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Repeating pattern - Our Daily Challenge
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Demonstration of repeating shapes and positioning of the leaf in the center. I edited the photo in black and white so that the viewer would just concentrate on the shapes in the photograph.
A nice repeating pattern of windows somewhere in Manhattan, not too far from the Washington Square Park. I especially like the small imperfections, open and semi-open windows.
Somehow this photo also works like an optical illusion: it doesn't appear to be a rectangle, the upper right corner appears to stick out. Can you see it?
@dailyshoot #ds471
The Daily Shoot assignment for 2011/03/01:
Find a repeating pattern today and make a photograph of it.
The Flickr Lounge-Repetition
This is but one of the many sculptures in Albuquerque. There is a lot of public art in this city.
Photography task of the day : repeating shapes or patterns.
Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f1.8 on Sony mirrorless.
The Courtyard of the Lions (Spanish: Patio de los Leones - Arabic: بهو السباع) is the main courtyard of the Nasrid dynasty Palace of the Lions, in the heart of the Alhambra, the Moorish citadel formed by a complex of palaces, gardens and forts in Granada, Spain. It was commissioned by the Nasrid sultan Muhammed V of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus. Its construction started in the second period of his reign, between 1362 and 1391 AD
The Alhambra, Granada, Spain
Batik is a technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to whole cloth, or cloth made using this technique. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of the resist with a spouted tool called a canting (IPA: [ʈ͡ʂantiŋ], also spelled tjanting), or by printing the resist with a copper stamp called a cap (IPA: [ʈ͡ʂap], also spelled tjap). The applied wax resists dyes and therefore allows the artisan to color selectively by soaking the cloth in one color, removing the wax with boiling water, and repeating if multiple colors are desired.
A tradition of making batik is found in various countries, including Nigeria, China, India, Malaysia, Philippines and Sri Lanka; the batik of Indonesia, however, is the most well-known. Indonesian batik made in the island of Java has a long history of acculturation, with diverse patterns influenced by a variety of cultures, and is the most developed in terms of pattern, technique, and the quality of workmanship. On October 2009, UNESCO designated Indonesian batik as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
ETYMOLOGY
The word batik is Javanese in origin. It may either come from the Javanese word amba ('to write') and titik ('dot'), or may derive from a hypothetical Proto-Austronesian root *beCík ('to tattoo'). The word is first recorded in English in the Encyclopædia Britannica of 1880, in which it is spelled battik. It is attested in the Indonesian Archipelago during the Dutch colonial period in various forms: mbatek, mbatik, batek and batik.
HISTORY
Wax resist dyeing of fabric is an ancient art form. It already existed in Egypt in the 4th century BC, where it was used to wrap mummies; linen was soaked in wax, and scratched using a stylus. In Asia, the technique was practiced in China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), and in India and Japan during the Nara Period (645-794 AD). In Africa it was originally practiced by the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria, Soninke and Wolof in Senegal. These African version however, uses cassava starch or rice paste, or mud as a resist instead of beeswax.
The art of batik is most highly developed in the island of Java in Indonesia. In Java, all the materials for the process are readily available - cotton and beeswax and plants from which different vegetable dyes are made. Indonesian batik predates written records: G. P. Rouffaer argues that the technique might have been introduced during the 6th or 7th century from India or Sri Lanka. On the other hand, the Dutch archaeologist J.L.A. Brandes and the Indonesian archaeologist F.A. Sutjipto believe Indonesian batik is a native tradition, since regions such as Toraja, Flores, Halmahera, and Papua, which were not directly influenced by Hinduism, have an age-old tradition of batik making.
Rouffaer reported that the gringsing pattern was already known by the 12th century in Kediri, East Java. He concluded that this delicate pattern could be created only by using the canting, an etching tool that holds a small reservoir of hot wax, and proposed that the canting was invented in Java around that time. The carving details of clothes worn by East Javanese Prajnaparamita statues from around the 13th century show intricate floral patterns within rounded margins, similar to today's traditional Javanese jlamprang or ceplok batik motif. The motif is thought to represent the lotus, a sacred flower in Hindu-Buddhist beliefs. This evidence suggests that intricate batik fabric patterns applied with the canting existed in 13th-century Java or even earlier.
