KUBA Fabric of an Empire

ART on view

By Kevin Tervala, Matthew S. Polk Jr., and Amy L. Gould

FIG. 1 (left): Detail of On the southern edge of the overskirt shown in fi g. 12. Congolese River Basin, nestled between the Kasai and Sankuru Rivers, a remarkable kingdom ﬂ ourished in the latter half of the second millennium CE. Known to their neighbors as “Kuba,” these “people of the king” developed one of the greatest civilizations in the history of central Africa. At the apex of its power in the mid to late nineteenth century, the Kuba kingdom contained all the features of a modern-day nation-state: a professional bureaucracy, a system of taxation, extensive provision of public goods, a constitution (albeit unwritten), and a sophisticated legal system featuring trial by jury and courts of appeal.1 Art and design were central to life in this kingdom. In addition to developing an elaborate and varied masquerade tradition, Kuba men and women were prolifi c textile artists. Hous- es were woven, currency was embroidered, and an individual’s wealth and power were reﬂ ected in the intricacy of the patterns sewn, dyed, and embroidered onto their clothing. Like words on a page, these dazzling designs tell the history of the polity as clearly as any written account or oral history. Scholars have long recognized the potential of Kuba art to shed a brighter light on the kingdom’s past. Yet, as the eminent Belgian

XXIII-1 AOV Kuba E+F.indd 74 08/11/18 16:56 historian Jan Vansina fi rst noted in 1978, “any FIG. 2 (left): “Bakuba.” teenth and early to mid nineteenth centuries are working hypothesis must remain vague until the Une brodeuse (“Bakuba.” defi ned by repeating patterns and subtle details necessary task of cataloging and dating the ex- An embroideress). rendered in monochromatic colors that obscure Photograph by Casimir tant corpus of art objects is undertaken. This is Zagourski (1880–1941). fi gure-ground relationships. By contrast, works the task of a museum. The study of Kuba art Pierre Loos Collection. Courtesy of produced in the late nineteenth and early to mid Andres Moraga Textile Art. has, in fact, barely begun.”2 twentieth centuries are defi ned by large designs Enter the Baltimore Museum of Art’s Kuba: FIG. 3 (above): Skirt. embroidered or appliquéd in contrasting colors. Kuba, Kasai Province, DR Fabric of an Empire (August 19, 2018–February Congo. 1804–1894 (date At the heart of these shifts in design are issues 24, 2019).3 This exhibition uses carbon-dating range determined by of visibility and spectatorship. Who is the in- analysis to establish a defi nitive timeline of Kuba carbon-14 testing). tended audience for these textiles? And what is Raffi a palm fi ber. 569 x 66 cm. artistic innovation. At the beginning of the proj- Private collection. R.18060.3. that audience’s intended reaction? Although all ect, samples from forty-two Kuba textiles were of the artworks included in the exhibition were FIG. 4 (below): Overskirt sent to the Rafter Radiocarbon Laboratory, a created to signify wealth and power—as scholars (detail). Kuba, Kasai carbon-14 dating department within New Zea- Province, DR Congo. from Emil Torday to Patricia Darish have docu- land’s National Isotope Centre. Using the latest 1912–1942 (date range mented—the ways in which each pattern is exe- accelerator mass spectrometry technology, this determined by carbon-14 cuted determines the individuals to whom that testing). laboratory provided the authors with a series Raffi a palm fi ber. 132.1 x 58.4 cm. status is broadcast. Take, for instance, the oldest of possible date ranges for each textile, along Private collection. R.18060.15. with corresponding confi dence intervals for each potential range.4 Using this data, we then determined the most likely date range for each sampled work. This was done using the prov- enance of each object, as well as information gleaned from Vansina’s archival documents, the published histories of the Kuba kingdom, and an examination of textiles cared for by museums in Belgium, Canada, and the United States. What emerges from this interdisciplinary in- vestigation is a history of Kuba two-dimensional design that begins in the eighteenth century and ends in the early 1970s. Our research indicates that two dramatic formal transformations occurred over the course of this two-hundred-year history. First, as the Kuba state grew and expanded, the designs found on textiles created for the kingdom’s ruling class became increasingly bold and dynamic. Second, the growing complexity and inventiveness of design was accompanied by increasing color differentiation within the patterns themselves. Textiles produced in the eigh-

