Preamble
For your convenience I have listed the other posts in this series:
Traditional Indian Textiles - Part I
Traditional Indian Textiles - Part II
Traditional Indian Textiles - Part III
Traditional Indian Textiles - Part IV
Traditional Indian Textiles - Part V
Introduction [1]
Aside from the tapestry-cloth discoveries in Central Asia at the tombs in the Altai mountains (6th - 4th centuries BC) and in Turkestan (2nd Century BC - 10th Century AD), some of which may be of Indian origin, no examples of cloth from the subcontinent were known until the copious nineteenth-century finds of trade cloth unearthed at Fustat, near Cario in Egypt some of which date back to the fifteenth century.
A drawing of Fustat, from Rappoport's 'History of Egypt.'
This object is one of a larger group of textile fragments made in Gujarat, India, but found in Fustat, Egypt (known as Old Cairo.) Dated to either the fifteenth or sixteenth century, it is decorated with patterns which echo the ornamental motifs found in painted Jain manuscripts made during this time. These features can be seen in the fragment’s repeated checkered patterning on the top and bottom borders, which are filled with crosses and divided into smaller squares with floral medallions.
We have both Asian and European literary references to cloth production to shed light on the many centuries bridging these archaeological finds. Assyrian and Babylonian tablets from the seventh century BC allude to the cotton trade between Mesopotamia and the Subcontinent. From within India itself the Hindu epics such as Ramayana and the Mahabharata, as well as Buddhist sources, chart in detail the processes and uses of textiles made of cotton, linen and silk between the fifteenth and second centuries BC. The silk yarn is thought to be Chinese, suggesting the existence of a long-established overland trading route with the lands north of the Himalays.
Silk Road.
By the sixth century BC the expansion of the Persian Empire linked the Indus basin with the Mediterranean by overland and coastal trade routes. Indian cloth became much coverted by both the Persians and the Greeks because of its brilliant colors.
Traditional Indian Textiles - Part V [1]
Weaving in Barpali, Odisha, India.
An elderly man preparing the loom heddles.
Starching the warp with rice paste.
Late nineteenth century mural from a "haveli" (mansion) in Mandawa, Rajasthan, depicting a block printer at work.
Silk bandhani 'odhni' (shawl), from Jamnagar, Saurashtra, made for the wedding of a Gujarati woman of a wealthy family.
Detail of a grid-patterned sari (known as 'garchola'), made with 'bandhani' (tie-and-dye) work, in Mandvi, Kutch and finally dyed red in Jamnagar, Saurashtra.
Sari woven in 'muga' (wild silk) in West Nowgaon District, Assam.
'Kinkhab' (silk and metal thread) 'gaghra' (skirt), woven in Jamnagar, worn by the Kathi women of Saurashtra.
Late eighteenth century 'rumsl' (cover) depicting a marriage ceremony. Muslim embroidered either colored silks, from Chamba, in the Himalayan foothills.
Detail of contemporary 'kantha' work embroidery from Jamalpur, Bangladesh.
A mashru and mirrorwork 'odhi' (known as a 'karamulah') depicting flowers and parrots, worn at festive occasions by the Ahir women of Kutch, Gujarat.
Reference:
[1] Traditional Indian Textiles, John Gillow and Nicholas Barnard, Thames and Hudson, London (1993) ISBN 0-500-27709-5.
Preamble [1]
'Melbourne Now' was an art exhibition mounted by the National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne, Australia) in 2014. It took as its premise the idea that a city is significantly shaped by the artists, designers, architects, choreographers, intellectuals, and community groups that lived and worked in the midsts of this multi-cultural city. The aim was to explore how Melbourne's visual artists and creative practitioners contributed to the dynamic cultural identity of this city. The result was an exhibition that celebrates what was unique about Melbourne's art, design, and architectural collectives.
The intention of the exhibition was to encourage and inspire everyone to discover some of the best of Melbourne's culture. To help achieve this, family-friendly activities, dance and music performances, inspiring talks from creative practitioner's, city walks and ephemeral installations and events made up the public program.
