Dida Raffia Dance Skirt

Rows of tan and orange dashes, crisp as a page of handwriting in a language no one will translate.

This dance skirt comes from Ivory Coast, 20th century, made by the Dida peoples in dyed raffia. To make these skirts, Dida artisans tied small sections of woven raffia before dyeing, resisting the color and leaving patterns for wear at dances and festivals. The contrast here is unusually clean. Bold tan and orange bars sit in tight groups on a dark brown ground, sparser at the top and denser below. A heavy brown fringe finishes the bottom. Forty-five inches long and thirteen wide.

One of those objects that makes modernism look late to the party.