Artwork Details
- Title
- Cal y Canto
- Artist
- Date
- ca. 1979
- Location
- Dimensions
- 56 x 32 x 5 in. (142.3 x 81.3 x 12.8 cm.)
- Credit Line
- Gift from the collection of Dr. and Mrs. Isidore M. Samuels
- Mediums Description
- linen and gesso
- Classifications
- Object Number
- 1991.109
Artwork Description
Montaña #13 evokes the mountainous terrain of Colombia, where textile artist Olga de Amaral grew up and lives today. To achieve the radiant effect, she layered gold leaf and gesso onto woven linen. Amaral began to incorporate gold into her weavings in the 1980s after she learned about kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold lacquer. The applied gold glorifies imperfection. Amaral observed that “gold has such a way of reflecting light, it’s magical, mysterious even, though I don’t like to use those words to describe it.” To the artist’s point, the alchemy of gold and fiber in Montaña #13 summons a feeling of living in the moment, even amid disruption, that cannot be captured with language.
This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World, 2022
Verbal Description
A thick, rugged woven quilt hangs on the wall, about three feet across and four feet long. Interlacing strips of earth-toned linen weave together to create a field of diamond shapes. Although linen, these strips appear bulky and scratchy, conveying the thick warmth of wool. The individual strips are multicolored but subdued. Their natural hues range from shades of tan and brown like unfinished stone, wood, or soil, to the rust-toned reds of a desert mountain. These colors do not create a recognizable pattern, instead coming together to create an abstract woven design.
The quilt appears to fold inward along its left and right edges, creating rounded folds of light tan fabric with a white textured coating, almost as if someone has run a paintbrush down each side. The textile sinches slightly at the middle, where a light brown, leather-colored piece of string is pulled taut, perhaps as a support mechanism for the pattern. At the bottom, the ends of the woven fabric hang free and raw. They are rough and uneven, adding to the weathered, well-loved, handmade feel of the quilt.
Exhibitions
