Object Details
- Yoruba artist
- Label Text
- Adire ia an ordinary commercially woven cloth that is transformed by hand dying with localy made indigo dye. To create the elaborate patterns of adire the artist blocks the dye from reaching the surface of the cloth. This is done by painting or stenciling with a starch such as cassava paste, or by tying or sewing knots and seams. This pattern is called sun bebe or "lifting up the sun," and is made by painting with starch resist. The pattern name refers to the beads girls wore around their hips. While dancing the beads would move up and down. The beads were especially worn by girls who were to be married, and in private ceremonial dances, they performed before their future husbands.
- Adire was first produced in quantity in the late nineteenth century, with production dwindling by World War II. The 1960s saw a revived interest in adire with new patterns, and new uses superceeding the original use as women's wrappers.
- Description
- Cotton cloth wrapper with indigo dyed pattern of 56 squares in 8 x 7 blocks, hand painted, with the painter's mark visible on the margin.
- Provenance
- Jane Barbour, acquired Abeokuta, Nigeria, ca. 1969 to 1996
- Exhibition History
- TxtStyles: Fashioning Identity, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., June 11-December 7, 2008
- Adire: Resist-Dyed Cloths of the Yoruba, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., April 16-August 17, 1997
- Published References
- National Museum of African Art. 1997. Adire: Resist-Dyed Cloths of the Yoruba. Exhibition brochure. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, no. 19.
- Content Statement
- As part of our commitment to accessibility and transparency, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is placing its collection records online. Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks. If you see content requiring immediate action, we will do our best to address it in a timely manner. Please email [email protected] if you have any questions.
- Image Requests
- High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/
- Credit Line
- Museum purchase
- Mid-20th century
- Object number
- 96-1-20
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Textile and Fiber Arts
- Medium
- Cotton, indigo dye
- Dimensions
- H x W: 195 x 174.2 cm (76 3/4 x 68 9/16 in.)
- Geography
- Nigeria
- See more items in
- National Museum of African Art Collection
- Object Name
- adire
- National Museum of African Art
- Topic
- Adornment
- Female use
- male
- spiral
- Record ID
- nmafa_96-1-20
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ys778b23bc1-e7c3-4093-b2b2-f74fb01952a3
