7794: 1980s Deadstock Ohshima Tsumugi Silk, Brown,Geometrics,Modernistic 62in. Piece

  Traditional Japanese Textiles:

1980's Ohshima  Tsumugi (Pongee) Silk Fabric
Modernistic/Geometric & Classic Water-Ponds

Catalog# 7794

Width:14.5 inches / 36.83 cm
Length: 62 inches / 157.48 cm

US$18.00 per piece

Item Details and Description

Characteristics: A plain woven silk fabric with pre-dyed scoured threads both for warp and weft. The color is refined and calm and the fabric is soft and difficult to wrinkle. Threads are dyed with plant dyes such as "Techiki" (Raphilolepis umbellata) and indigo (Persicaria tinctoria) with a technique, peculiar only to "Oshima Tsumugi," called "Ori Jime." As a variety, an additional treatment is made to the dyed thread by dipping them in muddy water. It is "Doro(mud) Zome(dyeing)." There are several kinds of "Oshima Tsumugi":"Doro Oshima," "Ai(indigo) Oshima," "Doro Ai Oshima," "Iro(color) Oshima" and "Natsu(summer) Oshima."

Fabric Description Details:

Lightweight, stiff Ohshima Tsumugi silk, dark brown background with designs white pixels; motifs the same on both sides: selvage of .25 inch / 6.35 mm; Motifs are very wider range of geometric figures, lines, grids, to include elongated rounded shapes that are obviously (to us) evocative of classic Japanese art rendering of ponds, small bodies of water; Note the pixelated fields throughout all the various patterns, common in Ohshima Tsumugi (please see closeups). 

NOTE: Our interpretation of this motif as modernistic/abstract we mostly apply to 1950s-60s or early post-war fabrics, but we think it applies SOMEWHAT to this fabric also, quoting ourselves (smile):

COMMENTARY:

To our eye, this is a highly modernistic, Western-influence sort of kimono fabric design; Such innovative designs break from traditional/classic Japanese art designs/themes, yet still incorporate some classic Japanese aesthetics; this kind of creativity was big after World War II (after 1945), as Japanese artists and kimono fabric designers felt liberated from the oppression in Japan during the war, and they experimented with many creative looks-- like this one, somehow keeping a Japanese look but rendered with strong influences from Western art -Impressionism, Abstracts - This is just our opinion, Yoko).

Colors: Please use our text color descriptions to complement your sense of the fabric due to differences in contrast and color on different devices.

Condition: EXCELLENT,

Recommended for making scarf/accessories.

Popular with our antique Japanese textile aficionados and collectors.