LACMA Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Five Centuries of Indonesian Textiles

18 Sep 2008 - 06 Sep 2009

Woman's Ceremonial Skirt (Tapis) (detail)
South Sumatra, Lampung, mid-nineteenth century, silk and cotton plain weave with metallic thread supplementary weft-patterning, and silk and metallic thread embroidery with gold foil and mica, Mary Hunt Kahlenberg Collection
FIVE CENTURIES OF INDONESIAN TEXTILES:
Selections from the Mary Hunt Kahlenberg Collection

September 18, 2008–September 6, 2009
Ahmanson Building

Note: This exhibition will close temporarily on March 15, 2009, reopening on March 28, 2009.

Indonesia's rich and diverse textile traditions will be highlighted in this exhibition of more than ninety works dating from the early fifteenth through twentieth centuries. Extremely rare textiles that have been radiocarbon dated to as early as 1403 will be shown. The cultural origins and influences of the varied ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups inhabiting the many islands of Indonesia will be seen in a dazzling array of abstract, figurative, and geometric design motifs.
This exhibition is organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and curated by Sharon Takeda, costume and textiles, and Mary Kahlenberg, guest curator.