Mbuti Barkcloth Panel, Democratic Republic of Congo
Product ID: T0800-133
$1,695.00
About this piece
A field of short ink strokes, planted in rows like stitches.
Mbuti artists of the Ituri Forest, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa, painted this barkcloth panel with pigment in the 20th century. Barkcloth of the forest region is commonly beaten thin and decorated freehand, and was traditionally worn as a wrap. Here small clusters of closely drawn parallel marks, each ending in a tiny hook, cover the whole sheet in patches. The ink is brown-black on a pale, slightly golden ground. The upper edge is irregular, and the whole panel reads as texture first, pattern second.
About 30 by 14 inches. It looks stitched, though it is drawn.
