Social Fabrics—Looking at Ancient Textiles: Art Talk with Julie Wertz

Egyptian makers were skilled at using only a few materials to create a rich variety of textiles, but we rarely have detailed information about the people who made them or their artistic processes.

Join conservation fellow Julie Wertz to explore what close looking, microscopy, and micro-analytical techniques can teach us about the materials and methods these unknown makers used to create beautiful and functional art objects. We will explore textiles that wiil be on view in the exhibition "Social Fabrics: Inscribed Textiles from Medieval Egyptian Tombs."

“Social Fabrics,” an exhibition opening at the Harvard Art Museums in January 2022, brings together a selection of Egyptian textiles from the ninth through twelfth centuries that are distinctive for the Arabic inscriptions woven, embroidered, or painted within them.

TAKE A CLOSER LOOK:
+ Read article “Unraveling the (Production) Secrets of an Egyptian Textile” by Julie Wertz: https://harvardartmuseums.org/article...
+ Exhibition Preview of Social Fabrics:    • Exhibition Preview—Social Fabrics: In...  
+ Cuff band with animals in interlocking scrolls, Late 4th-early 5th century, Textile, Harvard Art Museums, Gift of Benjamin and Lilian Hertzberg, 2004.204. https://hvrd.art/o/54963
+ Large Cover or Shroud, 5th-6th century, Textile, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of The Hagop Kevorkian Foundation in memory of Hagop Kevorkian, 1975.41.28. https://hvrd.art/o/288851
+ Cuff Band: Stylized Animals, 4th-5th century CE, Textile, Harvard Art Museums, Gift of Dr. Denman W. Ross, 1924.124. https://hvrd.art/o/215257
+ Watch Textile Society of America 2020 Symposium Presentation:    • 2A: Connective Tissues: Examining Ins...  

SPEAKERS:
+ Julie Wertz, Beal Family Postgraduate Fellow in Conservation Science, Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies
+ Moderated by Lynette Roth, Daimler Curator of the Busch Reisinger Museum and Head of the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art, Harvard Art Museums.

This talk is part of a series inspired by ReFrame, a museum-wide initiative to reimagine the function, role, and future of the university art museum. These talks examine difficult histories, foreground untold stories, and experiment with new approaches to the collections of the Harvard Art Museums, reflecting the concerns of our world today.

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Recorded Tuesday, June 15th, 2021. © President and Fellows of Harvard College. Video: Division of Academic & Public Programming. For questions related to permission for commercial use of this video, please contact the Department of Digital Imaging and Visual Resources at [email protected].