This and other posts in this series concentrate on the participating artists, rather than on other features of the exhibition event such as the family-friendly commissions developed especially for children and young audiences that was aimed to encourage participatory learning for children and their families in general.
For your convenience I have listed below other posts on this blogspot that features Melbourne Now exhibitions:
Melbourne Now - Part I
Melbourne Now - Part II
Melbourne Now - Part III
Melbourne Now - Part IV
Melbourne Now - Part V
Melbourne Now - Part VI
Melbourne Now - Part VII
Melbourne Now - Part VIII
Melbourne Now - Part IX
Melbourne Now - Part X
Melbourne Now - Part X [1]
Ponch Hawkes
Ponch Hawkes was born in Melbourne (Australia) in 1946. She began to photograph in the 1970s and held her first exhibition in Melbourne in 1976. Since then Hawkes has held numerous solo shows including 'Relatively Speaking: The Family in Words and Pictures,' the Center for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, 1998, and 'Generations' - at the National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne, Australia) in 1989. More recent one-person exhibitions include: 'Seeing Is Not Understanding,' (Horsham Regional Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia) in 2009, and 'Risk' (Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, Australia) in 2005.
For 'Melbourne Now,' Hawkes has produced a new body of work, namely, 'Drawing the Line,' (2013), that examined an aspect of how we interact with the natural environment in an urban setting. In a local park, a place of daily retreat for the artist, Hawkes encountered a phenomen of 'tree tagging.' Her initial reaction was one of profound shock and disgust at the deliberate defacing of native trees. There is an aspect of premeditated violence in these acts, yet Hawkes subsumes the aggressors' marks into redemptive images as the trees shed their bark and transforms the tags.
Ponch Hawkes, TAGS #4 (2013).
Siri Hayes
Siri Hayes was born in Melbourne in 1977. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Art and a Graduate Diploma of Visual Arts at the Victorian College of Arts in 1998 and 2001 respectively. Hayes held positions as a photography lecturer and technician, and was a lecturer in photomedia at Monash University, Melbourne (Australia). Since 2000 her work has been included in group exhibitions throughtout Australia, as well as in Finland, France, Japan and Poland.
Hayes' works often addresses environmental themes within art historical conventions of the French Impressionist painters, who painted their subjects en plein air (i.e., outdoors), and the Romantic landscape paintings of Caspar David Friedrich. Here, modern 'explorers' and 'wanderers' paint and make photographs in a contemporary environment. The environment, however, is one of decay: devasted by fire, littered with tree stumps and broken branches and its native vegetation replaced by introduced, harvested plantation timber. By adapting historical painting conventions to a modern setting, Hayes draws attention to the changing condition of the contemporary landscape.
Siri Hayes, Wanderer above a sea of images (2013).
Andrew Hazewinkel
Multidisciplinary artist Andrew Hazewinkel was born in Melbourne (Australia) in 1965 and has exhibited widely in Australia and abroad for more than a decade. His practice includes photography, video, installation and sculpture. Hazewinkel's work draws its influence from a wide range of sources, the most pertinent and apparent being anthropology, archaeology and other recordings of history. This is not only evident in the subjects of his work, but also in the techniques and methods he employs, which in the past have seen him take a sculptural approach to collage, often incorporating ready-made objects.
In his works, Material Collision - staring together at the stars #1, #2, nd #3 (2013), Hazewinkel's archival exploration address history, time, materiality and process. These large works on carorundum sandpaper re-contextualize and, in a stange way, revive three forgotten object of antiquity. Despite not being original three-dimensional objects, these documentations are nonetheless weighted with history. Hazewinkel's interpretation and re-documentation of these perhaps forgotten objects, bridges a gap between the present and past, and transforms our experience and study of history, modernity and contemporaneity.
Andrew Hazewinkel, Material Collision - staring together at the stars #1. Detail View (2013).
Bianca Hester
Since the early 2000s, Melbourne (Australia) artist Bianca Hester has worked across installations, sculpture, video, writing, sound and collaborative disciplines to create action and response performances. Her projects typically observe junctures between different social conditions, sites and moments in time, and involve architectural and sculptural interventions. By actively engaging with (rather than against) unpredictable forces, Hester aims to heighten the spatial and bodily awareness of both the performer and the viewer. Her actions are preserved and represented through documentary photographs and film.