In Europe, the technique was described for the first time in the History of Java, published in London in 1817 by Stamford Raffles, who had been a British governor for the island. In 1873 the Dutch merchant Van Rijckevorsel gave the pieces he collected during a trip to Indonesia to the ethnographic museum in Rotterdam. Today the Tropenmuseum houses the biggest collection of Indonesian batik in the Netherlands. The Dutch and Chinese colonists were active in developing batik, particularly coastal batik, in the late colonial era. They introduced new patterns as well as the use of the cap (copper block stamps) to mass-produce batiks. Displayed at the Exposition Universelle at Paris in 1900, the Indonesian batik impressed the public and artists.
In the 1920s, Javanese batik makers migrating to Malaya (now Malaysia) introduced the use of wax and copper blocks to its east coast.
In Subsaharan Africa, Javanese batik was introduced in the 19th century by Dutch and English traders. The local people there adapted the Javanese batik, making larger motifs with thicker lines and more colors. In the 1970s, batik was introduced to Australia, where aboriginal artists at Erna Bella have developed it as their own craft.
TECHNIQUE
Firstly, a cloth is washed, soaked and beaten with a large mallet. Patterns are drawn with pencil and later redrawn using hot wax, usually made from a mixture of paraffin or bees wax, sometimes mixed with plant resins, which functions as a dye-resist. The wax can be applied with a variety of tools. A pen-like instrument called a canting (IPA: [tʃantiŋ], sometimes spelled with old Dutch orthography tjanting) is the most common. A canting is made from a small copper reservoir with a spout on a wooden handle. The reservoir holds the resist which flows through the spout, creating dots and lines as it moves. For larger patterns, a stiff brush may be used. Alternatively, a copper block stamp called a cap (IPA: [tʃap]; old spelling tjap) is used to cover large areas more efficiently.
After the cloth is dry, the resist is removed by scraping or boiling the cloth. The areas treated with resist keep their original color; when the resist is removed the contrast between the dyed and undyed areas forms the pattern. This process is repeated as many times as the number of colors desired.
The most traditional type of batik, called batik tulis (written batik), is drawn using only the canting. The cloth need to be drawn on both sides and dipped in a dye bath three to four times. The whole process may take up to a year; it yields considerably finer patterns than stamped batik.
CULTURE
INDONESIA
Many Indonesian batik patterns are symbolic. Infants are carried in batik slings decorated with symbols designed to bring the child luck, and certain batik designs are reserved for brides and bridegrooms, as well as their families. Some designs are reserved for royalties, and even banned to be worn by commoners. Consequently, a person's rank could be determined by the pattern of the batik he or she wore.
Batik garments play a central role in certain Javanese rituals, such as the ceremonial casting of royal batik into a volcano. In the Javanese naloni mitoni ceremony, the mother-to-be is wrapped in seven layers of batik, wishing her good things. Batik is also prominent in the tedak siten ceremony when a child touches the earth for the first time.
In October 2009, UNESCO designated Indonesian batik as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. As part of the acknowledgment, UNESCO insisted that Indonesia preserve its heritage.
POPULARITY
The popularity of batik in Indonesia has varied. Historically, it was essential for ceremonial costumes and it was worn as part of a kebaya dress, commonly worn every day. The use of batik was already recorded in the 12th century, and the textile has become a strong source of identity for Indonesians crossing religious, racial and cultural boundaries.
The batik industry of Java flourished from the late 1800s to early 1900s, but declined during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia. It further declined after the Indonesian independence, as people chose western clothes, decimating the batik industry. However, batik has somewhat revived at the turn of the 21st century, through the efforts of Indonesian fashion designers to innovate batik by incorporating new colors, fabrics, and patterns. Batik has become a fashion item for many Indonesians, and may be seen on shirts, dresses, or scarves for casual wear; it is a preferred replacement for jacket-and-tie at certain receptions. Traditional batik sarongs are still used in many occasions.
After the UNESCO recognition for Indonesian batik on 2 October 2009, the Indonesian administration asked Indonesians to wear batik on Fridays, and wearing batik every Friday has been encouraged in government offices and private companies ever since. 2 October is also celebrated as National Batik Day in Indonesia. Batik had helped improve the small business local economy, batik sales in Indonesia had reached Rp 3.9 trillion (US$436.8 million) in 2010, an increase from Rp 2.5 trillion in 2006. The value of batik exports, meanwhile, increased from $14.3 million in 2006 to $22.3 million in 2010.
