Tioup, tak, etc. - Couleurs textiles du Sénégal : Some photos.

French African textile expert Anne Grosfilley who kindly sent these photographs wrote -  “Here are some photographs on the exhibition about dyeing in Sénégal. It is superb, full of Colours. It is set as a series of portraits, so you can read the story of the people behind the crafts, and learn about their training and everyday Life. All the aspects of dyeing are presented, from traditional plants to synthetic dyes, from dyeing to tailoring. The exhibition ends in a tailor workshop, where you can have a go trying on boubous of different styles. All the steps of the transformation of the cloth allow to understand the process to get the different patterns. Unfortunately, there is no catalogue, but a series of lectures and workshops.  This is an exhibition I recommend, and the Clermont Ferrand Bargoin Textile museum is a place to know, as they have a big interest in Africa. Their next project is to host the exhibition of the second edition of FITE (International Festival of Extraordinary Textiles), and after that they curate an exhibition on unusual Moroccan carpets.”

The exhibition “Tioup, tak, etc. - Couleurs textiles du Sénégal” continues at Musée Bargoin, Clermont-Ferrand, France until March 31. There is a programme of events, details here.

Click on the photos to enlarge. All photos copyright Anne Grosfilley. If you don’t already have it, do lookout for Anne’s book which is still available via Amazon.

New book- “Indigo: the Colour that Changed the World” by Catherine Legrand

This is a beautifully presented and illustrated book that, perhaps inevitably,  relies heavily on the pioneering and more scholarly work of  Jenny Balfour-Paul (Indigo – British Museum Press, 1998), covering much of the same ground but adding some interesting if largely anecdotal material and a good number of often wonderful photographs.

The African section presents brief summaries of familiar material but also a fresh look at the most accessible surviving centre of indigo dyeing on the continent,  among the Dogon people of Mali. The author travelled this region in the company of Belgian author and film maker Patricia Gerimont (whose excellent book and DVD on Malian dyers should not be missed.)

All photos from Indigo: the Colour that Changed the World by Catherine Legrand (Thames & Hudson, 2013.)

An indigo dyed hunter’s tunic from Benin.

AGB102 - Much prized by lovers of indigo, these smock-like robes were worn by hunters and other senior men in the forested central and northern regions of the Benin Republic. Hand-tailored from indigo hand spun cotton thread strip weaves with a plain indigo in a lighter shade lining the shoulders and hem.

Eight to ten years ago there were quite a few of these around in Accra but more recently they have become rather scarce and prices for rare examples as good as this have risen accordingly. Condition: small patched repair to back of "skirt" and minor marks but good overall. Age: circa mid C20th. Measures: 43 inches x 57, 110cm x 145. More details here

Photo above is a detail from the wonderful book Chasseurs Nago: Royaume de Bante by photographer Jean-Dominique Burton published by Fondation Zinsou.

Click on the photos to enlarge. More robes here and more indigo here.

Mossi indigo wrapper cloths

Indigo has been on my mind a lot recently. I finally got around to reading Jenny Balfour-Paul’s classic book Indigo in the Arab World (Routledge, 1997) and ten days or so ago I returned from a brief trip to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso where I had passed an enjoyable week looking around for more Mossi indigo wrappers. These soft faded old cloths are among the best sellers in our shop (cushions made from them can be seen in the Andalusian estate on the cover of October 2012 issue of World of Interiors.)  Since then the post from Burkina has been bringing large bags of the cloths in their various shades, recalling Balfour-Paul’s wonderful list  - in eighteenth century Europe “dyers classified indigo colours into thirteen separate shades, beginning with the lightest: ‘milk-blue, pearl-blue, pale-blue, flat-blue, middling-blue, sky-blue, queen’s blue, turkish-blue, watchet-blue, garter-blue, mazareen-blue, deep-blue, and very deep or navy-blue (or ‘infernal blue’).” (page 117.)

On our cloths it is years of rigorous hand washing and drying under the fierce Saharan sun that have created the range of shades rather than the initial dyeing.

In the mid-C20th postcard above the cones of thatch cover the indigo dye pits to maintain them at the correct temperature. Two indigo wrappers may be seen hanging at the right of the figures.

Click on the images to enlarge.

For some of the Mossi wrappers and other of our vintage indigo cloths for sale click here.

Bazin de Bamako – at the International Festival of Extraordinary Textiles, Clermont-Ferrand

Organized by author/filmmaker Patricia Gérimont, the Malian dyer Sanata Magassa presented her remarkable fabrics at the recent festival, accompanied by an exhibition at the musée Bargoin. The dresses in some images are from a workshop at Louvain la Neuve, styled by Issa Tio. All phot0s by Patricia Gérimont, please do not reproduce without permission.

“Dames de Couleurs / Colourful Ladies”–new DVD on women dyers in Mali

“Sanata and Dicko are dyers  in Mali. Sanata produces coloured bazin fabrics with her co-wives in Bamako.
Dicko lives in the bush in Dogon country and dyes loincloths using indigo.
They have amazing skills, and yet both constantly face the same challenge : ensuring a decent life for their children.”

“Dames de Couleurs” is a new Dvd exploring the continued vitality of dyeing traditions in Mali today, moving from urban Bamako to a village in Dogon country. Produced by Patricia Gerimont and Jean-Claude Taburlaux it will be available in September from http://www.cvb-videp.be/ – hopefully with an English subtitle version. Patricia Gerimont is the author of Teinturieres a Bamako: Quand la couleur sort de sa reserve (Ibis, 2008) which is one of the best recent books on an African textile traditions, available from French Africanist bookseller Soumbala.

Below are a few more of Patricia’s photographs – click on images to enlarge. All photographs in this post are copyright Patricia Gerimont. Please do not reproduce without permission.

Bamako

Dogon country