Indian Textiles: 1,000 Years of Art and Design – November 2021
English editing by Karun Thakar (Author), Rosemary Crill (Author), Avalon Fotheringham (Author), Sylvia Houghteling (Author)
Publisher: Hali Pubns (8 November 2021)
Language: English
Hardcover: 391 pages
- Features Indian textiles pieces from the Karun Thakar Collection, and The Textile Museum and Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection in Washington, DC.
- Published to accompany an exhibition at The Textile Museum at George Washington University in Washington, DC, opening January 2022
The book features items from one of the world’s foremost private collections of Indian textiles, the Karun Thakar Collection, together with key pieces from two recently united American collections, The Textile Museum and the Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection in Washington, DC. The book and accompanying exhibition offer a unique approach to understanding Indian textile culture through reference to three distinct traditions: abstract, floral and figurative design.
With essays by three leading international Indian textile curators, the publication’s focus on textile ornament rather than date, region, usage, or technique provides new perspective and scholarship on this ancient artistic tradition. The book highlights the tradition’s remarkable diversity, with objects ranging from folk embroideries to Mughal courtly weavings, and from early textiles traded to Egypt and Southeast Asia to 18th-century chintzes exported to Europe.
The limited-edition catalog Indian Textiles: 1,000 Years of Art and Design is available for purchase ($80). The hardcopy book includes essays by leading historians of Indian textiles, including Rosemary Crill, Steven Cohen, Avalon Fotheringham and Sylvia Houghteling. You can order a copy through the museum’s Artisans Gallery at 202-960-5311 or artisansgallery@gwu.edu.
