Title Producing and Collecting for Empire: African Textiles in the V&A 1852- 2000 Type Thesis URL http://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/6141/ Date 2012 Citation Stylianou, Nicola Stella (2012) Producing and Collecting for Empire: African Textiles in the V&A 1852-2000. PhD thesis, University of the Arts London and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Creators Stylianou, Nicola Stella Usage Guidelines Please refer to usage guidelines at http://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/policies.html or alternatively contact [email protected]. License: Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives Unless otherwise stated, copyright owned by the author Producing and Collecting for Empire: African Textiles in the V&A 1852-2000 Nicola Stella Stylianou Submitted to University of the Arts London for PhD Examination October 2012 This is an AHRC funded Collaborative PhD between Research Centre for Transnational Art, Identity and Nation (TrAIN) at UAL and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Volume 1 Abstract Producing and collecting for Empire: African textiles in the V&A 1850-2000 The aim of this project is to examine the African textiles in the Victoria and Albert Museum and how they reflect the historical and cultural relationship between Britain and Africa. As recently as 2009 the V&A’s collecting policy stated ‘Objects are collected from all major artistic traditions … The Museum does not collect historic material from Oceania and Africa south of the Sahara’ (V&A 2012 Appendix 1). Despite this a significant number of Sub-Saharan African textiles have come into the V&A during the museum’s history. The V&A also has a large number of textiles from North Africa, both aspects of the collection are examined. The division between North and Sub-Saharan Africa and between ‘art’ and ‘ethnographic’ museum collections is crucial to understanding the African textiles in the V&A. The V&A began collecting North African textiles in 1852 and went on to build a strong collection, particularly embroideries from the urban areas. The museum also acquired some Sub-Saharan African textiles during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. During the 1920s the Textiles Department began to consider whether textiles from certain areas should be classed as ethnography. This was the most active period for collecting North African embroidery but the same process led to the exclusion and removal of Sub-Saharan African textiles. After World War II the Circulation Department actively collected West African textiles to tour to art colleges. The closure of the Department caused many of these textiles to be de-accessioned. The V&A has also collected textiles produced in Britain for sale in 1 Africa as examples of British design. In their various ways all these textiles reflect aspects of Britain’s relationship with Africa, which cannot help but be expressed through the collection of a national institution such as the V&A. 2 Contents Abstract Acknowledgements List of Illustrations List of Acronyms Introduction Section One: The beginning of the collection1852-1897 Chapter 1: Tunisia at the Great Exhibition Chapter 2: War Booty in the museum Chapter 3: Egypt and North Africa in the late 19th century Section Two: Formal Empire and the growth of the collection1897-1945 Chapter 4: North Africa 1897-1924 Chapter 5: Sub-Saharan Africa 1897-1924 Chapter 6: Collection and Disposal 1924-1939 6.1: Wace and Morocco 6.2: Removal of sub-Saharan African textiles Section Three: Post World War II development of the collection 1945-2000 Chapter 7: Wax prints for West Africa Chapter 8: The Circulation Department 3 8.1: Textiles in the collection 8.2: Other African material Chapter 9: Collecting Policy and Africa1989-2000 9.1: Further Disposal 9.2: Hayes Textiles Ltd Conclusion Bibliography 4 5 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my UAL supervisors Carol Tulloch and Toshio Watanabe (Director of Studies) for their help and advice over the years. I am particularly indebted to Toshio without whose support I could not have completed this research. I am grateful also to my V&A supervisors Chris Breward and Gill Saunders. Thank you to the V&A for allowing me to do this research and to the AHRC for funding it. I am also grateful to Dinah Winch and Mary Guyatt who did the initial research on the V&A’s African objects, without their work I would not have known where to start. Helen Mears’ work on the collections was also very useful to me and I thank her, not only for her work, but also for her friendship and support. I am also grateful to Liz Miller for always lending a friendly ear and to Lesley Miller who ensured I had the access to the V&A textile collection I needed. I am also thankful for her time, technical expertise and good advice. Without the help and expertise of the staff at the V&A archive it would not have been possible to carry out this research so thanks to James Sutton, Vicky Ward and Nicholas Evans. At the University of the Arts London I would like to thank the following staff; Orianna Baddeley, Eva Broer, Nick Tatchell, Stefan Barratt and Laura Lanceley. I am grateful also to other TrAIN students in particular, Shu-Fang Huang, Ajaykumar, Ope Lori and Kimathi Donkor. 