Emblems of Affiliation: Textiles from Island Southeast Asia at the Dallas Museum of Art

Ceremonial Cloth | *Tampan*
© The Dallas Museum of Art | Texas, USA

Emblems of Affiliation

Textiles from Island Southeast Asia
at the Dallas Museum of Art

Curated by Steven G. Alpert

The Dallas Museum of Art's Island Southeast Asia collection contains a number of stunning Indonesian textiles, many of which were collected in the 1970s in Bali, Jakarta, and on journeys through the 'outer islands.' Additionally, a number of textiles were acquired in Holland from early colonial sources. Some of these creations came directly from their owners in Indonesia. I was an intrepid traveler at a time when accomplished elders were still alive before the advent of mass tourism, and a burgeoning antique and curio trade fueled and inspired by Suharto's New Order. A few headhunters, and their warrior counterparts, the most accomplished weavers, who had come of age before the advent of modernity, colonialism, and the introduction to world religions, were in those early years still among us. I was in my twenties. Generally, these elders were octogenarians or older.

From the start, with whatever I was collecting, the idea was simple: Surround a masterpiece with relevant spokes and let the whole wheel turn and speak for itself. Pair sculptural or metallic creations (male) with weaving, beadwork, and painted bark cloths (female) and strive to venture beyond well-made ephemera or ethnographic items. Personally, I was taken by the conceptual markings that speak to universal portals of the human experience. (See: Eyes of the Ancestors, The Dallas Museum of Art, 2013: Yale University Press. 2017: Second edition; Tuttle Publishing Co). There are, of course, many beautiful items and methodologies for collecting. Still, I was looking for iconic works that praised the ancestors and were in harmony with my own sense of connoisseurship. Less was always more.

The DMA's collection is neither topographical nor broad in terms of repetitive examples, nor does it dwell upon the technical nomenclature of weaving and textile arts. Rather, it focuses on emblematic pieces with pictorial elements from primary local weaving traditions that had been handed down through multiple generations. The originality and the continual reinterpretation of potent and meaningful motifs by talented women intrigued me. Pieces that were too worn or damaged, or overly abstract, plain, or dominated by Indian, Arabian, or European themes or motifs, while perhaps wonderful, were of far less interest and rarely included in the museum's collection. The DMA's repertoire, owing to the era in which these weavings were collected, meant that the condition and the impact of near-pristine or the pristine quality of the cloths became pro forma. It is these textiles in Dallas through the decades that have received the highest accolades. It was and still is never about the purported age of the pieces but whether they were fashioned during the apogee of a culture or simply by women of high talent fueled by their dreams.

Mention must also be made of my first curatorial experience with the Dallas Museum of Art. John Lunsford was a most unusual and exceptional person. He was the last of a line of generalists who possessed immense catholic knowledge coupled with a keen aesthetic feeling for Pre-Columbian, African, and Oceanic art. In 1981, John visited my parent's home near Chicago, where there was a trove of Indonesian material. In those days, curators had discretionary funds, and he purchased a rare double bronze Batak knife (1981-82).

Nearly concurrent with this purchase, the museum's greatest patron and Dallas' best-known philanthropist, Mrs. Eugene McDermott, purchased a Toraja statue from the legendary dealer, Emile Delataille, at the encouragement of her friend, Mr. Jean Paul Barbier, also a renowned collector.

He mentioned to her that the most refined collection of Indonesian textiles ironically happened to reside in Dallas. I had never met Mrs. McDermott and was eating dinner while preparing for an early morning departure to Indonesia when the museum's textile curator, Carol Robbins, called and asked me to bring over a few textiles for Mrs. McDermott's inspection. The piece that intrigued her the most was a unique Lampung embroidered sarong with profound imagery of the cosmic tree of creation, destruction, and rebirth. Thanks to Margaret McDermott (and so many others in the years to come), the DMA's interest in Indonesian art took off. The rest is history.

Detail of Woman’s Ceremonial Skirt | *Tapis*
© The Dallas Museum of Art | Texas, USA

While modest in size, the DMA's collection is acknowledged for the number and ratio of core masterpieces to a selection of fine orbital material. This ratio is inordinately high and reflects the insights of many persons. It is also the first collection ever to be supported by a local overseas Indonesian community. Under the auspices of Lely White, it spearheaded a drive to acquire one of the collection's finest embroidered skirts. The DMA's collection was also the first permanent collection to display sculpture, jewelry, and textiles; male and female items in balanced, equal measure, in a relaxing setting that reflects pan-Indonesian ideas of pairing oppositional elements in both the ritual realm and in everyday life.

In 1983, a small catalogue was published, Selections From the Steven G. Alpert Collection of Indonesian Textiles. It was unveiled in coordination with gold from Jean Paul Barbier's collection in what was then a novel concept. Mr. Barbier's pieces published in Power and Gold now primarily reside at the Musee du quai Branly in Paris. The exhibition was entitled Power and Gold/Woven to Honor and was presented in the museum's main gallery. One of my fondest memories from this period was the day Mrs. McDermott called and asked if I would meet her and a friend to tour the exhibition. The friend turned out to be none other than the former First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson. We gaily discussed art, life, Indonesia, and textiles as I escorted them arm in arm through the installation. It was a fine opportunity to be gallant and to guide two of Texas' most accomplished and inspiring titans and grand dames through the world of my youthful fascination.

Back to the subject of collecting, where I am often asked for guidance and philosophical approaches to the attainment of time-honored results. Looking back to the outset, I was strongly influenced by Mr. Ernest Erikson, a venerable and wide-ranging collector of high discernment whose Indonesian textiles are now in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. He would say: "I am an old Viking. You have to ask yourself, does that ship really float? Is it balanced? Is the design elegantly crafted, and is it an artful composition? It should be like a fine painting where everything merges into a larger coherent whole picture. If the colors are not deep and original or there are holes, then it (the ship) most likely sinks", he would caution me. (This was in an era before patching, re-weaving, and conservation techniques were liberally applied to Indonesian textiles). As a child, I also had an illustrated book of bible stories. For whatever reason, one, in particular, that of Joseph's robe of many colors, became forever branded in my imagination. The same deep tones of richly dyed indigos, slate blues, rich burgundies, earthy ochres, and glowing deep red registers are also often hallmarks of the oldest and finest Indonesian textiles. Like a code, I would ask myself, "Is this example worthy of being called Joseph's robe"? Thanks to my Mother I had an artist's eye, plus a Wesleyan education, but it was Mr. Erickson who taught me to look at textiles as if they were paintings, whole compositions.

The ritual concepts of balance, harmony, and duality also became personal signposts for collecting Indonesian art. Aside from superior aesthetics, cloths had to have what I called 'textile presence' (homespun thread, deep and rich dye tones, evident technical mastery, and so forth). I am most proud of those items that were literally given to me to preserve them by their owners, or textiles where I acquired only the very best, not the rest, asking families to weave a copy of the pattern of "grandmother's shawl." Over the years, the Indonesian government and its representatives kindly honored Mrs. McDermott and our collection as a pusat cahaya, as a 'center of light,' for disseminating culture; for exposing and beckoning further interest in tourism, commerce, and cultural history in Indonesia befitting one of the world's most lovely and fascinating countries.

Here at Art of the Ancestors, each gallery displays cloth, beadwork, or barkcloth of merit from the public domain and institutional collections. The best way to explore the Dallas Museum of Art's Indonesian collection is through the award-winning book, Eyes of the Ancestors or by paying a visit to the museum. There, one can discover not only Indonesian textiles but a museum replete with marvelous cloth from Pre-Columbian cultures, Africa, American quilts, and so much more.