A Unique Piecework Woman’s Textile
(A Woman’s Wrap/Dress/Quilt/Blanket),
Collected in situ Circa 1960s in a Village Market, Cotonou, Benin, West African
Size: 92” x 52” (233cm x 132cm)
Material: Fragments/Remnants from Cotton Trade-Cloth Bolts
Created by Hand Joinery Circa 1960s
Provenances: Decades in The Private Collections of Ralph Kiehlo, Then Dave DeRoche
“During my decades living and collecting in West Africa, I visited local markets religiously. In one in Cotonou, over the years I got to know an older woman who was a vendor of trade cloth. She would cut different sizes to order for the local women.
One day she pulled me aside and offered me three personal projects that she had made for her daughters over the years. She explained to me that for years she had kept remnants or fragments from the end of each bolt of trade cloth she sold. She then quilted these together, forming a colorful wrap or dress to give each of her three daughters. I was honored to be offered these unique creations. You could say that they are not traditional, per se – they are innovative and original artworks by an indigenous, self-taught, non-professional artist. I didn’t have the heart to ask her what happened to her daughters.” — Norville “Ralph” Kiehlo (1926–2009)
When displayed in front of a window or light, or if mounted on a translucent or backlit frame, this unique West African textile glows like a gorgeous stained-glass window. (See the ‘warm’ secondary photo.)
SOLD