6 I am also grateful to the Rachel Hand at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge and Antonia Lovelace at the Leeds City Museum for facilitating access to their collections. I would also like to thank John Parker at SOAS for his help and encouragement. On a personal note, I would like to thank Harry Stylianou for always encouraging me to study what I found interesting. Above all I am grateful to Andrew Granger for his unstinting support and his proof-reading skills. List of Illustrations Fig. 1.1 Joseph Nash, View of the Tunisian court at the Great Exhibition, print, chromolithograph in Dickinson 1 1851 1: pl.xx Fig. 1.2: Joseph Nash, Tunis 2 print, colour lithograph, 1851, V&A: 19536:8 Fig. 1.3 Tunisian woven silk, 143cm by 54.5 cm., c.1850, V&A: 809-1852 Fig. 1.4 Tunisian woven silk, detail showing khamsa, 143cm by 54.5 cm, c.1850, V&A:809-1852 Fig. 1.5 Woven silk, Tunisian, 28cm by 33 cm, c.1850, V&A: 808a-1852. Fig. 1.6 Tapestry woven wool blanket, Tunisia, c.1850, 249cm by 190.5 cm V&A: 837-1852 Fig. 2.1: Queen Terunesh’s kamis, Cotton embroidered with silk, Ethiopia, Mid- nineteenth century. V&A: 399-1869 Fig. 2.2: Queen Terunesh’s kamis, neck detail. Cotton embroidered with silk, Ethiopia, mid-nineteenth century. V&A: 399-1869 Fig. 2.3: Queen Terunesh’s kamis, back. Cotton embroidered with silk, Ethiopia, mid- nineteenth century. V&A: 399-1869 7 Fig, 2.4: Queen Terunesh’s kamis, front, cotton embroidered with silk, Ethiopia mid- nineteenth century. V&A: 400-1869 Fig, 2.5: Queen Terunesh’s kamis, back, cotton embroidered with silk, Ethiopia mid- nineteenth century. V&A: 400-1869 Fig. 2.6: Queen Terunesh’s kabba, embroidered silk, Ethiopia, mid-nineteenth century. MAA: Z19188 Fig. 2.7: Blue silk kabba, Ethiopia, mid-nineteenth century. Detail showing neck fastening and decoration. MAA: Z19188 Fig. 2.8: Blue silk kabba with silver bosses, Ethiopia, mid-nineteenth century. MAA: Z19184 Fig. 2.9: Censer detail from kabba, Ethiopia, mid-nineteenth. MAA Z19184 Fig. 2.10: Clasp Blue silk kabba with silver bosses, Ethiopia, mid-nineteenth century Fig. 2.11: Central boss depicting crocodiles and a tree, Ethiopia, mid-nineteenth century. MAA Z19184 Fig. 2.12: Damaged boss from kabba, Ethiopia mid-nineteenth century. MAA: Z19184 8 Fig. 2.13: Tassel with burr from kabba, Ethiopia mid-nineteenth century. MAA: Z19188 Fig. 2.14: Blue silk kabba decorated with embroidery and metal work, Ethiopia mid- nineteenth century. MAA Z:18161 Fig. 2.15: Blue silk kabba decorated with embroidery and metal work, mid-nineteenth century, Ethiopia. MAA: Z19185 Fig. 2.16: Back detail of kabba, Ethiopia mid-nineteenth century. MAA: Z19185 Fig. 2.17: Hood of the Abun’s vestment. White satin silk embroidered with gold, Ethiopia, 1747-1748. V&A 1424:1870 Fig. 2.18: Embroidered back of the Abun’s vestment. Crimson satin silk embroidered with gold, Ethiopia, 1747-1748. V&A: 1424:1870 Fig. 3.1: A square panel of tapestry woven wool and linen. Egyptian, ca. AD 300-500. V&A: 699-1886 Fig. 3.2: Linen Tunic with woven decorations. Egypt, fifth century. V&A: 632-1886 Fig. 3.3: Tapestry woven wool and linen. Egypt. fifth or sixth Century. V&A: 717:1886 9 Fig. 3.4: Plate 1 Showing Egyptian textiles. Descriptive Catalogue of the Collections of Tapestry and Embroidery in the South Kensington Museum (Cole: 1888) Fig. 3.5: Part of a door hanging, Algeria, nineteenth century. Silk and metallic thread on linen. 30cm by 262 cm. V&A 24-1873 Fig. 3.6: Tanshifa, linen embroidered with silk, Algeria, nineteenth century, 264 cm by 35 cm. V&A: 1067-1873 Fig. 3.7: Embroidery, Morocco, nineteenth Century, V&A: 335-1885 (bottom piece) Fig. 3.8: Embroidered silk on linen, Chefchaouen, Morocco, nineteenth century V&A: 342-1886 Fig. 3.9: Embroidered silk on linen, Chefchaouen, Morocco, nineteenth Century V&A: 341a-1886 Fig. 3.10: Embroidered silk on linen, Chefchaouen, Morocco, nineteenth Century V&A: 341a-1886 Fig. 3.11: Embroidered silk on linen, Chefchaouen, Morocco, nineteenth Century V&A: 340-1886 Fig. 4.1: Shoulder Brooch, Silver, engraved and decorated with enamel and coral. Kabyle. Algeria. 5.75cm by 4cm V&A: 667-1893 10 Fig.