Batik is also popular in the neighboring countries of Singapore and Malaysia. It is produced in Malaysia with similar, but not identical, methods to those used in Indonesia. Prior to UNESCO's recognition and following the 2009 Pendet controversy, Indonesia and Malaysia disputed the ownership of batik culture. However, Dr Fiona Kerlogue of the Horniman museum argued that the Malaysian printed wax textiles, made for about a century, were quite a different tradition from the "very fine" traditional Indonesian batiks produced for many centuries.
Batik is featured in the national airline uniforms of the three countries, represented by batik prints worn by flight attendants of Singapore Airlines, Garuda Indonesia and Malaysian Airlines. The female uniform of Garuda Indonesia flight attendants is a modern interpretation of the Kartini style kebaya with parang gondosuli motifs.
TERMINOLOGY
Batik is traditionally sold in 2.25-metre lengths used for kain panjang or sarong. It is worn by wrapping it around the hip, or made into a hat known as blangkon. The cloth can be filled continuously with a single pattern or divided into several sections.
Certain patterns are only used in certain sections of the cloth. For example, a row of isosceles triangles, forming the pasung motif, as well as diagonal floral motifs called dhlorong, are commonly used for the head. However, pasung and dhlorong are occasionally found in the body. Other motifs such as buketan (flower bouquet) and birds are commonly used in either the head or the body.
The head is a rectangular section of the cloth which is worn at the front. The head section can be at the middle of the cloth, or placed at one or both ends. The papan inside of the head can be used to determined whether the cloth is kain panjang or sarong.
The body is the main part of the cloth, and is filled with a wide variety of patterns. The body can be divided into two alternating patterns and colors called pagi-sore ('dawn-dusk'). Brighter pattern are shown during the day, while darker pattern are shown in the evening. The alternating colors give the impression of two batik sets.
Margins are often plain, but floral and lace-like patterns, as well as wavy lines described as a dragon are common in the area beside seret.
TYPES
As each region has its own traditional pattern, batiks are commonly distinguished by the region they originated in, such as batik Solo, Batik Pekalongan, and batik Madura. Batiks from Java can be distinguished by their general pattern and colors into batik pedalaman (inland batik) or batik pesisir (coastal batik). Batiks which do not fall neatly into one of these two categories are only referred to by their region.
JAVANESE BATIK
INLAND BATIK
Inland batik or batik kraton (Javanese court batik) is the oldest form of batik tradition known in Java. Inland batik has earthy color such as black, indigo, brown, and sogan (brown-yellow color made from the tree Peltophorum pterocarpum), sometimes against a white background, with symbolic patterns that are mostly free from outside influence. Certain patterns are reserved for royalty, while other are worn on specific occasions. At a Javanese wedding for example, the bride wears specific patterns at each stage of the ceremony. Noted inland batiks are produced in Solo and Jogjakarta, cities traditionally regarded as the center of Javanese culture. Batik Solo typically has sogan background and is preserved by the Susuhunan and Mangkunegaran Court. Batik Jogja typically has white background and is preserved by the Yogyakarta Sultanate and Pakualaman Court.
COASTAL BATIK
Coastal batik is produced in several areas of northern Java and Madura. In contrast to inland batik, coastal batiks have vibrant colors and patterns inspired by a wide range of cultures as a consequence of maritime trading. Recurring motifs include European flower bouquets, Chinese phoenix, and Persian peacocks. Noted coastal batiks are produced in Pekalongan, Cirebon, Lasem, Tuban, and Madura. Pekalongan has the most active batik industry.
A notable sub-type of coastal batik called Jawa Hokokai is not attributed to a particular region. During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia in early 1940, the batik industry greatly declined due to material shortages. The workshops funded by the Japanese however were able to produce extremely fine batiks called Jawa Hokokai. Common motifs of Hokokai includes Japanese cherry blossoms, butterflies, and chrysanthemums.
Another coastal batik called tiga negeri (batik of three lands) is attributed to three regions: Lasem, Pekalongan, and Solo, where the batik would be dipped in red, blue, and sogan dyes respectively. As of 1980, batik tiga negeri was only produced in one city.