'Hoops: sound tests, performances documents' (2011-13), is an exploration of abstract sound and repeated gesture, produced by rolling and spiralling steel hoops along concrete, floorboards and pavement. Composed as open-ended events, Hester's ongoing Hoops projects have previously been presented in car parks, public squares, community clubs and urban laneways - all civic spaces - but never in a museum context. By staging 'Hoops' performance within the National Gallery of Victoria (Australia), the artist negotiates a new set of criteria, acting in response to the wider conceptual narrative of Melbourne Now.
Bianca Hester, Sound Test with Hoops in Federation Square, Melbourne, Australia (2011).
Still performance component of the project - A World Fully Accessible by No Living Being (2011).
Christopher LG Hill
Christopher LG Hill has been involved in various projects at both artist-run and institutional spaces across Melbourne (Australia), including co-directing the artist-run initative Y3K (2009-2011), editing the annual periodical 'Endless Lonely Planet', and curating the 'Third/Endless Lonely Planet' and curating the 'Third/Fourth Melbourne Artist Facilitated Biennial' at Margaret Lawrence Gallery (Melbourne, Australia) in 2013. Engaging with concepts of psychology, sociology and gestural politics, Hill's idiosyncratic practice examines the relationship with people, freedom and objects. The artist describes his work as 'embracing anarchist ideas within interpersonal relationships, materilized through free intellectual property, publications, performance object dialogues and gestural interactions.' He often works with other artists to create critical and open responses to his performances and installations.
Hill's, 'Form free temporal groupings,' (2013), is an aesthetically lo-fi installation that involves collaborations with young artists and designers 'ffiXXed,' Tahi Moore, Virginia Overell, Alex Vivian, Hugh Egan Westland, Annie Wu and Ben Tankard - among others. A range of impromptu performances, including readings and discussion groups, form part of this work, allowing the artist, his collaborators and the public to explore interactions between the installation and the broader artistic practices.
Christopher LG Hill. Free feudal barter store (2013).
Installation view.
Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, Australia.
Reference:
[1] T. Ellwood, Director, National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne, Australia).
Preamble
For your interest, I have listed below, other posts on this blogspot that centers on the use of Batik to create artworks:
Nothing Is The Same I & II (Els van Baarle, The Netherlands)
Batik ArtCloth from South-East Asia
Batiks from Kintore
Batiks From Warlpiri
Historical Israeli Batik ArtWorks
A Brief History of Batik
A History of Javanese Batik - Hindu Influence
A History of Javanese Batik - Islamic Influence
Traditional Batik Clothing
Influences on Classical Batik Patterns
Influences on Classical Batik Patterns [1]
In batik there are numerous patterns which all have a name and special significance. In the main these patterns were influenced by the following categories.
Interweaving: This is one of the oldest techniques of Indonesia still use today. Everyday objects are plaited from many types of grass, leaves and fibers. Here the geometric ornamentation is the most important element of construction. The influence of intertwining technique on batik patterns can be clearly seen in the imitation of intertwined patterns. See the images below.
Plaited tobacco pouch 1 from Tasikmalay, West Java (Indonesia).
Plaited tobacco pouch 2 from Tasikmalay, West Java (Indonesia).
Detail of a kain panjang with imitation interwining pattern.
Weaving: Weaving, which is technically and artistically highly developed in Indonesia, shows its influence in the ikat techniques of the different islands. Depending heavily on the old cinde patterns, batik patterns arose with short, wide lines so typical for that weave.
Indian patola cloth with eight-rayed leaves and flowers, exported to Bali.
Detail of a kain panjang imitation weaving pattern.
Hinduism: Hinduism produced wayang (puppet) figures and the wing motifs. These wings, with or without the widely fanned tail, symbolise Garuda, a mythical bird on which Vishnu, one of the Hindu gods, rides. Many floral and animal motifs also date from this time.
Area pattern with garis miring motifs, here with the udan liris motif (light rain). From the collection of M. Spée.