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textile in the BMA’s exhibition: a breathtaking- ly intricate overskirt that dates from between 1736 and 1799 (fi g. 16).5 The defi ning design of this piece is a meticulously executed misheke FIG. 5 (right): bodi (ox horn) pattern that stretches across the Prestige cloth. two central panels of composition. Yet, because Kuba, Kasai Province, DR Congo. both fi gure and ground are dyed the same deep 1958–1959 (date red, the pattern is nearly imperceptible to any- range determined by one but the person wearing it. Indeed, one must carbon-14 testing). Raffi a palm fi ber. be within inches of the piece—and blessed with 59.7 x 63.5 cm. good lighting—to even be aware of this stem- Private collection. R.18060.4. stitched design. We must, thus, understand the garment to be a work of art created for an audience of one. Although quite popular in the eighteenth century, our research shows that intimately scaled design began to fall out of favor with Kuba elites in the early 1800s. Indeed, in the early nineteenth century, the fi rst major shift occurs in the

FIG. 6 (left): kingdom’s textile design: Weavers and embroi- Prestige cloth. derers begin to create works that address and Kuba, Kasai Province, speak to members of a viewing public. Design, DR Congo. 1961–1962 in short, shifts to the level of the perceptible. (date range determined by carbon-14 testing). Once again, overskirts—the top layer of an elite Raffi a palm fi ber. 48.3 x 55.9 cm. man’s or woman’s ceremonial ensemble—pro- Private collection. R.18060.6. vide the clearest evidence of this transformation. The central panels of one skirt created between 1807 and 1896, highlight both clear similarities and demonstrable differences with the older em- broidery traditions (fi g. 18). Like its previously discussed predecessor, the central panels of this work showcase a relatively simple design that

FIG. 7 (right): Bakuba. Fabrication de raﬁ a (Bakuba. Weaving rafﬁ a). Photograph by Casimir Zagourski (1880–1941). Pierre Loos Collection. Courtesy of Andres Moraga Textile Art.

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and power and practically assault the viewer with their visual intensity. Note, for instance, the contrasts between the previously discussed overskirts with one manufactured between 1890 and 1910 (figs. 1 and 12). Like those produced before it, the central panels are defined by a single geometric unit—a triangle in this case—that repeats across the length of the woven composition. Yet there are critical breaks with the past. For one, the standard design unit is larger. Moreover, the dark colors chosen for the pattern make the design much more visible against the light base panels. Most importantly, however, is the inclusion of secondary design units. Whereas earlier textiles allowed for empty space between the basic geometric units of design, the artist(s) who created this piece chose to fill those voids with additional subsidiary patterns stitched in green and dark brown.

repeats across the surface of the garment. Yet, FIG. 8 (above): in the thickness of the embroidered lines and the Prestige cloth. Kuba, Kasai Province, contrast between the blacks and tans of the tri- DR Congo. 1812–1920 angular lines, one sees a notable shift from the (date range determined work’s eighteenth-century cousin. And though by carbon-14 testing). Raffia palm fiber. 40.6 x 59.7 cm. the dark brown of the skirt’s base panels de- Private collection. R.18060.20.

tracts from this contrast, there is no mistaking FIG. 9 (right): the design. This is a work that calls attention Overskirt. both to itself and to individual wearing it. Kuba, Kasai Province, Each of these works appears staid in contrast DR Congo. 1962–1963 (date range determined to the textiles produced by Kuba artists in the by carbon-14 testing). late nineteenth and early to middle twentieth Raffia palm fiber. 147.3 x 61 cm. Private collection. R.18060.14. centuries. In these later works, an allegiance to repeating pattern gives way to a visual cacoph- ony of large-scale designs rendered in starkly contrasting color. These are works that loud- ly proclaim their status as symbols of wealth

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What results from this is a garment designed not only to attract a viewer’s attention but to hold it. Unlike a repeating pattern, which allows a viewer’s eyes to settle because of its standardization and regularity, the heteroge-

