In the spirit of winter beauty, I'm thinking about the amazing textile artist itchiku kubota. Many years ago, while visiting my mother when she lived in Washington DC, I stumbled across a show of his absolutely amazing landscape kimono's at the national museum of natural history. And I mean absolutely amazing! The exhibit featured 30 of the series, displayed side by side, so that the continuous flow of landscape and season could be seen as a whole. Each particular kimono was exquisite but together, the impact was breathtaking. Mr. kubota's lifetime's work is to create 75 of these garments, depicting the 4 seasons from start to finish. The kimono featured here is kan (winter) in honor of today. The detail below is a small example of how the imagery is depicted on the fabric. A painstaking technique, tsujigahana is "more than 350 years old, and is a complex method of tie-dyeing embellished with intricate embroidery, elaborate brush painting, sumi ink drawing and gold-leaf application. The technique, often referred to as "illusionary dyeing," flourished in Japan during the 14th to 16th centuries." Each kimono takes over a year to produce, a testament to the mastery and patience required to create great art and craft.
For more info on these amazing kimono's, this textile technique or itchiku kibota, check out amazon who has many books and catalogue's to choose from. I have this one, that I got at the exhibit a million years ago, and though expensive now, it's a true gem to have in a textile or design reference collection.
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