Islam: Islam discredited the wayang figures, very popular in the 16th century, as it forbade the depiction of life forms. Thereupon new patterns arose, made up of geometric motifs. Geometric shapes were used in single motifs as well as over whole areas. The use of diagonal stripes over whole areas also began in the 17th century.
Ntik area patttern, here with tirtateja motif. Detail of a kain panjang.
Semen pattern. Detail of a kain panjang.
China: When Chinese migrants arrived on the north coast of Java, many of them owned small batik workshops since the last century. In these workshops very colorful articles of clothing are made for the use of their own ethnic group. The cloud and rock motifs, as well as gammadion or banji motif can be traced to even older Chinese influences.
Detail of a kain panjang, using cloud motif of Ceribon, on the north coast of Java and shows the Chinese influence.
Area pattern of banji or gammadion motifs.
Europe: Europe, and particularly Holland in the 1900s, had a significant influence on batik patterns. At that time several Indo-European women began to make patterns for their own workshops. A well known example of this is Mrs. van Zuylen, who conducted special batik courses in Pekalongan. Her delicate flower patterns with daisies and lilies were very popular.
Detail of a kain panjang with flower pattern by Mrs. van Zuylen. This batik was worked in her workshop at Pekalongan.
Reference:
[1] M. Spée, Traditional and Modern Batik, Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst (1982).
Preamble
For your convenience I have listed below other posts in this series on Chinese textiles:
Chinese Textiles: Amy Clague's Brocade Collection - Part I
Chinese Textiles: Amy Clague's Tapestry Collection - Part I
Chinese Textiles: Amy Clague’s Tapestry Collection - Part II
Chinese Textiles: Amy Clague’s Embroidery Collection - Part I
Chinese Textiles: Amy Clague’s Brocade Collection - Part II
Chinese Clothing: A Historical Overview - Part I
Chinese Clothing: Shenyi and Broad Sleeves - Part I
Chinese Clothing: Shenyi and Broad Sleeves - Part II
Chinese Clothing: A Historical Overview - Part II
Chinese Clothing: A Historical Overview - Part III
Chinese Clothing: The Introduction of Ethnic Styles
Chinese Clothing: The Introduction of Ethnic Styles [1]
From as early as the Warring States Period (ca. 475–221 BCE) the sixth emperor of Zhao realized that the long robes worn by generals and warriors were too cumbersome for an army, especially when they had to carry their amors and supplies.
Reign: 1067–1085. His original personal name was Zhao Zhongzhen, but he changed it to "Zhao Xu" after he acceded to the throne.
Low-ranking officers wore leather breast plates with braces and shoulder pads, with no back armor. Middle-ranking officers wore shorter armor covering the torso and waist but in some cases with added decorations like ribbons. Superior officers/generals wore armor with a smooth edge and colorful lacings. The armor had chest plates and waist plates, and often included shoulder protection, but not in every case. The terracotta soldiers, who were later unearthed, did not have helmets, possibly due to funerary, or perhaps because of later looting practices.
This style, once frowned upon and rejected, became the daily attire of the people in the central plains during Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties. One reason for this change, was the frequent movement of people, caused by incessant war. This process also encouraged the culture of clothing exchange.
Kuzhe and liandang are typical Hu wear at that time, both styles being suitable for riding and for life in a cold climate.
A pottery tomb figure wearing Kuzhe.
Photograph: Courtesy of Li Zhanqing.
A man wearing liangdang in the painting - "Along the River During the Qingming Festival".
A classic style of costume emerged during the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-581). Liangdang consists of front and back pieces, later called the vest. It was convenient for people who worked outdoors for long periods of time.
Photograph: Courtesy of The Palace Museum.
The kuzhe is a style with separate top and bottom garments. The top garment looks like a short robe with wide sleeves, a central Chinese adaptation of the original narrow sleeves fit for riding and herding animals. The closure of the robe also changed, moving from left to right. Indeed, people of central China, called the northwestern people, were "...people with left closure." The robes at this time were significantly shorter and more varied in style. Historical materials show a number of styles of these garments from Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties, which had left, right and middle closure, or even swallow tails at the front of them. These garments allowed the wearer to be agile, as is frequently depicted in the clay figurines of the Southern Dynasty.
