Origin: Tuareg (Algeria)

Date: around 1920

Dimensions: length 230.0 cm, width 190.0 cm

Materials: cow leather

Techniques: tanning, painting

Acquired by: Adam Rybiński, antique shop, Paris, France, 2020

Description:

As the last object from Adam Rybiński's collection, we present a very unusual painting made on leather, probably cow. The drawing was made using natural plant dyes. The raw materials necessary for the production of the dye are collected in the field by men. It is from them, most often at the market, that the raw materials are bought and the dye is made.

All the items presented so far were acquired by the collector in the field (campsites, shops, markets) or seen in the field and bought in an antique shop. In the case of this painting, the situation is the opposite – he has never encountered this type of painting on leather in campsites. From oral tradition, it results that in the past, this type of painting was used as an ornament in Tuareg houses and tent. They are also not mentioned by the eminent specialist of Tuareg culture, the frequently quoted Johannes Nicolaisen [1963: 327-391], when describing the types of Tuareg houses. Prof. Jacek Łapott, when describing the Tuareg collection in the collections of the National Museum in Szczecin, giving a description of a Tuareg tent and its equipment, also does not mention paintings on leather hung on walls as decorations [1999: 395-416].

This unusual object requires further research, both in the laboratory and in the field, but the latter will be very difficult due to the rapidly progressing disappearance of the traditional Tuareg culture.

 Bibliography:

Łapott Jacek, 1999, Tuaredzy i ich kultura w zbiorach Muzeum Narodowego w Szczecinie, „Materiały Zachodniopomorskie” v. 44, pp. 387-438.

Nicolaisen Johannes, 1963, Ecology and Culture of the Pastoral Tuareg with Particular Reference to the Tuareg of Ahaggar and Ayr, Copenhagen: The National Museum of Copenhagen.

Rybiński Adam, information provided during interviews (2020-2022)

Edited by Lucjan Buchalik

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The purchase is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport as part of the National Institute of Museums and Collections' own program "Expansion of museum collections".