Folk Stories - Visual Illusions
Today’s story is a little more personal, as it involves my visit to the MET museum's archives at the Antonio Ratti Textile Center.
If you don’t already know I currently live in Connecticut, USA, which means that the only way to see Greek folk art here is to visit the MET archives as they hold an extensive collection of items from that period.
At some point I will share the full story of that visit, but for now let’s focus on three of the pieces I requested to see from the island of Naxos.
What is happening here?
Above you see a very characteristic example of embroidery from the island of Naxos. They are very geometric and are usually limited to one color - red.
On the day of my visit I had requested a number of items to see up close. For these three artifacts from Naxos I was mainly aiming to get a closer look at their fine details, as I thought that the black and white images shown on MET’s website would be sufficient for me to understand the overall design.
Well, how wrong was I?!
Folk Fact
When I laid eyes on the pieces I immediately saw that there was an almost three dimensional feel to them, but I could not understand how it came about.
I knew that they were embroidered with red silk thread, but my eyes were noticing two slightly different hues of the color.
I wondered if it was because the threads were colored with natural dyes that this slight variation would occur, but after looking closer I noticed that there was a specific logic behind how those hues alternating in the design making them seem very intentional.
So my curiosity was lit up!
Upon returning home I delved into my resources to find the answer.
It turns out that the change in hue was due to the direction the threads were embroidered in, on the different parts of the design.
By alternating the direction of the thread, the light reflected on the shiny silk thread slightly differently creating the illusion of a different red hue.
What an ingenious way to utilize the same material to add variety and depth to the design!
Some thoughts
Here we have a story that highlights these women’s ingenuity and desire to use what they had available with frugality and creativity.
It was a time that nothing got thrown away when it wore out and things got fixed or repurposed.
I am wondering if apart from the obvious economic benefit, this approach was also a result of being involved in the entire process of creating these items and there was sentimental as well as practical value in them.
If you enjoyed this story, I think you will really like other Folk Stories I am sharing in this blog.
Want a fun fact?
If you click on the link here you will see all the pieces of embroidery that the MET archives hold from the island of Naxos.
You will notice that only three of them have color images. Those where the exact three that I requested to be pulled out of the archive. As a result they were photographed in color since none of them had been out of the archives for many decades.
My trip to the archives played a small part in the way that these items are now displayed on the online catalogue of the museum and I really hope that one day some of them find their way on display cabinets of this amazing museum for all to enjoy.
