The IIAS newsletter is publishing a series of five articles by Rens Heringa dealing with Southeast Asian Textiles Studies. This is the first, introductory, article in the series. It highlights two textile exhibitions currently on view in Dutch museums, which have diverse ways of presenting Southeast Asian textile themes.
By Rens Heringa
Traditional textiles from Southeast Asia have been collected by
travellers, missionaries and colonial officials since the early
decades of the nineteenth century. Evidence of this is provided by
extensive holdings in numerous private collections, as well as in
ethnographic and art museums, bearing eloquent witness to the fact
that these cloths have long been appreciated by the outside world
as one of the region's outstanding forms of artistic expression.
Initial interest shown by collectors and museum curators alike was
captured by the sumptuous pieces originally worn by the elite,
their main value being in their pleasing aesthetic quality. One
disadvantage of this was that most pieces were collected separately
or at the most as part of a costume. Ideas have changed during the
past twenty-five years, and textiles and costumes have begun to be
studied in their cultural context, which has led to insights into
their social and symbolic meaning going far beyond the
contemplation of beautiful objects. Anthropological fieldwork gave
the main impulse to the desire to relate the museum pieces to their
origin.
At this point the study of Southeast Asian textiles has developed
into a specialty in its own right. Since 1979, a series of
international symposia, that have often been organized in
connection with innovative exhibitions, has offered an opportunity
for regular contacts between textile scholars. The range of
regional specialisms and disciplines involved is expanding every
year. An extensive literature on the subject includes exhibition
catalogues, collections of symposium papers, monographs, and PhD
theses (see selected bibliography). The complexity of the subject
becomes abundantly clear from the contents of these, mostly well-
illustrated volumes.
Despite such exposure, a lack of information can still be noted
among a wider academic audience, as the specialty has been
operating partially outside the mainstream of academic studies. At
a more general level though the interest for the subject generated
among the general public is producing an ever mounting pile of
visually attractive 'coffee table' books. Although some are written
by scholars, many volumes can only be described as hastily compiled
commercial publications, marked by out-of-date information which is
often also erroneous.
A series of informative articles may therefore be of interest. The
theme of this first contribution highlights two exhibitions at
present on view in Dutch museums, concentrating on their relevance
to the international framework of textile studies. The diverse ways
of presenting Southeast Asian textile themes is a fine opportunity
to touch first upon the historical importance of Dutch textile
collections to the field and the revival of an early research
approach at the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam. The second
exhibition, organized by the Museum of Ethnology in Rotterdam in
cooperation with the Barbier-Mueller collection in Geneva, derives
its interest from its relation to the pioneering impulses generated
in the early 1980s in the United States and the huge extension of
theoretical and geographical scope they set into motion.
Indonesian Textiles in the Netherlands
In collections belonging to ethnology museums and private persons
in the Netherlands, Indonesian textiles are most prominent, the
natural outcome of centuries of Dutch colonial presence in the
Archipelago. Many of the cloths can be dated relatively early and
the regional variety is extensive. Initially museum curators,
mostly men and generalists, had little affinity with the textiles
or costumes, matters usually considered to be women's lore. The
objects were mainly - in a few cases carefully - just catalogued
and described; research was limited to the technical aspects of
weaving and looms. In the 1930s textiles eventually moved beyond
ethnography; the motifs, often resembling those found on other
types of artefacts, caught the attention of scholars involved in
the diffusionist studies of the period. Motifs on cloths from
different regions -- in particular those which appeared to a
Western eye as look-a-likes -- were compared in efforts to seek
cultural parallels. Similarities were thought to relate to a
communal past or cultural affinity. Though foreign cultural
contacts are indeed a pervading aspect of Indonesian cultures, the
conclusions, based purely on Western concepts, often led to
unfounded guesses. A second hypothesis, possibly inspired by
colonial attitudes, postulated spiritual decline as the cause for
the development from naturalistic so-called stylized forms (see
also Van Duuren in Bakel et all 1996:63-72).
These historically interesting methodological approaches have
partially determined the choice of textiles from the Georg Tillmann
Collection of Indonesian Art shown at the Tropenmuseum in
Amsterdam. On 28 June 1994, this collection, on loan for over fifty
years and consisting of some 2000 items (including 670 textiles),
was formally donated to the museum by the collector's heirs.
