System and Meaning in East Sumba Textile Design: A Study in Traditional Indonesian Art (Cultural Report Series No. 16)
New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Southeast Asia Studies, 1969. Softcover. Green paper wraps, 250 pp., 71 BW illus. VG- (slightly aged; carries i.d. mark of former library owner on tp, otherwise clean.). Item #153959
"There is a need for studies of Indonesian textiles as works of art. This paper undertakes a step in that direction by focusing on the textiles of a single island in eastern Indonesia, the cotton cloths of the small island of Sumba. Sumba cloths are exceptionally interesting because they contain a wide range of designs and because they figure prominently in Sumbanese life. They offer a prospect of exploring the problem of the relationship between decoration and function of textiles. Therefore the first task of this study is to establish the function of the decorated textiles by analyzing them in their social setting; the second part will consist of an examination of the structure and context of the design system. On the basis of these analyses, I will attempt to show links between the aesthetic and social order in East Sumba, for decorated textiles, it seems to me, embody in structure and function fundamental conceptions of value held by the East Sumbanese." (preface).
Price: $90.00