FIG. 10 (left): neity of this overskirt’s design refuses to yield Overskirt. to a viewer’s gaze. Although the framed rectan- Kuba, Kasai Province, gular spaces that ﬂ ow across the textile’s cen- DR Congo. 1919–1950 tral panels give the viewer visual access to the (date range determined by carbon-14 testing). piece and direct the eye across the horizontal Raffi a palm fi ber. 127 x 61 cm. length of the garment, the radically different Private collection. R.18060.23. designs nested within each rectilinear space FIG. 11 (below): resist any attempt to fi t the textile into a pre- “Dignitary dancing.” Photo postcard. Published by Photo- existing schema. The eye can neither focus nor Home, Léopoldville. No date. Pierre Loos Collection. Courtesy of settle. There is always more to see and there Andres Moraga Textile Art. is not a center to focus on. And, as such, the

This sort of horror vacui—the fear of empty space—has long been regarded as a defi ning feature of Kuba aesthetics. However, our research indicates that it is a much more recent development than previously thought. And while this transformation became manifest in the late nineteenth century, it did not reach its apotheosis until the fi rst half of the twentieth century. The explosion of geometric designs embroidered on an overskirt made between 1912 and 1942 makes this clear (fi g. 4). Al- though this garment also features a standard- ized design unit—a rectangle—this shape is all but obscured by the variety and intricacy of the secondary design layers stitched in deep black and luminous tan.

XXIII-1 AOV Kuba E+F.indd 78 08/11/18 16:56 FIG. 13 (right): Prestige cloth. Kuba, Kasai Province, DR Congo. 1962 (date determined by carbon-14 testing). Raffi a palm fi ber. 64.1 x 66 cm.. Private collection. R.18060.10.

FIG. 14 (left): Prestige cloth. Kuba, Kasai Province, DR Congo. 1961–1962 (date range determined by carbon-14 testing). Raffi a palm fi ber. 55.9 x 58.4 cm. Private collection. R.18060.7.

FIG. 15 (right): Prestige cloth. Kuba, Kasai Province, DR Congo. 1960s (assumed date range based on style). Raffi a palm fi ber. 64.1 x 66 cm. Private collection. R.18060.22.

FIG. 12 (above): Overskirt. Kuba, Kasai Province, DR Congo. 1890–1910 (date range determined by carbon-14 testing). Raffi a palm fi ber. 177.8 x 58.4 cm. Private collection. R.18060.17.

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FIG. 19 (above right): FIG. 16 (above): Overskirt. FIG. 17 (below): Skirt. FIG. 18 (above): Overskirt. Overskirt. Kuba, Kasai Kuba, Kasai Province, Kuba, Kasai Province, Kuba, Kasai Province, Province, DR Congo. DR Congo. 1736–1799. DR Congo. 1919–1950 DR Congo. 1807–1896 1931–1950 (date range (date range determined by (date range determined (date range determined by determined by carbon-14 carbon-14 testing). by carbon-14 testing). carbon-14 testing). testing). Raffi a palm fi ber. 129.5 x 53.3 cm. Raffi a palm fi ber. 513.1 x 86.4 cm. Raffi a palm fi ber. 119.4 x 53.3 cm. Raffi a palm fi ber. 119.4 x 55.9 cm. Private collection. R.18060.19. Private collection. R.18060.21. Private collection. R.18060.13. Private collection. R.18060.16.

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FIG. 20 (left): Prestige cloth. Kuba, Kasai Province, DR Congo. 1960s (assumed date range based on style). Raffi a palm fi ber. 59.7 x 59.7 cm. Private collection. R.18060.5.

viewer is encouraged to keep looking—both at FIG. 21 (right): the textile and at the person wearing it. “Bakuba.” Une brodeuse. (“Bakuba.” An Given the different viewing relationships embroideress). Photograph prompted by these designs, the formal transfor- by Casimir Zagourski mation of Kuba textiles must be understood as a (1880–1941). Pierre Loos Collection. Courtesy of transformation of the ruling class’s relationship Andres Moraga Textile Art. with its subjects. Whereas the eighteenth-century elites were less interested in broadcasting their status—at least not for extended periods of portant in the twentieth century than it was in time—it became increasingly valuable for them the eighteenth? to do so in the nineteenth century. And by the Defi nitive answers to these questions can be early 1900s, the formal qualities of textile design fi rmly established only through additional test- indicate that the public displays of authority ing and on-the-ground research. However, we were a near necessity for aristocrats and mem- hypothesize that the centuries-long transition bers of the ruling elite. The natural follow-up toward bold, inventive, and eye-catching design question to these evidence-backed observations occurred as Kuba elites sought new and more is, of course, “Why?” Why did members of the dynamic ways to proclaim and preserve their Kuba elite begin to commission and wear gar- status and authority. Indeed, the three moments ments specifi cally designed to captivate and hold of formal innovation that we have identifi ed— a viewer’s attention? And why was this more im- the early nineteenth century, the late nineteenth

