Vintage African, Ituri Pygmy, Zaire Bark Cloth Painting/Estate Purchase

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Vintage African, Ituri Pygmy, Zaire Bark Cloth Painting/Estate Purchase :
$125.00

Vintage barkcloth, woodbark painting, done by the Mbuti Pygmy, and Mangbetu natives of the Ituri area of Zaire. They are used for ritual cermonies, including circumcisions, funerals and feasts with singing and dancing, and are worn around the loins, hanging in front and behind, or passed between the legs and held in place with a belt.
The men pound the bark to make the cloth and the women paint the designs with soot from the bottom of cooking pots fixed with dfferent plant extracts, which also provide red and yellow pigments. Decorative design \"codes\" vary from area and tribe, and research on the subject states that some design patterns may be analogous to those painted on their bodies; finger prints; drawings traced on the ground to give directions for hunting; pictogrammes relating to natural forms such as stars, butterflies, spider webs, and saplings; stylized figures of crocodiles, snakes, leopards and humans; the shapes of the Magbetu knives; and even the rhythms of the choral chants for which the Pygmies are so famous. I like the last explanation since they look so musical to me, and remind me of contemporary abstract art (which is why, I read, that many contmeporary artists have collected them).
All pieces I was lucky to buy are different sizes and shapes, and rarely flat (but wrinkles can easily be steamed out). I bought the ones that are in very good conditon, with no holes or damage. This piece is about 29\" L and 16\" at the widest. It would be nice in a shadow box, or pinned/mounted to a backing so the shape would show nicely.
The bark cloth works came from the estate of a Santa Fe long time collector and dealer in ethnographic art, especially works from Africa. One of his specialties was textiles from the Congo, including a vast collection of Kuba items. His collecting started in the 1960\'s and 70\'s, when he had a gallery in Santa Fe, and there were many old and rare items at the estate sale of his vast collection. I can state with assurance the bark cloth works I am, and will be listing, are older pieces.
_gsrx_vers_625 (GS 6.9.7 (625))