The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is the greatest art museum in the country.
Critics are cheering a new show that is opening now. It displays textiles, weavings and rugs from around the world. The works are often hundreds of years old.
Ships sailed the ocean hundreds of years ago. They brought fabrics and finished textiles to the Americas, Asia and India. Ideas about design, technique and fashion spread with the ships. Many ideas were imitated and adapted, leading to original creations.
The show is called “Interwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500 -1800.”
A tapestry shows the strength of the British colonial system. Two painted and embroidered hangings show the clash between British colonial forces and subjects in India.
A French cotton print with scenes of civilized Africans and barbaric white men is a protest of the African slave trade.
Textiles from Spanish-ruled Mexico show some of the best weaving skills found anywhere on earth. A Mexican shawl shows people at leisure.
A visit to the Met – if you are in the New York area – will be rewarding. A less expensive way is the Catalogue.