SUNDANESE BATIK
Sundanese or Priangan Batik is the term for batik from the Priangan region of West Java and Banten. Although Priangan batiks can use a wide range of colors, a preference for indigo is seen in some of its variants. Natural indigo dye made from Indigofera is among the oldest known dyes in Java, and its local name tarum has lent its name to the Citarum river and the Tarumanagara kingdom, which suggests that ancient West Java was once a major producer of natural indigo. Noted Priangan batik is produced in Ciamis, Garut, and Tasikmalaya. Other traditions include Batik Kuningan influenced by batik Cirebon, batik Banten that developed quite independently, and an older tradition of batik Baduy.
Batik Banten employs bright pastel colors and represents a revival of a lost art from the Sultanate of Banten, rediscovered through archaeological work during 2002–2004. Twelve motifs from locations such as Surosowan and several other places have been identified.
Batik Baduy only employs indigo color in shades ranged from bluish black to deep blue. It is traditionally worn as iket, a type of Sundanese headress similar to Balinese udeng, by Outer Baduy people of Lebak Regency, Banten.
SUMATRAN BATIK
Trade relations between the Melayu Kingdom in Jambi and Javanese coastal cities have thrived since the 13th century. Therefore, coastal batik from northern Java probably influenced Jambi. In 1875, Haji Mahibat from Central Java revived the declining batik industry in Jambi. The village of Mudung Laut in Pelayangan district is known for producing batik Jambi. Batik Jambi, as well as Javanese batik, influenced the Malaysian batik.
The Minangkabau people also produce batik called batiak tanah liek (clay batik), which use clay as dye for the fabric. The fabric is immersed in clay for more than 1 day and later designed with motifs of animal and flora. The Batik from Bengkulu, a city on west coast of Sumatra, is called Batik Besurek, which literary means "batik with letters" as they draw inspiration from Arabic calligraphy.
BALINESE BATIK
Batik making in the island of Bali is relatively new, but a fast-growing industry. Many patterns are inspired by local designs, which are favored by the local Balinese and domestic tourists. Objects from nature such as frangipani and hibiscus flowers, birds or fishes, and daily activities such as Balinese dancer and ngaben processions or religious and mythological creatures such as barong, kala and winged lion are common. Modern batik artists express themselves freely in a wide range of subjects.
Contemporary batik is not limited to traditional or ritual wearing in Bali. Some designers promote batik Bali as elegant fabric that can be used to make casual or formal cloth. Using high class batik, like hand made batik tulis, can show social status.
MALAYSIA
Batik was mentioned in the 17th century Malay Annals. The legend goes when Laksamana Hang Nadim was ordered by Malacca King, Sultan Mahmud, to sail to India to buy 140 pieces of serasah cloth (batik) with 40 types of flowers depicted on each. Unable to find any that fulfilled the requirements explained to him, he made up his own. On his return unfortunately his ship sank and he only managed to bring four pieces, earning displeasure from the Sultan.
The method of Malaysian batik making is different from those of Indonesian Javanese batik, the pattern being larger and simpler with only occasional use of the canting to create intricate patterns. It relies heavily on brush painting to apply colors to fabrics. The colors also tend to be lighter and more vibrant than deep colored Javanese batik. The most popular motifs are leaves and flowers. Malaysian batik often displays plants and flowers to avoid the interpretation of human and animal images as idolatry, in accordance with local Islamic doctrine. However, the butterfly theme is a common exception.
INDIA
Indians are known to use resist method of printing designs on cotton fabrics, which can be traced back 2000 years. Initially, wax and even rice starch were used for printing on fabrics. Until recently batik was made only for dresses and tailored garments, but modern batik is applied in numerous items, such as murals, wall hangings, paintings, household linen, and scarves, with livelier and brighter patterns. Contemporary batik making in India is also done by the Deaf women of Delhi, these women are fluent in Indian Sign Language and also work in other vocational programs.
SRI LANKA
Over the past century, batik making in Sri Lanka has become firmly established. The Sri Lankan batik industry is a small scale industry which can employ individual design talent and mainly deals with foreign customers for profit. It is now the most visible of the island's crafts with galleries and factories, large and small, having sprung up in many tourist areas. Rows of small stalls selling batiks can be found all along Hikkaduwa's Galle Road strip. Mahawewa, on the other hand, is famous for its batik factories.
