Vanishing Traditions: Textiles and Treasures from Southwest China

February 24–July 9, 2018

Exhibition Program Highlights All programs are free unless

DISCUSSION AND TOUR

otherwise noted. For a complete

Indigo, Blue Star of the Orient

list of programs with descriptions, or to register for a program, visit museum.gwu.edu/programs.

FAMILY DAY

Chinese Lunar New Year

Saturday, May 26, 10:30 AM Jenny Balfour-Paul, honorary research fellow, Exeter University, president, UK Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners, and Dyers $10/museum members and GW students, faculty, and staff; $15/public

Saturday, February 24, 10 AM–4 PM FILM

Love Songs of the Miao in China

China’s Guizhou Ethnic Groups, Part II: Tujia,Yi, Shui, Gelao

Thursday, March 15, 12 PM (45 minutes)

Thursday, May 31, 12 PM (50 minutes)

FILM

LECTURE

FILM

Understanding the Miao Through Embroidery

A Visit to China’s Miao Country

Thursday, April 19, 12 PM Cristin McKnight Sethi, assistant professor and director of graduate studies, GW Department of Art History FILM

China’s Guizhou Ethnic Groups, Part I: Preface, Miao, Bouyei, Dong Thursday, May 10, 12 PM (50 minutes)

Thursday, June 7, 12 PM (36 minutes) LECTURE

Tourism, Change, and the Textile Economy Among the Miao in Guizhou Thursday, June 14, 5:30 PM (reception), 6 PM (lecture) Tim Oakes, director, Center of Asian Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder $10/museum members and GW students, faculty, and staff; $15/public

guizhou ( 贵州 ), a mountainous, subtropical province in southwest China, is home to more than a dozen distinct ethnic groups. These peoples often live in close proximity to one another, but they differ greatly in customs, language, and textile traditions. Clothing is a primary marker of group identity, and can differentiate between ethnicities and between subgroups of the same ethnicity.

E

laborate garments and jewelry

The textiles and jewelry in Vanishing Traditions:

worn for celebratory occasions

Textiles and Treasures from Southwest China

such as festivals and weddings are

are selected from a gift of handmade objects

among the most highly esteemed artworks

donated to the museum by collector Bea

created in these cultures. Many of Guizhou’s

Roberts in 2015. Purchased by Roberts during

ethnic groups historically had no written

trips to southwest China in the 1990s and

language, so the designs on fine textiles

early 2000s, the collection includes garments,

(made by women) and metalwork (made

jewelry, costume accessories, and textile

by men) were not only decorative, but also

making tools of the Miao, Dong, Shui, Yao,

an important means of recording stories,

Bouyei, and other minority peoples.

events, and beliefs.

Requiring several years to make by hand,

Guizhou is one of the most ethnically diverse provinces in China. Around sixty

festive ensembles comprising textiles

percent of Guizhou’s thirty-five million

and jewelry traditionally were their owner’s

inhabitants belong to China’s majority ethnic

most valuable possessions. Guizhou’s

group, the Han, while the other forty percent

illustrious hand-craftsmanship skills are fast

are classified as minority nationalities. Over

disappearing, however, as the region

half of Guizhou’s land mass is designated

develops economically and people across

as autonomous territory for ethnic minorities,

the province adopt modern lifestyles

the most populous of which are the Miao

and international clothing forms.

and the Dong.

Left: Festival jacket (detail). China, Guizhou Province, Kaili City, Matang Village, Gejia people.

20th century. Silk, cotton; embroidered, resist dyed. The Textile Museum 2015.8.196.

The Bea Roberts Collection of Chinese Minority Textiles

Most textiles in the exhibition were made by Miao people, who comprise dozens of subgroups with distinctive dialects, customs, and costume traditions. Outsiders often categorize and name the various Miao groups according to their clothing styles—such as Long-skirt Miao, White-collar Miao, and Blue Miao—but the Miao find these nicknames objectionable and instead classify their subgroups by dialect or region of residence.

