Object Details
- Label Text
- Bark cloths were historically beaten from fibrous vines and used as canvases for Mbuti women of the Ituri Forest to paint various designs referencing the natural environment around them. However, the same cloths could also be used as loin cloths for adults and as receiving blankets for infants, adding a functional layer to the artistic.
- Scholar Robert Farris Thompson relates the visual dissonance and assymetry in the design composition of bark cloths to the creative intellecual abilities of the Mbuti--in the intricacy of their polyphony and in their ability to switch between any of the three languages they speak as the mood seizes them, even in the middle of a story. Bark cloth painting is one of many creative artistic practices found amongst the Mbuti, including singing, dancing, painting, learning languages and building houses.
- Stylistically, Mbuti female artisans value empty space as much as dots, straight lines, semi-circles and so forth, and value sophisticated and clever placements of seemingly disparate motifs--all of which allude to something known, from stars, fans and arrows, to insects, the tortoise, a comb or spiderwebs. With their sensuous and egalitarian motion, bark cloths stand as a testament to the beauty of the random, and the ability of artists to absorb and translate migration and change in subtle, yet powerful ways.
- Description
- Bark cloth panel with dyed linear geometric designss, interspersed with small opposing curved forms.
- Provenance
- Charles Henault, field collected. ca 1950s
- Marc Leo Felix, Brussels, to late 1980s
- Mona Gavigan, Washington, D.C., late 1980s-2014
- Content Statement
- As part of our commitment to accessibility and transparency, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is placing its collection records online. Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks. If you see content requiring immediate action, we will do our best to address it in a timely manner. Please email nmafacuratorial@si.edu if you have any questions.
- Image Requests
- High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/
- Data Source
- National Museum of African Art
- Maker
- Mbuti artist
- Date
- Mid-20th century
- Credit Line
- Gift of Mona Gavigan in memory Merton Simpson
- Medium
- Barkcloth, plant dye
- Dimensions
- H x W: 61 × 34.3 cm (24 × 13 1/2 in.)
- Type
- Textile and Fiber Arts