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FIG. 22 (top left): Prestige cloth. Kuba, Kasai Province, DR Congo. 1958– 1959 (date range determined by carbon-14 testing). Raffi a palm fi ber. 38.1 x 71.1 cm. Private collection. R.18060.12.

FIG. 23 (middle left): Prestige cloth. Kuba, Kasai Province, DR Congo. 1960s-early 1970s (assumed date range based on style. Raffi a palm fi ber. 34.9 x 71.1 cm. Private collection. R.18060.8.

FIG. 24 (lower left): Prestige cloth. Kuba, Kasai Province, DR Congo. 1902– 1928 (date range determined by carbon-14 testing). Raffi a palm fi ber. 35.6 x 68.6 cm. Private collection. R.18060.9.

FIG. 25 (right): Map showing the Kuba region in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Courtesy of the Baltimore Museum of Art. Design by Edna Jamandre.

FIG. 26 (below): Skirt. Kuba, Kasai Province, DR Congo. 1920–1940 (assumed date range based on style). Raffi a palm fi ber. 683.3 x 86.4 cm. Private collection. R.18060.2.

FIG. 27 (bottom): Timeline of the evolution of Kuba textiles. Courtesy of the Baltimore Museum of Art. Design by Heidi Herman and Edna Jamandre.

KINGDOM FOUNDED GROWTH AND EXPANSION APEX OF POWER CIRCA Shyaam áMbúl áNgoong, a foreign trader, CIRCA The Kuba state rapidly expands and begins to develop a sophisticated CIRCA The kingdom reaches the height of its unites regional chiefs and founds the Kuba bureaucracy and administrative system. New leaders celebrate their power when it takes control of the ivory Kingdom. He is also said to have introduced power by wearing rich fabrics with repeating patterns and subtle color and rubber trade. The increasing wealth new weaving techniques. No textiles from contrasts. These designs were created for their own enjoyment and gives artists the time and financial ability 1625 this period are known to exist. 1750 would not have been readily visible to others. 1850 to create new and more involved designs.

82 1625–1736 1736–1800 1800–1885

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century, and the early twentieth century—corre- spond with times of profound political turmoil in the kingdom. During each of these periods, the ruling class of Kuba society—both the titled offi ceholders known as kolm and the wealthy aristocrats called baapash—were struggling with the rapid changes wrought by colonialism and globalized trade. And though textile design was but one of many strategies these individuals used to cement their status in an era of increasing complexity and heterogeneity, it was an im- portant and largely successful one. The fi rst of these transitions—that is to say, the switch from private- to public-oriented design—was, in many respects, the most profound. In part, this is due to the fact that it set the course for all subsequent evolutions. More importantly, however, this aesthetic transition marks the beginning of what we can think of as a uniquely Kuba design practice. Vanessa Drake Moraga has argued that the intimate, intricate designs found on the earliest of Kuba textiles— those that we have dated to the eighteenth century—have their origins in Kongolese weaving traditions from the Atlantic coast.6 Assuming this is accurate (and we believe that it is), it is thus possible to understand this early aesthetic rupture as the beginning of an aesthetic relating to the political needs and desires of its patrons rather than in a backward looking allegiance with the past.

SACK OF NSHENG CONGOLESE INDEPENDENCE 1900 Belgian colonizers sack the capital of 1960 Colonialism ends, and the Democratic Nsheng and the kingdom is plunged into Republic of the Congo comes into a period of instability and impoverishment. being. This change has little effect Textile production declines significantly. on textile design in the kingdom.