Kuzhe.
Painted by Zhou Xun, selected from Lady Garments and Adorments of Chinese Past Dynasties by Zhou Xun and Gao Chunming.
Riders of North China wearing fur hats, fur sleeves and carrying fur arrow bags.
Selected from Research on Ancient Chinese Clothes and Adornments by Shen Congwen.
Bronze human figures of the Warring States period (475-221 BC) wearing silk girdles, embroidered short robes and short swords. Excavated in Changzhi, Shanxi Province.
Image: Courtesy of Research on Ancient Chinese Clothes and Adornments by Shen Congwen.
The bottom garment of the kuzhe is a pair of trousers with a closed crotch. Intially, these trousers were close fitting, allowing the wearer to move freely. When this style appeared in central China, especially when some officials wore them in court, traditionalists questioned the propriety of displaying legs in this way, and going against the traditional loose-fitting ceremonial wear. Widening the legs was a compromise, and gave the trousers a similar appearance to the traditional robe. These trousers were more flexible and convenient than robes when walking. To avoid getting the wide trousers caught in thorns or dragged in mud, someone came up with the idea of lifting the trouser legs and tying them up just below knee-level. This style of trousers can be seen in the Southern Dynasty's burial figurines and brick paintings. In appearance, they are quite similar to the bell-bottom trousers of the 1960s-1970s, but in reality they are only similar in profile, not in construction.
A structural sketch of men's trousers in the Warring States period.
Selected from research on Ancient Chinese Cloths and Adornments by Shen Congwen.
The liangdang, or double-layered suit, is another style typical of this period, and it came from the northwest into Central China. It was no more than a vest, which can be seen in many burial pieces of that time. Judging from clay figurines and wall paintings in tombs, the vest was in two separate pieces fastened on the shoulders and under the arms. There were also liangdangs in leather cotton, lined or unlined, close or loose fitting. The name changed over the years, but the style remained the same.
These items of clothing were extremely popular at that time for both women and men. The two-piece style has always been favored by the Chinese people, but it has changed over time, because of the fusion of different clothing cultures.
Reference:
[1] Chinese Clothing, H. Mei, Cambridge University Press (2011).
Preamble
This is the sixty-first post in a new Art Resource series that specifically focuses on techniques used in creating artworks. For your convenience I have listed below all the posts in this new series:
Drawing Art
Painting Art - Part I
Painting Art - Part II
Painting Art - Part III
Painting Art - Part IV
Painting Art - Part V
Painting Art - Part VI
Home-Made Painting Art Materials
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part I
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part II
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part III
Historical Notes on Art - Part I
Historical Notes on Art - Part II
Historical Notes on Art - Part III
Historical Notes on Art - Part IV
Historical Notes on Art - Part V
Tempera Painting
Oil Painting - Part I
Oil Painting - Part II
Oil Painting - Part III
Oil Painting - Part IV
Oil Painting - Part V
Oil Painting - Part VI
Pigments
Classification of Pigments - Part I
Classification of Pigments - Part II
Classification of Pigments - Part III
Pigments for Oil Painting
Pigments for Water Color
Pigments for Tempera Painting
Pigments for Pastel
Japanese Pigments
Pigments for Fresco Painting - Part I
Pigments for Fresco Painting - Part II
Selected Fresco Palette for Permanent Frescoes
Properties of Pigments in Common Use
Blue Pigments - Part I
Blue Pigments - Part II
Blue Pigments - Part III
Green Pigments - Part I
Green Pigments - Part II
Red Pigments - Part I
Red Pigments - Part II
Yellow Pigments - Part I
Yellow Pigments - Part II
Brown and Violet Pigments
Black Pigments
White Pigments - Part I
White Pigments - Part II
White Pigments - Part III
Inert Pigments
Permanence of Pigments: New Pigments - Part I
Permanence of Pigments: New Pigments - Part II
Limited or Restricted Palettes
Testing of Pigments - Part I
Testing of Pigments - Part II
Further Refinement of Pigments
Color and Light - Part I
Color and Light - Part II
Color Effects - Part I
Color Effects - Part II
There have been another one hundred and thirteen posts in a previous Art Resource series that have focused on the following topics:
(i) Units used in dyeing and printing of fabrics;
(ii) Occupational, health & safety issues in an art studio;
(iii) Color theories and color schemes;
(iv) Optical properties of fiber materials;
(v) General properties of fiber polymers and fibers - Part I to Part V;
(vi) Protein fibers;
(vii) Natural and man-made cellulosic fibers;
(viii) Fiber blends and melt spun fibers;
(ix) Fabric construction;
(x) Techniques and woven fibers;
(xi) Basic and figured weaves;
(xii) Pile, woven and knot pile fabrics;
(xiii) Durable press and wash-and-wear finishes;
(xvi) Classification of dyes and dye blends;
(xv) The general theory of printing.
