February 10 – July 30, 2006 Exhibition on rarely seen textiles selected by the Director Daniel Walker.
TM Announcement: Director’s Choice from the Museum’s Collections presents Director Daniel Walker’s selection of 28 rarely exhibited textiles from The Textile Museum’s permanent holdings, which number more than 17,000 objects.
Cushion cover. Caucasus, 18th century. The Textile Museum 2.6. Acquired by George Hewitt Myers in 1915.The resulting exhibition is varied in terms of culture and function, representing the major areas of textiles traditionally collected by the Museum. Included are textiles from South America, Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia, and Japan.
Tunic fragment. Peru, South Highlands, Colonial Inca style. The Textile Museum 91.8. Acquired by George Hewitt Myers in 1940.The exhibition features many special pieces, including a Persian kilim acquired by Museum founder George Hewitt Myers in 1926. The kilim has not been exhibited since 1987. The kilim is in pristine condition and was a favorite of Myers, who used the design for his bookplate.
KilimAnother textile, to be exhibited for the first time, is an embroidered alpaca mantle from the Museum’s pre-Columbian Peruvian holdings.
Mantle fragment. Peru, North Coast, Paracas Necropolis style ca. 200-150 B.C.E. The Textile Museum 91.159A. Acquired by George Hewitt Myers in 1932.African textiles include objects from Cameroon – among them three sculptural hats, which have never been exhibited.
Cameroon sculptural hatSouth Asian objects include a never exhibited skirt from Laos.
Cover – Central Asia, late 19th century. The Textile Museum 1989.9.3. Gift of Charles Grant Ellis, from the collection of Arthur Arwire.Among objects from Caucasus and Central Asia are exhibited interesting covers from 18th-19th century.