Day 129 - "Bleu no. 1"
February 28, 2019
Galley 351 is a small antechamber to the much larger gallery 350 (the gallery numbers should be reversed, if you ask me). It contains a relatively small number of objects, many of which come from East Africa. Specifically, there are a number of Christian objects from Ethiopia, including an illustrated gospel, a small icon worn around the neck as a pendant, and a bronze cross that could be mounted as a finial on a staff and used in processions. I am surprised to see that many of the faces have light skin tones and surmise that this is because, as the caption tells me, Byzantine and Italian paintings available at the ruler's court served as models for Ethiopian artists, and also because foreign painters were employed by the court. The gallery also holds an elaborately pieced-together silk hanging made in 2010 by a group of master weavers from Madagascar, which I suppose also counts as East Africa.
While I'm in the course of writing, a group of young schoolchildren, mostly children of color, enters this small space along with their teacher and a museum educator. The children sit on the floor while the educator, a middle-aged woman, sits on a folding chair, leaning forward toward them as she speaks. I am impressed by her poise and skill. She knows that the children have been studying different cultures in their social studies class and also that a dedicated art teacher comes to their class. She asks, "Since we are in an art museum, what do we mean by art?" She elicits responses involving "imagination" and "planning," and I am a little surprised and moved, because these are exactly the thoughts and perceptions that have been rolling around inside me with regard to today's object.
That object is a large cotton hanging, pehaps 14 feet long and 7 feet high, entitled "Bleu no. 1" and created in 2014 by a Malian artist, Abdoulaye Konate', who was born in 1953. The caption describes it as paying tribute to indigo dye, which, I read further, has been central to West African aesthetics. Remarkably, the hanging is constructed of literally hundreds of strips of mostly blue cloth, of various lengths and widths, that are stitched together in eight overlapping tiers, with the ends of the strips hanging down freely. The blues vary in shade as well, from very light at the bottom to very dark as the eye reads up the work; in a tier near the top, the blue is interrupted by a few strips of solid red and yellow and multicolored prints that add visual interest.
I marvel at Konate''s ability to conceive of this project and to the intensity of the effort that must have been involved in placing so many pieces side by side to achieve both variety and harmony. The children are exactly right: imagination and planning.
While I'm in the course of writing, a group of young schoolchildren, mostly children of color, enters this small space along with their teacher and a museum educator. The children sit on the floor while the educator, a middle-aged woman, sits on a folding chair, leaning forward toward them as she speaks. I am impressed by her poise and skill. She knows that the children have been studying different cultures in their social studies class and also that a dedicated art teacher comes to their class. She asks, "Since we are in an art museum, what do we mean by art?" She elicits responses involving "imagination" and "planning," and I am a little surprised and moved, because these are exactly the thoughts and perceptions that have been rolling around inside me with regard to today's object.
That object is a large cotton hanging, pehaps 14 feet long and 7 feet high, entitled "Bleu no. 1" and created in 2014 by a Malian artist, Abdoulaye Konate', who was born in 1953. The caption describes it as paying tribute to indigo dye, which, I read further, has been central to West African aesthetics. Remarkably, the hanging is constructed of literally hundreds of strips of mostly blue cloth, of various lengths and widths, that are stitched together in eight overlapping tiers, with the ends of the strips hanging down freely. The blues vary in shade as well, from very light at the bottom to very dark as the eye reads up the work; in a tier near the top, the blue is interrupted by a few strips of solid red and yellow and multicolored prints that add visual interest.
I marvel at Konate''s ability to conceive of this project and to the intensity of the effort that must have been involved in placing so many pieces side by side to achieve both variety and harmony. The children are exactly right: imagination and planning.
Comments
Post a Comment