Flax, apparently the first of the great natural fibres used in cloth-making, was spun and woven in the Nile Valley as long ago as 5000 B.C. The four great textiles-linen, wool, cotton and silk-are associated with four great civilizations of the ancient world. Rapid and efficient though it is, the power-driven loom repeats the age-old movements of the craftsman’s skillful hands. But always the principle remained the same, and even mechanization did not change the basic processes of weaving. There were special looms for cloth, linen, silk, and damask, and looms bearing a supplementary warp for the weaving of piled fabrics. Europe had the treadle-loom in the thirteenth century and mediaeval illustrations show us the various forms employed for the different cloths. The draw-loom, a still further perfected type of treadle-loom, was developed in the East, where it is used even today. The looms which gave us such superb textiles were the primitive hand-loom and the later treadle-loom, a much improved form which brought the feet into play. In the “ikat” technique, the pattern is carefully measured and dyed into the threads before these reach the loom. Most of the designs on Greek and Roman fabrics were produced this way, and many of the wonderful textiles of ancient Peru are tapestry-woven. In tapestry weaving, additional threads are inserted by hand where the decoration is to appear. ![]() ![]() When extra warp or weft systems are used, the resulting textile is known as compound cloth. This was the technique employed by the Japanese weavers in some of their amazingly intricate designs. More complicated designs may be obtained by the interweaving of extra systems of wefts or warps. In cloth weaving, the loom is set up so that the formation of the shed-the space left by the raising and lowering of the warp threads for the introduction of the woof-automatically produces the pattern. As for design, it is doubtful whether one can speak of “progress” when confronted with the rhythmic and balanced patterns evolved so long ago.Īll weaving, from the simplest to the most complex, is effected by a system of cross-threads: the static warp and the dynamic woof (or weft) which moves across the warp, alternately over and under its threads. Nor have modern dyes, despite all the advances of chemistry, achieved the rich and varied colours known to early dyers. In all the long history of the weaver’s art, nothing is more striking than the fact that the ancient products of the primitive loom have never been surpassed by the fabrics turned out with such efficiency by the modern power-driven loom. The consideration of the development of the textile art from its crude beginnings in the Neolithic era to its present state of mechanical perfection is an instructive and humbling experience. Fragment of Coptic woollen textile from the Fayum. For the ancient or primitive artist created his designs so subtly and so surely that they are valid in all media and can be translated-whether by brush or chisel or loom-into new, yet equally significant languages. That is what makes the objects in a museum so valuable a repertoire for the designer, whatever his field. Other materials-woodcarvings, sculpture, porcelains and paintings-have contributed their special decorative elements to the new medium. These designs have not been taken from textiles alone. In this case, it is a leading creator of fine fabrics who has turned to the University Museum for the designs embodied in his new group of woven and printed textiles. It is, however, the first time that motifs from museum objects have been so faithfully applied to a whole breathtaking series of designs. ![]() Museums have often served as sources of inspiration to designers and technologists, and this is not the first instance of fruitful cooperation between art and industry. Side by side with the rich fabrics of the past we have placed newly-created textiles which, while patterned on this past and embodying traditional motifs, are fresh and gracious adjuncts to modern living and a challenge to contemporary taste. WARP AND WOOF, the University Museum’s current exhibit of historic and contemporary textiles, has a double aim: to spread before the visitor the almost miraculous products of the primitive loom, and to suggest how infinite are the decorative possibilities to be discovered in ancient and primitive design.
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