WARS OF SUCCESSION INDIRECT COLONIAL RULE MARKET SHIFT 1886 Instability on the Kuba throne throws the 1910 Belgium recognizes the authority of the Kuba Kingdom and asks CIRCA The authority of the Kuba king has royal court into chaos. Ambitious leaders King Kot áPe to administer the territory on its behalf. To impress greatly eroded at this point. Textile jockey for power by wearing textiles with colonial authorities and cement their status with rebelling subjects, production continues, but many bold, inventive patterns that were designed Kuba leaders commission the most inventive, abstract, and highly pieces are made for the tourist market to command attention. visible textiles in the kingdom’s history. 1970 and their quality markedly declines.

83 1885–1900 1900–1910 1910–1970

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Indeed, at this point in time, the Kuba state— FIG. 28 (above): its control over the highly lucrative ivory and which had rapidly expanded because of new Maison “Bakuba.” rubber trades.7 However, as the wealth of the agricultural products and practices—was strug- (“Bakuba” House). kingdom increased, so too did the number of ti- Photograph by Casimir gling to integrate far-ﬂ ung chiefdoms into its Zagourski (1880–1941). tled offi ceholders and professional bureaucrats. multiethnic and multilingual orbit. In order to Pierre Loos Collection. Courtesy of By 1892, more than half of all men living at the Andres Moraga Textile Art. do so, a complex political system was developed capital were members of the titled aristocracy, over the course of the early to mid nineteenth and the jockeying for power and wealth was so century. This system linked individual villages intense that the kingdom was “teetering on the to the capital of Nsheng through the transfer of brink of a civil war over royal succession.”8 people and the display of symbols. Critical for It was in this political climate that the second our purposes are the artworks given to provin- major design innovation occurred. Exemplifi ed cial leaders and the designs that the Kuba state by the overskirt embroidered in green (fi gs. 1 and permitted these individuals to wear. Given the 12), this era is defi ned by increasing complexity state’s vested interest in the symbolic display of design, starker color contrasts, and the in- of authority at this time, it only makes sense corporation of subsidiary designs within larger that they would commission and champion new geometrical schemas. These innovations allowed forms of legible design. the kingdom’s legions of offi cials to distinguish As the nineteenth century progressed, the themselves from one another in their bloodless Kuba kingdom continued to expand, eventually quests for dominance. Indeed, during this time becoming the dominant regional power due to period, “public displays [of status] were the are-

XXIII-1 AOV Kuba E+F.indd 84 08/11/18 16:57 nas where real political ambitions competed,” and elite members of society regularly hosted FIG. 29 (right): “big theatrical feasts in which people dressed up Prestige cloth. […] and showed off their wealth.”9 Kuba, Kasai Province, DR Congo. 1937–1950 Of course, one cannot talk about the poli- (date range determined tics of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Afri- by carbon-14 testing). Raffi a palm fi ber. ca without mentioning European colonialism, 42.5 x 64.8 cm. which impacted almost every person and polity Private collection. R.18060.11. on the continent. The Kuba kingdom was no different and it is our contention that the im- petus for the fi nal shift in elite textile design is inextricably intertwined with the changes in- stantiated by Belgian colonial rule. To be sure, the kingdom fared far better than most of the peoples subjected to the rule of King Leopold II. The Kuba were never fully conquered by the Belgian military and their strength allowed them to repel the rapaciousness of the Compag- nie du Kasai. Nevertheless, the twentieth century was a period of extreme instability, and, beginning with the sack of the capital in 1900 by a small Belgian force, the power at Nsheng gradually gave way to that of Brussels. Indeed, after the sack, the Kuba elites were forced to In 1992, the British anthropologist Alfred scatter, an act that allowed rebellions against Gell wrote about the relationship between the ruling class to erupt in the outer regions of art, perception, and human exchange. Certain the kingdom. And while these were eventually forms of human creativity, he hypothesized, quashed, the Kuba state never fully recovered, must be regarded as “technologies of enchant- and in 1910 the king was forced to become a ment,” that is to say, “technical processes [that] tributary state of Belgium.10 cast a spell over us so that we see the real world Given this, the dynamic design found in early in an enchanted form.”12 These technologies, to mid twentieth century textiles makes a certain Gell argued, do real work in the world, mainly amount of sense. In an era of declining power, by lubricating human interaction. And though Kuba leaders appear to have taken refuge in the his referenced example relates to economic ex- symbolic realm, trading (against their will) pow- change—specifi cally, the ability of canoe prows er for pomp. Moreover, given the increasingly from the Trobriand Islands to “dazzle the be- rebellious population that they ostensibly con- holder,” thus easing the transfer of shells and

