Woman's Ceremonial Overskirt

CultureKuba peoples, Shoowa subgroup

Date20th century

MediumHandwoven raffia cloth

DimensionsOverall: 58 1/2 inches (148.59 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust through the George H. and Elizabeth O. Davis Fund

Object number91-29

On View

Not on view

Collections

African Art

Terms

Gallery Label

This woman's overskirt exhibits the inventive justaposition of geometric forms that distinguishes the Kuba aesthetic. Vegetal dyes were used to create dynamic contrasts of light and dark shades. Its plush velvet surface was created using the particularly labor-intensive cut-pile embroidery technique, producing variation in texture as well as design. Only women wear ceremonial skirts composed entirely of prestigious cut-pile panels.

Provenance

With Fifi White, Shawnee Mission, KS, by 1987-1991 [1];

Purchased from White by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1991.

NOTES:

[1] This object was on loan to the Nelson-Atkins from Fifi White, September 27-December 13, 1987.

Published References

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 87, (repro.).

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