ALUMINUM STORM SHUTTERS

Indian
Woven cotten
315 inches long
Gift of Mrs. Henrietta Brewer

Black cotton tabby sari with red and white silk pallu, or end pieces. Red and yellow double border in arrowhead motif. West Indian.

When most westerners think of saris, they tend to visualize dazzling gold and silver brocades. It is important to remember however, that brocaded saris represent only a fraction of the larger sari tradition. Indeed, many other kinds of saris have a minimalist simplicity to rival even the most opulent pieces in beauty. This West Indian sari from the collection exemplifies a kind of sari whose the artistry is too often overlooked.

Within its simple geometric layout, a black ground accentuates the piece’s bright reds, yellows, and whites. The overall effect is boldly graphic. Less immediately striking, but no less important than the sari’s graphic appeal, is its carefully engineered drape. To create a sari light enough for hot weather, but heavy enough to hang neatly, its dense silk pallu are woven separately, and later joined to a thin cotton body with thickly woven borders. In many cases, a weaver will cover the jagged join between the sari’s pallav and body with a stripe. As in our piece, however, a weaver is just as likely to keep the join visible as testament to his skill.

In Western India, saris woven in both cotton and silk are particularly appropriate for weddings, “as they reflect the union of two distinct materials” (1). Because the piece is black, it was probably not a bridal sari, and could have been worn by a wealthy or middle-class woman in everyday life. Nonetheless, the sari’s combination of black and red carries ancient associations of fertility.

(1) Kapur, Rta. Saris of India: Tradition and Beyond. Roli Books Private Ltd, 2010. 36-38. Print.

Essay by Tara Contractor SC’13, Academic Year Wilson Intern, 2010-2011

Who was the elegant lady?

It is not likely that a respectable Russian wife would have posed nude in the late 19th Century, but this is no street walker.

She is both young and beautiful. Her hair is expertly (and expensively) coiffed and, in the days before the safety razor had been invented, let alone the lady shave, her underarms have been shaved for her by an expert. Her jewelry is of an Avant Garde design. Her drape seems to be of silk, and in the days before true panchromatic photographic emulsions were generally available was either white, or at the blue end of the spectrum (think of all those blank Victorian skies).

The photographer knew his business. The composition accords with the generally accepted rules taught by the art academies. The style is that of the artistic erotic nude, rather than the crude pornographic. The hands are placed so as to better reveal the model's figure, and the device of the hoop both aids this, and makes it less obvious. Strands of silk are delicately teased over her lower body, The black background emphasises the lightness of her skin.

She may have been a professional model, a courtesan, or an aristocrat's mistress.

I hope that she and her children survived the Revolution and escaped to France or America.