Moroccan Textile Embroidery

Description

In a celebration of Morocco's vibrant culture, this book brings the delicate patterns, vivid colors and traditional techniques of this extraordinary handicraft to decorative artisans and textile enthusiasts alike. The essentially feminine art form of embroidery on silk, cotton, and linen was one of the most vibrant arts in North Africa for many centuries and was still in vogue through the 1930s. Directly inspired by "hispano-moorish" urban art of the Al-Andalus civilization, and born out of an imperial need to create refined textiles suitable for everyday use, the exquisite embroidery bears witness to the fine, sophisticated taste of a bygone society. Moroccan Textile Embroidery explains how Moroccan women passed this cultural art form down from generation to generation. Embroidered patterns were used to decorate interior spaces - cushions, tablecloths, curtains and mats - as well as certain traditional accessories in the female wardrobe - shawls, belts, handkerchiefs, and headscarves. Because of the rarity of old textiles, the difficulty in conserving them, and the lack of written records, Moroccan embroidery remains largely to be discovered. Thanks to rare, previously unpublished photographic documentation including over one hundred historical pieces, Moroccan Textile Embroidery is the first book of its kind. Uncovering the secrets, techniques, and regional designs, Moroccan Textile Embroidery gives us priveleged insight into this beautiful ancestral art.

Author description

Isabelle Denamur has a collection of over 200 pieces of Moroccan embroidery and is the author of an ethnological dissertation on the subject. Her passion for Islamic art has taken her around the world, building her personal collection and discovering rare embroideries.