TRADITION WOVEN IN INDIAN TEXTILES

Polyester may have made a hit with the American leisure class, but its invention symbolized the near demise of an East Indian textile tradition more than 5,000 years old.

According to the Indian government, in the last century Indian hand-loom weaving, a complex and labor-intensive craft, has been almost obliterated by the production of less costly synthetic fabrics and the advent of machines and mills that mass produce cloth.

“There’s still a market for traditional religious textiles,” said Dale Gluckman, assistant curator of costumes and textiles at the County Museum of Art. “But even that’s decreasing as people become more urbanized. With India’s modernization, those who once would carry on the family hand-loom tradition are working in offices and factories instead. The same problem faces traditional crafts all over the world.”

So the Indian government stepped in and organized a traveling exhibition of the finest of traditional textiles made by contemporary weavers, Gluckman said. The goal was to promote the continuation of the hand-loom industry, broaden its market and preserve centuries-old weaving skills. A representative sample of the exhibit is on view in “The Master Weavers” at the County Museum of Art to Sept. 21.

Shimmering golden saris as long as 18 feet hang loosely from suspended poles in the textile show, accompanied by large brocade scarfs with repeating patterns or swirling lotus flower designs and temple hangings depicting snake-armed Hindu deities.

The 100-piece display, part of the nationwide “Festival of India,” glows with muted brick reds, indigo blues and saffron yellows, its goods made throughout India.

“The textiles on view were traditionally used for clothing, for religious purposes, or as furnishing fabrics called palampore ,” Gluckman said. They hung in Indian closets or in temples, “and they were found on walls, as bed coverings, or on the floor.

“We accepted the exhibit because we wanted to participate in the festival,” said Gluckman, who engineered its installation for her department. “And we, being a repository of historic textiles, felt an obligation to present and support these traditions. But we’re not simply preserving the past, we’re interested in quality as well.

“That quality is represented here by attention to detail and the use of materials, which include silk and extremely fine-woven cottons. And many of the textiles were produced by senior crafts people working at their height of their creativity.”

All such artisans, Gluckman said, have their own specialty passed down “from father to son,” and use various techniques to weave, color and decorate the textiles, including brocade, applique and several forms of resist-printing dye methods similar to batik. The textiles’ motifs vary widely as well, she said.

“Until the 19th Century, the hand-loom industry was probably the most important export factor in India and textiles were produced for many markets, so the traditional motifs incorporate designs from Persia, China, Europe and Southeast Asia.

“And the English went crazy over the mordancy, or colorfast quality the Indian work was famous for,” she said. But they preferred their own designs when ordering Indian textiles--which the Indians later incorporated, with modifications, into their own repertoire--which explains why some Indian textiles look like quasi-English crewel work.

“Of course,” Gluckman said, “Indian printed fabrics did lead to the development of printed fabrics in Europe around the mid-18th Century.”

Gluckman, 42, who will receive her master’s degree in costume history from UCLA this month, has more than book knowledge about Indian textiles. About 10 years ago, she spent two winters in India where she visited and photographed textile production areas.

“The trip made me realize the importance of maintaining the hand-loom crafts. When you see the numbers of people involved in the hand-loom industry, and the highly specialized skills involved that will be lost if the industry ceases to exist--well, it would be like tearing down Westminster Abbey.”