The Stuff That Matters. Textiles collected by Seth Siegelaub for the CSROT
1 March to 6 May 2012
Raven Row presents the first exhibition of the collection of historic textiles assembled by Seth Siegelaub over the past thirty years for the Center for Social Research on Old Textiles (CSROT). The exhibition features over 200 items from a collection currently comprising around 650. It includes woven and printed textiles, embroideries and costume, ranging from fifth-century Coptic to Pre-Columbian Peruvian textiles, late medieval Asian and Islamic textiles, and Renaissance to eighteenth-century European silks and velvets. Barkcloth (tapa) and headdresses from the Pacific region (especially Papua New Guinea) and Africa are also on display.
Seth Siegelaub was born in the Bronx in 1941. After running his own gallery in New York from 1964 to 1966, he played a pivotal role in the emergence of what became known as Conceptual Art, which resulted in a series of 21 art exhibitions in groundbreaking formats he organised between 1968 and 1971. In 1972 he left the art world and moved to Paris, where he published and collected leftist books on communication and culture and founded the International Mass Media Research Center. In the early eighties he began collecting textiles and books about textiles, and in 1986 founded the Center for Social Research on Old Textiles, which conducts research on the social history of hand-woven textiles. In 1997 he edited and published the Bibliographica Textilia Historiae, the first general bibliography on the history of textiles, which has since grown online to over 9,000 entries.
Textiles in the exhibition are shown next to excerpts from relevant texts and historic books drawn from the CSROT Library, which shed light on their technological, social and political context and stress how Siegelaub’s bibliographic project underpins the collection of textiles. The history of the buildings housing Raven Row, which in the eighteenth century accommodated two shops selling silk woven in the Spitalfields district, is addressed in one of the galleries. Decrees and laws shown alongside a selection of banned European silks from the era reveal how the end of a sixty-year embargo on foreign-spun silks in 1824 led to the collapse of the Spitalfields silk industry.
The exhibition is curated by Sara Martinetti, Alice Motard and Alex Sainsbury, and is designed by 6a architects. The accompanying publication contains a survey of the rise and fall of the silk industry in Spitalfields, an interview with Seth Siegelaub and an essay on his bibliographic practice as well as a chronology retracing his manifold activities.
Selected texts
Events
News
From left to right:
Seth Siegelaub (ed.), July, August, September 1969/Juillet, Août, Septembre 1969/Juli, August, September 1969
Ariel Dorfman, Armand Mattelart, How to Read Donald Duck. Imperialist Ideology in the Disney Comic (1975)
Center for Social Research on Old Textiles and Seth Siegelaub (eds.), Bibliographica Textilia Historiæ. Towards a General Bibliography on the History of Textiles Based on the Library and Archives of the Center for Social Research on Old Textiles
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Seth Siegelaub’s textile research notes
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view
Forbidden Fabrics and the Church
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
This Cup is Presented to Robert Brutton Esqre: by a few OPERATIVE SILK WEAVERS of Globe Fields Bethnal Green and its Vicinity as a Token of Gratitude for his Indefatigable Exertions in their behalf (as their Solicitor) at both HOUSES of PARLIAMENT in the Year 1823 whereby the Spitalfields Acts were Supported and the Price of their Labour secured to them.
Silver cup made by William Bateman. London. 1823. Courtesy of the Spitalfields Trust.
Photograph by George Eksts
Exhibition view
Forbidden Fabrics and the Church
Photograph by 6a architects
Exhibition view
Forbidden Fabrics and the Church
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view
Forbidden Fabrics and the Church
Photograph by 6a architects
Selection of chasubles and maniples
Photograph by George Eksts
Exhibition view
Silk, gold and silver textiles and other precious fabrics
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view
Silk, gold and silver textiles and other precious fabrics
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view
Silk, gold and silver textiles and other precious fabrics
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view
Silk, gold and silver textiles and other precious fabrics
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view
Silk, gold and silver textiles and other precious fabrics
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Left to right:
Front part of dalmatic with pomegranate pattern. Spain. 15th–16th century. Silk, metal thread [SST 100]
Piece of silk damask (back). Spain. 17th century. Silk [SST 171]
Photograph by 6a architects
Exhibition view
Silk, gold and silver textiles and other precious fabrics
Foreground:
Panel in silk damask. Italy. 17th century. Silk [SST 177]
Photograph by 6a architects
Exhibition view
Silk, gold and silver textiles and other precious fabrics
Foreground:
Woven silk panel. Spain? Italy? 17th century. Silk [SST 163]
Photograph by 6a architects
Exhibition view
Silk, gold and silver textiles and other precious fabrics
Photograph by 6a architects
Exhibition view
Silk, gold and silver textiles and other precious fabrics
Photograph by 6a architects