Tillmann himself never visited Indonesia; the bulk of his
collection was bought on the Art and Curio market in Europe or by
a dealer who travelled in Indonesia to fill orders for museums and
collectors. Most of the cloths are exhibited in geographical
sequence. Tillmannžs choice of objects was also influenced by the
theories of the day, which inspired him to publish several
comparative articles. One of these is included in the catalogue to
the exhibition, translated from the original Dutch. The comparison
of textiles from various regions decorated with ship motifs
discussed in the article is brought to life in the exhibition, as
are those with so-called arrow points, and crocodile and lizard
motifs. The organizers have taken the comparative theme further by
the choice of a series of floral motifs and elephants resembling
those found on textiles imported into the Archipelago from India,
which also belong to the collection. Regretfully, the arguments
offered in recent publications for this particular comparison have
been barely touched upon. Other blanks are an effort to situate the
various motifs in the Indonesian conceptual context as it is known
today or make a comparison of the regional similarities which might
have widened and updated the scope of the venture.
Nevertheless, the art historical perspective gives an interesting
slant to the simple but quite effective presentation of outstanding
and in some cases unique textiles. Hopefully this is but a start
for further presentations from the Tropenmuseum's famous collection
of textiles.
American Contributions: Function and Meaning of Textiles.
A fascination with hand-made objects inspired many of the Americans
working and travelling in Indonesia in the late 1960s to collect
antique and recent textiles. Originally a hobby, the interest ended
up a profession for some of them. Thus Indonesian textiles
continued to take pride of place among those studies, especially
after the American scholars discovered the wealth of antique cloths
in Dutch museums. In an upsurge of material culture as a field of
research, textile studies gained academic standing in the United
States. Since the 1960s fieldwork data have become indispensable to
anthropologists all over the world in order to achieve a meaningful
analysis (see selected bibliography). Not surprisingly, as in
island Southeast Asia, textiles belong to the women's domain, the
majority of textile scholars are women.
In the wake of this interest, several important and among scholars
now generally accepted observations have emerged: first,
practically every ethnic group in Indonesia uses textiles and
costumes as a means to indicate its cultural values. Structural
aspects of the cloths
contribute important clues: the layout of the cloths may, for
instance, indicate the social organization of a community (see
Adams in Fox 1980:208-220). Textile motifs or colours may express
social status, age, gender, or place of residence of its wearer.
Secondly, in spite of the enormous variety of textile techniques
and forms encountered among different ethnic groups, certain of
these basic concepts are similar or at least comparable throughout.
The complementary relationship between textiles and metal objects
(such as jewellery and weapons) forms one of these concepts, with
the first category often considered female and the second male.
Together the two categories form an indispensable element of
costume all over the Archipelago.
The data gave a new dimension to the study of museum artefacts. A
series of exhibitions, initially presenting private collectors'
holdings of recently-made Indonesian textiles, reached a zenith in
1979 with Mattiebelle Gittinger's pioneering effort Splendid
Symbols (see bibliography). High-quality nineteenth-century
textiles, carefully chosen from European museum collections, were
presented in their role as costume, ceremonial gift, or as
documents expressing a wealth of visual meanings. Textiles and
their connection to the people who made and wore them formed the
main theme of the exhibition. Power and Gold is its natural
successor, taking as its central theme the weapons and jewellery
that are the obvious complement to the textiles.
