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Kuba

Cut-Pile Cloth

Kuba, Early-mid 20th century

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Kuba

Cut-Pile Cloth

Kuba, Early-mid 20th century

Physical Qualities Palm raffia, dye, 59 × 57 cm. (23 1/4 × 22 7/16 in.)
Credit Line Gift of Philip Lee Davis, Key West, Florida
Object Number 2002.692
The Kuba textiles and Polynesian tapa cloths that hung on Matisse's walls in 1943 inspired his paper cut-outs, which in turn served as the basis for many of his own fabric designs. Kuba cloths are traditionally woven from undyed raffia and patterned with repeating diamond motifs of contrasting black, brown or rust-colored embroidered-and-cut pile.
Anita Jones, "Matisse-Designed Textiles," Baltimore Museum of Art, rotation in Berman Gallery, December 13, 2007-June 23, 2008, no catalog.

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