To access any of the above resources, please click on the following link - Units Used in Dyeing and Printing of Fabrics. This link will highlight all of the one hundred and thirteen posts in the previous a are eight data bases on this blogspot, namely, the Glossary of Cultural and Architectural Terms, Timelines of Fabrics, Dyes and Other Stuff, A Fashion Data Base, the Glossary of Colors, Dyes, Inks, Pigments and Resins, the Glossary of Fabrics, Fibers, Finishes, Garments and Yarns, Glossary of Art, Artists, Art Motifs and Art Movements, Glossary of Paper, Photography, Printing, Prints and Publication Terms and the Glossary of Scientific Terms. All data bases in the future will be updated from time-to-time.
If you find any post on this blog site useful, you can save it or copy and paste it into your own "Word" document for your future reference. For example, Safari allows you to save a post (e.g., click on "File", click on "Print" and release, click on "PDF" and then click on "Save As" and release - and a PDF should appear where you have stored it). Safari also allows you to mail a post to a friend (click on "File", and then point cursor to "Mail Contents On This Page" and release). Either way, this or other posts on this site may be a useful Art Resource for you.
The new Art Resource series will be the first post in each calendar month. Remember - these Art Resource posts span information that will be useful for a home hobbyist to that required by a final year University Fine-Art student and so undoubtedly, some parts of any Art Resource post may appear far too technical for your needs (skip those mind boggling parts) and in other parts, it may be too simplistic with respect to your level of knowledge (ditto the skip). The trade-off between these two extremes will mean that Art Resource posts will be hopefully useful in parts to most, but unfortunately may not be satisfying to all!
Color Effects - Part II [1]
Light waves have often been compared with sound waves; two different musical notes may be played on two different instruments so as to blend into one clear, simple effect. But if we take two different chords, orchestrate each, and then play the orchestrations simultaneously, the result will be complex, if not confused. People have suggested an analogy between light waves and radio waves: pigments are substances which have the property of tuning in on certain light waves. However, it should be noted what the real differences are.
When a transparent pigment is mixed with white for tinting purposes, it does not function entirely as though it were a body color by imparting to the mixture, the color effect of its surface color to the mass, but its transparency has much to do with the clarity of tone produced by the mixture. Tints or mixtures of opaque colors are usually duller. When two opaque pigments are mixed, the tiny particles of each, when viewed under a microscope, will appear intermingled, lying next to one another. Rays of light will be reflected from each; the amount of white light from the surface will be the sum of that reflected from all the particles of both pigments.
When a transparent pigment such as alizarin, is used to tint a white paint, the effect is as if each particle of white were surrounded by an envelope of transparent red; light will pass through the transparent particles, the amount of reflection of light from the surface will be less when two opaque pigments are used, and what reflection there is will tend to come mostly from one source, namely, the opaque pigment.
Note: (i) The effect is due to alizarin's transparency. When mixed with an opaque white, the alizarin pigment particles, which are transparent, are suspended among the opaque white particles, creating a visual effect where the transparent red seems to surround the white particles, resulting in shades of pink or translucent red; (ii) Alizarin's nature. Alizarin, particularly in its pigment form, alizarin crimson, is a transparent pigment. This means light passes through it, unlike opaque pigments; (iii) Pigment mixing. When this transparent red pigment is mixed with an opaque white pigment, the white particles remain opaque, while the red particles are translucent; (iv) Visual effect. The result is that the red color appears to coat or "envelope" each particle of white, creating a translucent and luminous tint, such as pink, rather than a simple opaque mixture.