Unaccountably, and bringing to mind the use of textiles in early
exhibitions as a mere backdrop or (unnamed) base to other, more
prestigious objects, a review of the exhibition in IIAS Newsletter
nr. 6 barely mentions the textiles, which form half of it. The
exhibition was first shown in 1983 in the United States and has now
started on a second tour, travelling throughout Europe in specially
designed cases. As one of the first examples of a wider Southeast
Asian overview, it includes artefacts from a variety of cultures
beyond the Indianized court civilizations of island Southeast Asia:
textiles and ritual jewellery from Nias, the Toba and Karo Batak,
Dayak groups from Kalimantan and Sarawak, Toraja groups from
Central Sulawesi, ethnic groups from Flores, Sumba, Timor, and
Tanimbar and lastly from Northern Luzon in the northern
Philippines. The catalogue by Susan Rodgers is also the result of
a rare combination: meticulous, though brief, fieldwork and library
research were undertaken especially to document and analyze the
fabulous private collection. The anthropologist is nevertheless
fully aware of the limitations of a situation in which in most
cases Indonesian - an outsideržs medium in most villages - had to
serve as intermediate language. Many of the intricate and layered
symbolic meanings therefore necessarily remained obscure. Despite
this handicap common themes are noted. There is an explanation of
how, among all ethnic groups and in spite of differences in social
organization, jewellery and textiles express concepts of wealth,
power, prestige, sacredness, and exchange, and also show an amazing
unity of design motifs, including mythically important animals like
cocks, crocodiles, horses, and serpent-dragons. In the catalogue, descriptions of costumes and
illustrations of textiles, either as separate pieces or as part of
ceremonial costume, and worn together with the jewellery, are found
throughout the text. Turning to the exhibition itself, apart from
a warrior's costume from Nias, the textiles are on display in a
separate section. This may be due to the special low light levels
required for their protection, but it hampers the general public's
understanding of the close connection between the two categories.
Interesting early film fragments shown as an accompaniment, could
have done without some explanation. Though researched over a decade
ago, the exhibition is still fresh in its approach.
Rens Heringa is an anthropologist and free-lance curator of textiles.
Selected Bibliography
Adams, M.J., System and Meaning in East Sumba Textile Design; A
Study in Traditional Indonesian Art, Southeast Asia Cultural
Report Series 16. PhD thesis Yale University. New Haven:1969
Barnes, Ruth, The Ikat Textiles of Lamalera: A Study of an
Eastern Indonesian Weaving Tradition. Brill, Leiden: 1989
Gittinger, Mattiebelle, A Study of the Ship Cloths of South
Sumatra: their design and usage.
Unpublished PhD thesis, Columbia University, New York: 1972
Ibidem, Splendid Symbols. Textile Museum Exhibition
Catalogue, Washington: 1979
Ibidem (ed.), Indonesian Textiles, Irene Emery Roundtable on
Museum Textiles, 1979 proceedings. Textile Museum, Washington:
1980
Ibidem (ed.), To Speak with Cloth: studies in Indonesian
textiles, Museum of Cultural History, University of California:
1989
Khan Majlis, B., Indonesische Textilien: Wege zu Göttern
und Ahnen, 1984
Nabholz, Marie-Louise et al.(eds.), Weaving Patterns of
Life. Indonesian Textile Symposium 1991. Museum of Ethnography,
Basel: 1993
Völger, Gisela and Von Welck, Karin (eds.), Indonesian
Textiles. Symposium 1985. Ethnologica Neue Folge, Band 14, on
behalf of the Rautenstrauch-Jöst Museum. Köln: 1991
Exhibitions
Geweven Documenten - Woven Documents. Textiles from the Georg
Tillmann Collection, 1 April - 1 October 1996. Tropenmuseum
/Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam.
Power and Gold - Jewellery from Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, from the Collection of the Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva. December 16 1995 - May 19 1996, extended until September 15 1996, Museum for Ethnology, Rotterdam.
Exhibition Catalogues
Koos van Brakel, David van Duuren en Itie van Hout. A Passion
for Indonesian Art. The Georg Tillmann Collection at the
Tropenmuseum. Amsterdam: Royal Tropical Institute/ Tropenmuseum
1996. ISBN 90-6932-261-3.
The English catalogue contains a series of contributions,
several of which specifically dealing with the textiles, by
Itie van Hout, Curator of Textiles. A full list of all textiles
is included. Illustrations in colour and black and white
Susan Rodgers. Power and Gold. Jewellery from Indonesia,
Malaysia and the Philippines, from the Collection of the Barbier-
Mueller Museum, Geneva. Geneva: The Barbier-Mueller Museum
1983. Third edition 1995. ISBN 3-7913-0859-9
The third edition, in English, was published on the occasion of
the European tour of the exhibition.