Mbuti Barkcloth Panel, Democratic Republic of Congo

Brick red, with kites drifting across it.

Mbuti artists of the Ituri Forest, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa, painted this barkcloth panel with pigment in the 20th century. Barkcloth there is commonly beaten from tree bark and used as wrap cloth, and designs are drawn freehand. The surface of this panel is a saturated orange-red, a striking departure from the usual cream. Faint dark outlines of diamond and kite shapes are scattered across it, some with fine inner lines. The edges show small losses and a fringe of loose fibers on the left.

About 29 by 18 inches. It warms a white wall in a single move.