Moroccan mastery with textiles

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Originally published 08:26 p.m., July 18, 2003, updated 12:00 a.m., July 19, 2003

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Get ready to dance your way through the "Fabric of Moroccan Life" exhibit at the National Museum of African Art. This is that rare show that successfully integrates different artistic media -- here, fiber arts, music and photography. The piped-in rhythms of what sounds like Middle Eastern belly dancing music propel you to the sensuous, touchy-feely fabrics that, unfortunately, can't be touched.

Yet, the exhibit is about touch, if only vicarious touch.

The painter Paul Gauguin once wrote, "You painters ask for a technique of color -- study carpets, and there you will find everything that is knowledge." He must have been thinking that the textiles' rich three-dimensional design, surface and color were a step forward when contrasted with mere two-dimensional painting.

The sensory attractions of Moroccan fibers abound here in textiles as varied as elegantly embroidered velvet-and-metallic-thread wall hangings and silk-and-metallic-thread stitched leather boots. There are also a mountain woman's enormous shaggy wool shawl and a Plains-of-Marakesh rug with Star of David motifs commissioned by a Jewish family. In the last gallery, you see brilliantly hued sienna wedding head scarves painted with liquid from henna plants valued for their color and "blessing power."

It's as if the diverse ethnic groups of the Kingdom of Morocco -- Arabs, Berbers and Jews -- all threw their textile traditions into the same pot to create a bubbling, tasty stew. The variety is astonishing considering that Morocco is just slightly larger than California. Alan Knezevich, Museum of African Art assistant director of exhibits, resourcefully managed to retain cohesion in the midst of the show's diversity by re-creating Morocco's rich golds and earth reds on the walls and doorways.

Morocco perches on the northwest tip of Africa (in Arabic it's called "al-Maghrib," meaning "setting" or "west"). Morocco borders Algeria to the east, the Mediterranean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Western Sahara to the south. The chief mountain ranges, called the Middle, High and Anti Atlas, run north to south and are the highest in Africa.

There's always been an atmosphere of intrigue associated with the country, especially since Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman imbued its capital, Casablanca, with an aura of romance, internationalism, corruption and espionage in Michael Curtiz's 1942 movie classic.

Fortunately, the exhibit clears up some of the romanticized misconceptions about the country. It illustrates, with many handsome examples, that young city women made fine embroideries and rugs with designs passed down to them by their mothers and grandmothers.

Although European and American collectors mostly neglected Moroccan rugs and textiles for years in favor of Turkish and Persian ones, one U.S. museum defied the trend by collecting these geometric, modern-looking works of art.

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