Alizarin Crimson.
Occasionally, upon drying of a paint there will be a color change which is an exception to some general physical or optical rule. This is always because of some peculiar physical or chemical property of the materials involved. For instance, painters who use aqueous mediums in opaque techniques, such as gouache or casein, will note that grays or other mixtures containing black pigments sometimes dry darker instead of lighter. This may be explained by the fact that, because of the relative density and fineness of the various pigment particles, or because of some other physical properties, a movement of the dispersed particles has occurred, while the film was still wet, and the black has floated toward the surface. Paint behavior is not ordinarily erratic; under similar painting conditions, similar results may be expected; and the painter who has learned the characteristics of each of his pigments is able to control their effects.
Additive Colors. When white light passes through a prism it is broken up into its component parts and the rays emerge in the familiar rainbow or spectrum arrangement, the rays at the red end having the longest wavelength and those at the violet end the shortest.
The angle at which the rays are bent, or refracted, is greatest at the violet end and the least at the red end. The infrared and ultraviolet rays are invisible under ordinary conditions.
By recombining colored rays, we can mix colored light as we would mix body color; but in this case magenta, a cyan blue, and a medium yellow, are the three primaries, and the system is called additive, because the mixed hues are obtained by adding light rays instead of absorbing or subtracting them. The effects of transparent or glaze paints (as opposed to opaque or body color paints) are a little alike that of additive colors, because transparent pigments reflect less white light from their surfaces than do opaque pigments.
The followers of the French Impressionist school have been said to have utilized the additive process by substituting the juxaposition of small spots of pure color for mixture of colors. When viewed from an adequate distance the light rays reflected from these adjacent colors merge producing upon the eye a blended hue sometimes entirely different from that which would have been produced, had the colors been mixed on the palette. The effect is clear and has a peculiaryly vibrant, luminous quality. A similar effect, as all painters know, is produced when mixed colors are not too thoroughly blended on the palette, but are rather loosely scrambled on the canvas. This additive behaviour of light rays explains many peculiarities and tendencies in color mixtures, though it plays a minor role in our painting methods, which, for all practical purposes, conform entirely to the rules for subtractive mixtures. The additive system of color mixing is principally involved in working with effects of colored lights rather than with paints, and it is basic in colorimetry and in color photography.
Diffraction Colors A color effect which has little to do with painting, but which often occurs in nature, or which may be produced by manipulations of certain materials, is that caused by the refraction of light in all directions without the use of pigmentation. The brilliant colors of certain plumage and minerals are caused by the diffraction of light from surfaces, which have structures equivalent to myriads of tiny lenses or prisms. The iridescent colors of soap bubbles or oil films on water, are explained by the fact that very thin film will display iridescence when surrounded by two mediums of air and water. These effects are characterized by an intensity, a brilliance, and often a hue of almost metallic quality, which can be only approximated using paint.
Variation in the Color Effect. The principal ways in which the color effect of a pigment in a painting can be altered may be summarized as follows: (i) the nature of the surrounding medium; (ii) its degree of gloss; (iii) quality and intensity of illumination; (iv) juxtaposition, or effect of the surrounding areas of color.
Reference:
[1] The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques, R. Mayer (ed. E. Smith) 4th Edition, Faber and Faber, London (1981).
Preamble
Art Quilts have featured on this blogspot and so for your convenience I have listed below previous posts in this series:
Art Quilts - Part I
Art Quilts - Part II
Art Quilts - Part III
Art Quilts - Part IV
Art Quilts - Part V
Art Quilts - Part VI
Art Quilts - Part VII
Art Quilters of the Netherlands - Part I
Art Quilters of the Netherlands - Part II
Art Quilters of the Netherlands - Part III
Four Selected European Art Quilters - Part I
Four Selected European Art Quilters - Part II
Four Selected European Art Quilters - Part III
Art Quilts of Jane Sassaman
Art Quilts of Michael A. Cummings
Four Selected European Art Quilters - Part IV
Art Quilts of Carolyn Crump
Jan Myers-Newbury
Art Quilts of Karin Franzen
Art Quilts of Emily Richardson
Four Selected European Art Quilters - Part V
Four Selected European Art Quilters - Part VI
Four Selected European Art Quilters - Part VII
Four Selected European Art Quilters - Part VII [1]
Jane Lloyd (Ballymena, Northern Ireland)
Full View
Title: Journal Pages (2013).
