Adire African Textiles

In part an updated version of Doig Simmonds and Nancy Stansfield’s classic 1971 book on adire, this new work is without doubt the  most useful and comprehensive book on the Yoruba traditio...

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2016/08/new-book-adire-cloth-in-nigeria-19712016.html

The unique feature of this classic late C19th Yoruba robe is the cloth from which it was tailored. One of the most prestigious and expensive patterns of Yoruba aso oke strip weave was dark in...

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2016/07/a-unique-yoruba-silk-and-indigo-agbada.html

Happy to get some interesting comments on yesterday’s post on the diisa, a long fringed indigo men’s shawl, through my Facebook and Instagram pages. Malian artist and master dyer Aboubaka...

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2016/02/some-comments-on-diisa.html

The photo, by photographer Edmond Fortier, shows the Dioula warlord Samory Touré wearing on his head a plain fringed indigo headscarf called a diisa. In a brief discussion of these distinct...

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-diisa-indigo-scarf-of-sahel.html

Dogon elders wearing indigo and white cotton uldebe cloths. These cloths are still important among the Dogon as a mark of high status and will play an important role in funeral rites. Photo b...

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2016/02/dogon-uldebe-cloths.html

Rare variant style of vintage Mossi indigo shawls from Burkina Faso with 10 inch long braided fringes and tie dye patterning. There is a deluge of mostly very mediocre indigo dyed cloths coming o...

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2016/01/mossi-indigo-shawls.html

I usually steer clear of commenting on books about African-American quilting and apparent affinities with aspects of African textiles as it is a controversial topic that, to be honest, doesn�...

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2016/01/new-book-indigo-quilts30-quilts-from.html

Photo taken from the book “Nomads who cultivate beauty” by Mette Bovin (Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2001) in my view the most interesting of many books on the Wodaabe nomads of Niger. Bovo...

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2016/01/wodaabe-mens-festival-attire-niger.html

Issue #186, out now and available from Hali , includes my article on Ewe kente and a review by John Picton of my book on the Karun Thakar collection of African Textiles. Cloth shown is a rare...

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2016/01/ewe-kente-in-hali-magazine-186.html

At the shop: fine mid century Ewe kente woman's cloth from Ghana. Visit us online at www.adireafricantextiles.com or at Alfies Antique Market in London.

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2016/01/today-at-shop.html

AGB114 - Much prized by lovers of indigo, these smock-like robes were worn by hunters and other senior men in the forested central and northern regions of the Benin Republic and Togo. A rare ...

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2015/12/an-indigo-strip-weave-robe-from-togo.html

Some especially interesting comments on textile use by the eminent historian Phyllis M.Martin. “KRISTEN WINDMULLER-LUNA: In your essay in the exhibition catalogue , you write extensively ...

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2015/11/kongo-power-and-majestythe-blog.html

ADK071 -   This is the best example I have seen of a very rare variant of woven ground adinkra cloth, as distinct from typical adinkra that is hand stamped  onto machine woven imported fab...

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2015/11/cloth-of-month-rare-variant-form-of.html

Interesting blog post on the Kongo textiles at the Met exhibition by British Museum curator Dora Thornton here

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2015/11/of-straw-of-rare-beauty-kongo-textiles.html

Rare view of  a Jukun court official in his elaborate strip woven cloth. Date and photographer unknown. Source: @artnewsafrica

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2015/10/a-jukun-court-official-wukari-nigeria.html

My new book, out now. African Textiles: the Karun Thakar Collection, (Prestel), available now from good bookstores and the usual sources. Main texts and captions are by me, brief foreword by ...

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2015/10/african-textiles-karun-thakar-collection.html

Mossi strip weave, Burkina Faso. Yoruba stitch-resist adire, Nigeria, 1960s. Strip weave, Niger, mid C20th. Hausa strip weaves, Nigeria, circa 1970. Yoruba strip weave...

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2015/10/indigo-details.html

An exhibition of literature and music – from the great African empires of the Middle Ages to the cultural dynamism of West Africa today Fascinating stories from the region’s 17 nations ...

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2015/10/exhibition-west-africa-word-symbol-song.html

While run of the mill Asante kente cloths woven from rayon thread and mostly dating from the 1970s and after are easy to find, top quality silk cloths woven in the early part of the twentieth cen...

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2015/10/asante-silk-kente-cloths.html

NW513 -Fine and rare Yoruba women's wrapper cloth dating from late C19th or early C20th with an exceptionally complex and subtle array of warp stripes incorporating magenta trans-Saharan ...

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2015/09/an-exceptional-silk-and-cotton-yoruba.html

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2015/09/popeyejapanese-magazine.html

Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center, Bloomington, Indiana August 28 to September 26, 2015 “This September 2015 Lotus Arts and Education Foundation in conjunction with Ivy Tech John Waldron ...

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2015/09/exhibition-seeing-red-world-textiles-in.html

I already mentioned the show but this important exhibition really is a unique, once in a lifetime, opportunity to view many of the earliest surviving African textiles, drawn together from numerou...

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2015/09/kongo-power-and-majesty-at-met.html

K260 - Exceptional Asante mixed strip blue and white cotton kente cloth. Composed of four repeats of six different strip patterns, this cloth is notable both for the fine quality of the weavi...

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2015/09/cloth-of-month-fine-blue-and-white.html

KONGO POWER AND MAJESTY SEPTEMBER 18, 2015–JANUARY 3, 2016 “Central Africa's Kongo civilization is responsible for one of the world's greatest artistic traditions. This international l...

http://adireafricantextiles.blogspot.com/2015/08/kongo-power-and-majesty-at-met-museum.html