Context (CMS Context)
Catalogue card reads [handwritten in black pen:] 'Z 30621 MELANESIA. FIJI. Barkcloth - black/brown/white. Condition-good. 0.69m x 4.23m'. A small round red sticker & a black and white photograph of the object glued to the front of the card.
Event Date
Author: maa

Description (CMS Description)
Barkcloth. White, black and brown. Good shape.
'Long piece of barkcloth of which the designs are organised in four rows of rectangles with stencilled designs in red and black. The long edges are fringed. F. Veys, 15/11/2004.'
Event Date 1/6/1996
Author: maa

Loan (Exhibition)
Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, 1/5/2013 to 14/7/2013, Tapa: Barkcloth paintings from the Pacific
Event Date 1/5/2013
Author: rachel hand

Loan (Long Term Gallery Loan)
Museu de Cultures del Món, Barcelona, 13/01/2014 to 31/01/2018, Polynesia gallery, Museu de Cultures del Món
Event Date 13/1/2014
Author: Rachel Hand

Context (CMS Context)
Exhibited: 'Chiefs & Governors: Art and power in Fiji', Cambridge MAA, 13 January 2014 - 19 April 2014
Event Date 25/4/2014
Author: Remke van der Velden

Context (Display)
Exhibited: On loan to the exhibition 'Tapa: Barkcloth paintings from the Pacific', curated by Nick Thomas and Julie Adams, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, 1 May- 14 July 2013.

Event Date 4/9/2014
Author: Rachel Hand

Conservation ()
CON.2013.27 |
Event Date 1/3/2016
Author: maa

Conservation ()
CON.2014.202 |
Event Date 1/3/2016
Author: maa

Context (References)
Illustrated in the exhibition catalogue 'Tapa: Barkcloth paintings from the Pacific', by N. Thomas and J. Adams (Ikon Gallery and MAA), 2013.

Captioned as 'Fijian barkcloth is remarkable for its variety of decorating techniques and styles: bold black designs painted freehand; stencilled motifs of tremendous intricacy in black and red; patterns obtained by rubbing the cloth on a board of wood or fibre. All are employed, in different parts of Fiji, to produce vibrant and contrasting pieces.Symmetry plays an important part in the decoration of the cloth, and becomes particularly effective when it is intentionally broken, producing a pattern that is at once regular and flickers with life under your gaze.

Some of the barkcloth exhibited may look large to a European audience. But they are only a fraction of the size of the original piece they belonged to. Immense lengths of decorated barkcloth were, and still are, produced and presented on special occasions such as weddings, deaths or the installation of a new chief. They are meant to be cut up and distributed to the participants.' Lucie Carreau.
Event Date 7/10/2020
Author: rachel hand