Materials and Techniques: Indian cotten, paper and embroidery thread. Cut work, printing, stencilling, machine stitching, hand stitching collage.
Size: 187 x 52 cm.
Comment [1]: Ideas developed from a day journal.
Detail View I
Detail View II
Edwina Mackinnon (Droitwich Spa, United Kingdom)
Full View
Title: Six Houses (2014).
Materials and Techniques: Cotton poplin, cotton thread, Bondaweb, snap fasteners. Breakdown printing, over dyeing, bond appliqué, machine quilting, appliqué using snap fasteners.
Size: 90 x 120 cm.
Comment [1]: This whole cloth quilt is one in a series on the theme of 'Identity.'
Our lives are ruled by numbers and we are identified by theme in so many ways. For this quilt I have used the numbers of the six houses I have lived in during my lifetime.
Detail View I
Detail View II
Hanna Mühe (Oberursel, Germany)
Full View
Title: Requiem for an Old Tree (2014).
Materials and Techniques: Printed cotton. Printed photograph.
Size: 138 x 115 cm.
Comment [1]: For many years I captured an old lime tree through the lense of my camera as it paid its debt to nature. However, as it grew older and more dilapidated, nature gave it the gift of rebirth by sprouting a young tree next to it.
Detail View I
Detail View II
Patty Muller (Rhoon, the Netherlands)
Full View
Title: Although the body decays, there will be nothing to fear (2014).
Materials and Techniques: Paper, hand dyed silk organza, natural dyed silk (back), encaustic wax. Encaustic wax paiting, machine embroidery, triple stitched ChoGakBo (seam), hand stitching (backside).
Size: 56 x 237 cm.
Comment [1]: This work is about our body, mind and spirit. The bigger picture is that all is transformation - from energy into matter and vice vera.
On top of the work there is a poem about destiny. Written by Laozi; Daodejing, 370 BC. Translation into Dutch by C. Schipper.
Detail View I
Detail View II
Reference:
[1] European Art Quilts VIII, Foundation, Molenschat, Netherlands (2014).
A drawing of Fustat, from Rappoport's 'History of Egypt.'
This object is one of a larger group of textile fragments made in Gujarat, India, but found in Fustat, Egypt (known as Old Cairo.) Dated to either the fifteenth or sixteenth century, it is decorated with patterns which echo the ornamental motifs found in painted Jain manuscripts made during this time. These features can be seen in the fragment’s repeated checkered patterning on the top and bottom borders, which are filled with crosses and divided into smaller squares with floral medallions.
Silk Road.
An elderly man preparing the loom heddles. 
Starching the warp with rice paste.
Late nineteenth century mural from a "haveli" (mansion) in Mandawa, Rajasthan, depicting a block printer at work.
Silk bandhani 'odhni' (shawl), from Jamnagar, Saurashtra, made for the wedding of a Gujarati woman of a wealthy family.
Detail of a grid-patterned sari (known as 'garchola'), made with 'bandhani' (tie-and-dye) work, in Mandvi, Kutch and finally dyed red in Jamnagar, Saurashtra.
Sari woven in 'muga' (wild silk) in West Nowgaon District, Assam.
'Kinkhab' (silk and metal thread) 'gaghra' (skirt), woven in Jamnagar, worn by the Kathi women of Saurashtra.
Late eighteenth century 'rumsl' (cover) depicting a marriage ceremony. Muslim embroidered either colored silks, from Chamba, in the Himalayan foothills.
Detail of contemporary 'kantha' work embroidery from Jamalpur, Bangladesh.
A mashru and mirrorwork 'odhi' (known as a 'karamulah') depicting flowers and parrots, worn at festive occasions by the Ahir women of Kutch, Gujarat.
