeast Asia, with an emphasis on Indonesian culture, heritage and identity.
Blog Backlog: The Embellished Simplicity of Lawon Prada Textiles
John Ruddy and Kumi Masumoto (among our most favourite textile dealers), showcase an antique Sumatran prada cloth in their catalog page for the New York Arts of Pacific Asia Show 2010 (on page 85). We’ve been keen on these extremely rare textiles for over a decade, and are delighted whenever one appears in public, which is not often. Read more…
Blog Backlog: Roger W. Hollander, Irma Lake, and “Buffalo Bill” Gates
Last June I heard that Bill Gates bought Irma Lake Ranch (above), the property of a dear friend of mine, Roger W. Hollander. I was happy to hear the news. I loved the place, and will never forget the time I spent there. Knowing that it is staying in private hands is somehow heartening. (More info from Huffington Post here.)
Roger bought Irma Lake in the 90s to serve as his private home, and headquarters of his Empire of All Things Extraordinary. The ranch had belonged to Buffalo Bill Cody, and was used to entertain celebrities and heads of state on hunting and nature outings in the mountains and plains near what is now Yellowstone National Park. Cody even had the Burlington Northern Railway build a spur line out to the ranch. Many of the original structures from Cody’s time still survive intact on the 500 acre property. Thanks in part to Roger’s conscientious stewardship of the property during the years he called it home. (You can download a property brochure from it’s listing agent for the sale, here.)
Roger was involved in a terrible car accident a few years ago, while driving down the seven mile mountain drive from Irma Lake Lodge, his spectacularly beautiful, and intensely personal home. In the pre-dawn hours, heading for the Cody airport, he rolled his SUV, and was left in sub-freezing weather, unconscious and upside-down, held in place by his safety belt. Several hours later, he was found by ranchers and rushed to hospital. The head injuries and exposure were so severe, that even a hardy soul like Roger has been unable to recover. He remains in rehabilitative care in Wyoming to this day, and all of his friends are still saddened by Roger’s tragic story.
Blog Backlog: Contemporary Textiles in Kolkata
Contemporary textile arts don’t get any better than this. Check out Weavers Studio in Kolkata for kantha cloth, felt, applique, embroidery, hand prints, kalamkari, zardozi, chikanwork, pintucks, pleats, shibori, and more. This is much more than a production house, it’s a textile study and development centre, devoted to fine handwork and learning from the legacy of world textile traditions.
Blog Backlog: Laharia Turbans of Rajasthan @ Asia Week NYC
Textilians take note. There’s a spiffy article on the Laharia Turbans of Rajasthan in the catalog for the Arts of Pacific Asia Show (part of Asia Week New York 2010).
Parcours des Mondes: The Ultimate Tribal-Primal Art Fair
If you’re not in Paris right now, you missed it.
Parcours des Mondes is now undeniably the ultimate event on earth for non-western art or arts premier *. It takes place in Paris every September, and if you’re not there now, you missed it, because it ends tomorrow. Book now for next year.
During this extraordinary week, the galleries of Saint Germain are taken over by five dozen or so of the world’s most distinguished tribal art dealers – - those with the sharpest eye, the deepest understanding, the best sources, and the most discriminating tastes. After eight years in existence, Parcours has begun to shake the tectonic plates of the global art trade, garnering attention from the highest echelons of art cognoscenti and the media. That is as it should be.
With contemporary art looking like the painted stepsister of a dodgy derivatives investment, it’s not surprising to find timeless art that reaches deep into the roots of humanity and arises directly from those roots, maintaining its stature, and even growing it. Parcours is the proof – - ça marche. In a time when almost nothing works (including a lot of contemporary art dealers), arts premier works. And why shouldn’t it? Tribal art has always been about efficacy – - in proclaiming power, warding off disease, cultivating fertility, and establishing a place in this confusing universe. Ça definitely marche.