Cloth with Lizard (alangba)
Dateearly 20th century
Label TextPlain cotton shirt material from Europe began arriving in Nigeria at the beginning of the twentieth century. It remained at the very bottom of the Yoruba scale of status until indigo dyers seized the medium. Their resist processes creatively transformed the cotton into canvases. Not hours, but days of effort were required to complete one cloth, the fine lines and details painstakingly achieved by painting cassava paste on with a feather.
Object number2001.976
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Indigo, May 9 - Oct. 19, 2003.
Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Mood Indigo: Textiles from Around the World, Apr. 9 - Oct. 9, 2016.Credit LineGift of the Christensen Fund
Dimensions78 9/16 x 78 3/8 in. (199.5 x 199 cm)
MediumCotton; factory woven plain weave; paste-resist (adire eleko); natural indigo dye
Object number: 2001.977
Object number: 2001.982
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