Nonetheless, clothing is the most prominent visual marker of identity among Guizhou’s many ethnic groups. While textiles embody each of these peoples’ unique aesthetics, traditions, and histories, they also reflect cross-cultural interactions and the creative skill of individual makers.

Left: Sleeve panel. China, Guizhou Province, Taijiang County, Shidong Village, Miao people.

20th century. Silk, cotton, paper; embroidered. The Textile Museum 2015.8.179. The Bea Roberts Collection of Chinese Minority Textiles Right: Baby carrier (detail).

China, Guizhou Province, Taijiang County, Geyi Township, Miao people. 20th century. Cotton, silk; embroidered, assembled. The Textile Museum 2015.8.164. The Bea Roberts Collection of Chinese Minority Textiles

Left: Festival jacket. China, Guizhou Province, Taijiang County, Miao people. 1950s. Cotton, silk; embroidered. The Textile Museum 2015.8.158. The Bea Roberts Collection of Chinese Minority Textiles

Many of Guizhou’s ethnic groups disapprove of marriage between two people from the same village, so festivals provide a primary opportunity for courtship.

Unmarried girls dance to the music of lusheng (bamboo pipes), showing off their lavish costumes and jewelry to the unmarried boys. Traditionally, a girl’s skill at making exquisite textiles enhanced her marriage prospects, but today many young women purchase machine-made outfits off the rack.

The artistry of Guizhou’s textile makers reaches its pinnacle in festival costume.

Southwest China’s ethnic minorities hold an annual round of festivals that celebrate the new year and harvests; honor mythical ancestors; appease ghosts and dragons; and provide the opportunity for courting. Several villages of the same ethnic group join together to organize festivals, which can last several days and nights. People travel for miles carrying

Through costumes, jewelry, photographs,

food, rice wine, musical instruments, and

and films, Vanishing Traditions documents

bundles of clothing. Once at the festival

the beauty, technical virtuosity, and

site, they put on their fine garments and

cultural significance of distinguished, but

enjoy activities ranging from bull fights and

diminishing, handcrafts in one of China’s

beauty contests to singing and dancing.

most colorful and ethnically diverse regions.

Museum Information Location

Museum Shop

The museum is located at the corner of 21st and G streets, NW, four blocks from the Foggy Bottom-GWU Metro Station (Blue, Orange, and Silver lines). For directions and parking information, visit museum.gwu.edu/getting-here.

Visit the shop for unique jewelry, home décor, books, and gifts from Washington, D.C., and around the world. To place an order for shipment, contact 202-833-1285 or museumshop@gwu.edu.

Hours

Support from members and donors is the driving force that allows the museum to continue its work bringing art, history, and culture alive for the GW community and the public. To join or renew a current membership, or to make a donation, visit museum.gwu.edu/support, call 202-994-5579, or stop by the front desk.

Monday: 11 AM–5 PM Tuesday: Closed Wednesday–Thursday: 11 AM–7 PM Friday: 11 AM–5 PM Saturday: 10 AM–5 PM Sunday: 1–5 PM Closed on university holidays

Admission $8 suggested donation for non-members.

Free for museum members, children, and current GW students, faculty, and staff.

Membership

The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum 701 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052 202-994-5200 | museum.gwu.edu

@GWTextileMuseum

Textile Library Located on the museum’s fourth floor, the Arthur D. Jenkins Library is open Wed–Thu 1–4 PM and by appointment. Please contact the librarian before your visit at museumlibrary@gwu.edu.

TextileMuseum GWMuseum GW-Textile-Museum.tumblr.com

Left: Skirt. China,

Cover (detail of left):

Guizhou Province,

Woman’s jacket. China,

Liuzhi County, Suoga

Guizhou Province,

Township, Miao people.

Danzhai County, Yahui

20th century. Cotton,

Township, Miao people.

silk; embroidered,

20th century. Cotton, silk;

resist dyed. The Textile

embroidered. The Textile

Museum 2015.8.150.

Museum 2015.8.155.

The Bea Roberts

The Bea Roberts

Collection of Chinese

Support for this brochure is generously

Collection of Chinese

Minority Textiles

provided by Bea and Thomas Roberts.

Minority Textiles