Exhibition view
Silk, gold and silver textiles and other precious fabrics
Foreground:
Velvet panel. Italy. Late 15th century. Silk, metal thread [SST 197]
Photograph by 6a architects
Exhibition view
Silk, gold and silver textiles and other precious fabrics
Photograph by 6a architects
Exhibition view
Silk, gold and silver textiles and other precious fabrics
Foreground:
Woven silk panel. Spain? Italy? 17th century. Silk [SST 163]
Photograph by 6a architects
Exhibition view
Headdresses
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view
Headdresses
Photograph by 6a architects
Exhibition view
Headdresses
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view
Headdresses
Foreground: Prestige ceremonial knitted headdress ('Ashetu'). Bamiléké people, Western Grassfields, Cameroon. 20th century. Vegetal fibre, porcupine quills, feathers [SST 328]
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view
Headdresses
Foreground: Headdress with animal hair on woven round structure. Bamiléké people, Western Grassfields, Cameroon. 20th century. Goat's hair?, raffia [SST 313]
Photograph by George Eksts
Exhibition view
Headdresses
Foreground: Bridal headdress with fibre surface and glass beads on wood structure. Miao people, Southeast China. Early 20th century. Bamboo (or bark?), cotton (or hemp?) [SST 635]
Photograph by George Eksts
Exhibition view
Headdresses
Foreground: Pointed hat. Columbia? 20th century. Natural fibre and form grown on a tree [SST 373]
Photograph by George Eksts
Exhibition view
‘Archaeological' Textiles
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view
‘Archaeological' Textiles
From left to right:
Embroidered textile fragment with puma head pattern. Peru. Ca. 16th century? Wool [SST 240]
Chancay woven textile made from square fragments with anthropomorphic figures. Peru. 900–1400. Wool [SST 641]
Chancay sack or handbag with animal pattern. Peru. Ca. 1300. Wool [SST 556]
Wari woven textile fragment with priest figures and small bird pattern. Southern highland region, Peru. Ca. 1000. Alpaca wool [SST 576]
Nazca tie-dyed crepe textile fragment. Peru. 11th–12th century. Wool [SST 241]
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Tiahuanaco? feather headdress. Peru. Ca. 100 BC–750 AD? Bird feathers [SST 394]
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view
‘Archaeological' Textiles
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view
‘Archaeological' Textiles
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
From left to right:
Coptic tunic fragment with figures. Egypt. 4th–5th century? Wool, linen [SST 068]
Coptic tapestry roundel with rabbits, a dog-like animal, and an angel. Egypt. 5th century? Wool, linen [SST 228]
Photograph by George Eksts
Exhibition view
La Lingère
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view
La Lingère
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view
La Lingère
Photograph by 6a architects
Above and below:
Embroidered towels and sashes. Turkey. 19th–20th century. Materials vary but include: cotton, linen, silk, silk and metal thread, metal strips [SST 029, 064, 065, 143, 145, 156, 157]
Margaretha Helm, Kunst- und Fleiss-übende Nadel-Ergötzungen oder neu-erfundenes Neh- und Stick-Buch (Nürnberg: J.C. Weigel, ca. 1700) [CSROT 4250]
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Embroidered towels and sashes. Turkey. 19th–20th century. Materials vary but include: cotton, linen, silk, silk and metal thread, metal strips [SST 057, 063, 147, 148, 159, 161]
Photograph by George Eksts
Exhibition view
Master bedroom and La Lingère
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Chairs upholstered in stamped wool ('velours d'Utrecht'). France. 19th century. Wool [SST 039]
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Thistle placed on chair upholstered in stamped wool ('velours d'Utrecht'). France. 19th century. Wool [SST 039]
Photograph by George Eksts
Exhibition view
Master bedroom
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Top shelf, left to right:
Velvet gambling purse with embroidered motifs. Italy. 17th century. Silk, metal thread, spangles, wood [SST 020]
Embroidered velvet cap. Italy. Early 16th century. Silk, metal thread, spangles, linen [SST 056]
Bottom shelf:
Portfolio with 50 samples of Japanese textiles. Japan (textiles), France (album). 16th–19th century (textiles), 20th century (album). Silk, metal thread (textiles), cardboard, paper (album) [SST 086]
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view
Barkcloth and other natural fabrics
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view
Barkcloth and other natural fabrics
Left to right: Ceremonial royal indigo dyed robe. Bamiléké people, Western Grassfields, Cameroon. Mid-20th century. Cotton [SST 631]
Painted tapa headdress-mask stretched across wood frame. Baining people, East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Early 20th century. Tree inner bark, black and red pigments, cord, wood (bamboo?) [SST 593]
Painted tapa panel. Tonga? Papua New Guinea. 20th century. Tree inner bark, black and red-brown pigment [SST 399]
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view
Barkcloth and other natural fabrics
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Painted barkcloth panels. Mbuti people, Ituri Forest, Democratic Republic of Congo. 20th century. Tree inner bark, black pigment [SST 308, 392, 430, 432, 433–434, 435, 449, 451, 452–454, 498, 501, 505–506, 510, 512, 514, 518, 520–521, 525, 528, 548]
Photograph by 6a architects