30 ASIAN ART Exhibitions


MATERIAL TRACES Conserving and Exploring Textiles


THE CONSERVATION and restoration of textiles have been a key mission of the Abegg-Stiftung since its founding 50 years ago. Because such work is done behind the scenes, visitors to the exhibitions see only the end results of it as a rule. Just how long the journey from ‘untreated’ to ‘exhibition- ready’ textile can be – and the surprises it sometimes turns up – is vividly illustrated in this year’s special exhibition. Te focus of the show is


showing the work entailed in preparing a historical garment and hanging, or preparing a pair of shoes for presentation. Te exhibition features videos of the showcased textiles undergoing treatment in the conservation studio. Visitors can thus watch a densely embroidered robe being freed from dust and dirt with the aid of a miniscule vacuum cleaner and brush; or they can look on as a conservator plying a surgical needle and ultra-fine silk thread stitches on an original textile onto a support fabric. Te films include some before-and-after sequences, as well as images of the custom-made stands on which the robes are mounted; they explore the insights that were obtained while the textiles were being studied and conserved.


Hanging with stags in a medallion, Central Asia, 8th/mid 9th century, 196 x 173 cm, Abegg Stiftung


Te main attraction of the exhibition comprises two large, well-preserved hangings from Central Asia, dated to the 8th/9th century. Tey are decorated with stags facing each other inside a medallion, which was a widely used pattern type at the time, but here has been enlarged to a monumental scale. Te medallions therefore extend over the full width of the cloth, at least 173 cm on one hanging and 157 cm on the


other, making this a veritable tour de force of weaving! Te picture fields bordering the medallions also contain a number of much smaller, beautifully reproduced animals and plant motifs. Te hangings come from an archaeological context and hence were soiled on arrival. Te search for a suitable cleaning method uncovered a hitherto unknown dyeing method: it was of all dyestuffs indigo, which in fact has the


Showing a magnified view of the China, Southern dynasties(?) 5th.6th century, chain stitch-embroidery with tiny fragments of mica to add sparkle, Abegg-Stiftung


capacity to form an extremely stable bond with textile fibres, that had been processed in such a way that the dark blue threads had become fragile and extremely water-sensitive. Te only cleaning method that could be considered was therefore micro-suction, which in the end turned out to be very efficient. Te exhibition also features


several robes, among them one from China, which at first looks unassuming, but on


closer inspection turns out to be quite astonishing, being embroidered all over with scenes on the theme of immortality and the beyond as well as rosettes and animals. Anyone who looks closely will notice something else: tiny, gleaming flecks of light! Tese are produced by minute fragments of mica scattered in between two transparent layers of weaving. Magnified footage of the mica-inlaid weave and the embroidery on


FAHRELNISSA ZEID


THIS IS THE UK’s first retrospective of Fahrelnissa Zeid (b 1901, Istanbul, died 1991, Amman), re-appraising her work in an international context. Zeid was a pioneering artist best known for her large-scale colourful canvases – some over five metres wide – fusing European approaches to abstract art with Byzantine, Islamic and Persian influences. Te exhibition brings


together paintings, drawings and sculptures spanning over 40 years – from expressionist works made in Istanbul in the early 1940s, to immersive abstract canvases exhibited in London, Paris and New York in the 1950s and 1960s, finishing with her return to portraiture later in life. Celebrating her extraordinary career, Tate Modern reveal Zeid as an important figure in the international story of abstract art. Zeid was one of the first


Fahrelnissa Zeid in her studio, Paris, circa 1950s. Unknown photographer. Raad bin Zeid Collection © Raad bin Zeid Collection


ASIAN ART SUMMER QUARTER 2017


women to receive formal training as an artist in Istanbul, continuing her studies in Paris in the late 1920s. Te show features her breakthrough moment in the early 1940s, when she championed experimental approaches to painting and exhibited with an avant- garde Group D in Turkey (formed in 1932). Te exhibition shows how Zeid’s work from this period, such as the tapestry-like Tird- class Passengers (1943)


demonstrates her affinities with and divergence from international art movements, blending European painting traditions with Oriental themes. Several works from her first solo exhibitions, held in her own apartment in Istanbul in the mid-1940s, are reunited, including Tree Ways of Living (War) from 1943 and Tree Moments in a Day and a Life (1944). In 1945, Zeid and her husband, Prince Zeid El-Hussein of the Hashemite royal family, moved to the UK where he had been posted as Iraqi Ambassador. Splitting her time between London and Paris, Zeid’s exhibitions were well received by critics and artists alike, cementing her position as one of the great female artists working at the time. Two works from this period signal her turning point from figuration to abstraction: Fight against Abstraction (1947), which shows the confident use of strong black lines that became a motif throughout her career, and Resolved Problems (1948), with its vibrant colours and patterns that looked towards op and kinetic art. When the Hashemite royal


family were assassinated in a military coup in Iraq in 1958, Zeid and her husband were forced to vacate the embassy – and her studio – in London. Tey found a modest flat and for the first time in her life,


Zeid had to learn to cook. Although she had previously painted on stones, time spent in the kitchen inspired her to do the same on turkey and chicken bones, which she later cast in polyester resin panels evocative of stained glass windows – a selection of which will feature in the exhibition. In response to the coup, and perhaps in recognition of her own mortality, Zeid also made a return to figurative painting. For the last 20 years of her


career, she painted portraits of her friends and family with exaggerated features that recall the anti-naturalistic character of Byzantine art. Zeid spent the last years of


her life in Amman, Jordan, where she transformed her home into an informal art school and surrounded herself with a cosmopolitan group of female students. Zeid died in 1991, aged 89, having exhibited across Europe, the USA and the Middle East. She left behind a remarkable visual legacy of her extraordinary life as well as a significant contribution to the global history of modernism.


• From 13 June to 8 October, Tate Modern, London www.tate.org.uk. Catalogue available. Te exhibition travels to the KunstHalle in Berlin in November.


top of it is presented in one of the films, affording visitors a fascinating glimpse inside a textile that would normally be reserved for the conservator working at the microscope. Tis is the only textile inlaid with mica known to us to date. At the time it was made in the 5th/6th century, the robe would have sparkled every time the wearer moved. • Until 12 November at Abegg-Stiftung, Switzerland, www.abegg-stiftung.ch


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