trolled, the visual references to traditional au- FIG. 30 (below): Skirt. necklaces—his insights on the relationship be- thority must have served as a bulwark of sorts Kuba, Kasai Province, tween visually engaging artworks and the dy- against further sedition. In many ways, the tex- DR Congo. 1921–1950 namics of human transaction are applicable (date range determined by tiles produced in this period are reminiscent of across a variety of domains.13 carbon-14 testing). the court art found in the latter periods of many Raffi a palm fi ber, cowrie shells. Like others before us, we draw from Gell in 11 744.2 x 69.9 cm. great African states and societies. Private collection. R.18060.1. order to make an argument about art and poli-

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tics—in this case, the politics of design in central Africa’s Kuba kingdom. Over the course of this article we have argued that the designs dyed, embroidered, and appliquéd onto the textiles worn by members of the kingdom’s elite allowed these individuals to perform politics and exercise authority. Put more specifi cally, we have made a historical timeline. Using carbon-dating technology, we have shown how textiles worn by elite men and women transformed from objects of pleasure into technologies of enchantment over the course of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. And while more research is undoubtedly required to validate and substanti- ate our claims, it is our hope that the work we have done will inspire others to investigate these visually intoxicating works.

NOTES 1. Sara Lowes, Nathan Nunn, James A. Robinson, and Jonathan Weigel, “The Evolution of Culture and Institutions: Evidence from the Kuba Kingdom,” Econometrica 85, no. 4 (2017): 1065–1091. 2. Jan Vansina, The Children of Woot: A History of the Kuba Peoples (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1978), 224. 3. We are deeply grateful to Christopher Bedford, Rena Hoisington, and Christopher Wayner for their support of this project. Darienne Turner deserves special praise for her Herculean efforts on behalf of the exhibition. We are also grateful to Vanessa Drake Moraga for her helpful and generous early comments. 4. For more information on the radiocarbon dating process, we encourage readers to consult Christine Prior, “Forum: A Carbon-14 Primer,” Hali 174 (2012): 26–29. 5. This textile is actually made from eleven separate panels. Testing shows that four of these were added in the nineteenth century. 6. Vanessa Drake Moraga, Weaving Abstraction: Kuba Textiles and the Woven Art of Central Africa (Washington, DC: The Textile Museum, 2011), 11. See also Vansina, The Children of Woot, 220. 7. Jan Vansina, Being Colonized: The Kuba Experience in Rural Congo, 1880–1960 (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2010), 11–18 and 61–64. 8. Vansina, The Children of Woot, 132; Vansina, Being Colonized, 44. 9. Northwestern University, The Jan Vansina Archives, Box 118, Folder 30: Jan Vansina, “Kuba Art and Status,” 27 March 1983, 4. 10. Vansina’s Being Colonized is the fullest and most robust accounting of this history. 11. Indeed, as Paula Ben-Amos has shown in her examination of Benin royal imagery, in times of political crisis, when the authority of the court is threatened and in doubt, elites take refuge in bold and awe-inspiring imagery that substantiates their right to rule. See Paula Girshick Ben-Amos, Art, Innovation, and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Benin (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1999). 12. Alfred Gell, “The Technology of Enchantment and the Enchantment of Technology,” in Jeremy Coote and Anthony Shelton (eds.), Anthropology, Art, and Aesthetics, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992), 44. 13. Ibid.

XXIII-1 AOV Kuba E+F.indd 86 08/11/18 16:57 FIG. 31 (above): Installation view, Kuba: Fabric of an Empire. Image courtesy of the Baltimore Museum of Art. Photo: Mitro Hood.

FIG. 32 (left): “Bakuba.” Un notable. (“Bakuba.” A noble). Photograph by Casimir Zagourski (1880–1941). Pierre Loos Collection. Courtesy of Andres Moraga Textile Art.

FIG. 33 (right): Overskirt. Kuba, Kasai Province, DR Congo. 1890–1930 (assumed date range based on style). Raffia palm fiber. 157.5 x 71.1 cm. Private collection. R.18060.18.

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