Batik

Make 29 vibrant batik quilts in colors that span the rainbow and sizes from crib to king size.

A comprehensive and richly illustrated survey of batik, a glorious textile art and popular Indonesian cloth.

Batik: Fabled Cloth of Java is richly illustrated with color plates of the finest antique and contemporary batik from thirty museums and private collections around the world. From the royal courts of Yogyakarta and Cirebon to the coastal towns of Pekalongan, Surabaya and Lasem, Inger McCabe Elliot takes the reader on a spellbinding tour of Java's north coast examining the customs, cultures and craftsmanship that distinguishes its magic cloth. Batik—Fabled Cloth of Java is a sumptuous book and now a classic, richly illustrated with color plates of the finest antique and contemporary batik batik from collections all over the world. It includes historical photographs, etchings, engravings, maps and photographs of modern Java. This new edition will be welcomed by designers, scholars and art lovers alike. it is the product of many years of collecting and on-the-scene exploration by a leading photojournalist, whose life was changed forever when she first laid eyes on the wondrous batik of Java's north coast.

The word ’batik’ is possibly of Malay origin from the word ’tik’ meaning ’to drip’ or ’to drop.’ The term is applied to a resist dye technique invented independently in locations as diverse as Ancient Egypt, Japan and Turkestan. Batik is a remarkably flexible textile technique and is suited to small-scale methods of production, but demand from the fashion and tourism industries is increasing. This volume brings together the experiences and concerns of the international community of batik producers. It gives voice to their suggestions for ensuring that the producers of this traditional craft are integrated into its increasingly global production rather than excluded from it. Building on the work of batik designers and producers the book discusses the emergence of a global craft consciousness. Batik producers report on innovative measures taken both individually and collectively to hold their market position while commercial producers frequently annex and mass-produce traditional batik design. The book concludes with a discussion of marketing and production innovations and tourism which enable the producers of batik to maintain the integrity of their designs whilst harnessing the benefits of new commercial forms.

The batik of Java has a special place in museum textile collections and aspects of the art of batik have been discussed at length in countless publications. This study, based on the batik collections of the Náprstek Museum, raises a number of questions which have been so far underexplored. How strong is the evidence for the early manufacture of batik in Java? How and when did batik-making become widely practised there? Was it made by village women for their own use? How and why did batik develop into an industry employing thousands of people, filling warehouses with stock to be distributed throughout the Indonesian archipelago? What was the effect of the introduction of wax printing and of aniline dyes? It is often asserted that batik carries deep meaning. To what extent is this really the case? When did batik depicting wayang or shadow puppet figures start to be made, and who for? What was the role of calligraphy batiks? And what was it that drew European collectors to batik in the early 20th century? What local circumstances governedtheir choices? In a series of essays, this volume explores these questions, drawing on contemporary sources and providing a wealth of new insights.

Batik occupies a special place in Indonesian culture. Each fabric has a rich story to tell--as a reflection of the nation's religious beliefs, sophisticated court cultures and cosmopolitan history. The extraordinary textiles in this book are from the collections of Rudolf Smend and Donald Harper. Most date from the period 1880 to 1930 when the art of batik reached its apogee. Having collected historical batik for over thirty years and published two books on the subject, Rudolf Smend has invited his friend and fellow batik specialist Donald Harper to contribute his fine collection to this publication as well. None of the batik in this book have been published before. They represent an exquisite cross-section of the batik production of Java--the most important batik-producing region in the world. The cloths are complemented by vintage photographs from the first quarter of the 20th century demonstrating how the batik were worn at court and at home. Three are from museums in Dresden and Cologne, while three are from the private collection of Leo Haks. The others have been collected over the past 30 years from private sources in Java. The captions are by Maria Wronska-Friend, an ethnologist and batik expert who frequently visits Indonesian batik centers and has worked for many years as an anthropologist in Papua New Guinea. Her contributions provide fundamental knowledge for lovers of this art form while at the same time providing new insights for experts. Rudolf Smend has invited other batik aficionados of his generation to share their passion for batik in this book. Inger McCabe Elliott, author of the bestselling Batik: Fabled Cloth of Java has contributed her lifelong experience. Other authorities like Annegret Haake, Brigitte Khan Majlis and Jonathan Hope share their views and expertise in these pages. This book represents a labor of love and a lifetime of friendship for the two authors, who hope it will provide inspiration to a whole new generation of batik lovers.