CHINA
Batik is done by the ethnic people in Guizhou Province, in the South-West of China. The Miao, Bouyei and Gejia people use a dye resist method for their traditional costumes. The traditional costumes are made up of decorative fabrics, which they achieve by pattern weaving and wax resist. Almost all the Miao decorate hemp and cotton by applying hot wax then dipping the cloth in an indigo dye. The cloth is then used for skirts, panels on jackets, aprons and baby carriers. Like the Javanese, their traditional patterns also contain symbolism, the patterns include the dragon, phoenix, and flowers.
AFRIKA
In Africa, paste made from starch or mud is used as a resist instead of wax. The most developed resist-dyeing skills are to be found in Nigeria where the Yoruba make adire cloths. Two methods of resist are used adire eleso which involves tied and stitched and adire eleko that uses starch paste. The paste is most often made from cassava starch, rice, and other ingredients boiled together to produce a smooth thick paste. The Yoruba of West Africa use cassava paste as a resist while the Soninke and Wolof people in Senegal uses rice paste. The Bamana people of Mali use mud as a resist.
WIKIPEDIA
"Repeating" painting by GACU student April Phun.
AP Studio Art Concentration Portfolio Statement:
"My concentration focuses on the problematic issues in relationships, specifically in gay relationships. We have to recognize the fact that abuse and neglect also happens between those of the same gender and sexuality. I express this issue by depicting fragile men, usually with over exaggerated hands on them to represent the oppressive intimacy between the abuser and their partner."
-April Phun
AP Art Instructor: Andrew Kong Knight
It seems everybody is reading these books but I saw this display at Alicante Airport and thought that the repeating patterns made for a good image. Tried to capture the image to show a slight reflection of the glass without actually showing my reflection! Also had to compensate the exposure as the display was under strong spotlights, and didnt want to use my flash. Pleased with the result though. Note the books in Spanish
Batik is a technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to whole cloth, or cloth made using this technique. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of the resist with a spouted tool called a canting (IPA: [ʈ͡ʂantiŋ], also spelled tjanting), or by printing the resist with a copper stamp called a cap (IPA: [ʈ͡ʂap], also spelled tjap). The applied wax resists dyes and therefore allows the artisan to color selectively by soaking the cloth in one color, removing the wax with boiling water, and repeating if multiple colors are desired.
A tradition of making batik is found in various countries, including Nigeria, China, India, Malaysia, Philippines and Sri Lanka; the batik of Indonesia, however, is the most well-known. Indonesian batik made in the island of Java has a long history of acculturation, with diverse patterns influenced by a variety of cultures, and is the most developed in terms of pattern, technique, and the quality of workmanship. On October 2009, UNESCO designated Indonesian batik as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
ETYMOLOGY
The word batik is Javanese in origin. It may either come from the Javanese word amba ('to write') and titik ('dot'), or may derive from a hypothetical Proto-Austronesian root *beCík ('to tattoo'). The word is first recorded in English in the Encyclopædia Britannica of 1880, in which it is spelled battik. It is attested in the Indonesian Archipelago during the Dutch colonial period in various forms: mbatek, mbatik, batek and batik.
HISTORY
Wax resist dyeing of fabric is an ancient art form. It already existed in Egypt in the 4th century BC, where it was used to wrap mummies; linen was soaked in wax, and scratched using a stylus. In Asia, the technique was practiced in China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), and in India and Japan during the Nara Period (645-794 AD). In Africa it was originally practiced by the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria, Soninke and Wolof in Senegal. These African version however, uses cassava starch or rice paste, or mud as a resist instead of beeswax.
The art of batik is most highly developed in the island of Java in Indonesia. In Java, all the materials for the process are readily available - cotton and beeswax and plants from which different vegetable dyes are made. Indonesian batik predates written records: G. P. Rouffaer argues that the technique might have been introduced during the 6th or 7th century from India or Sri Lanka. On the other hand, the Dutch archaeologist J.L.A. Brandes and the Indonesian archaeologist F.A. Sutjipto believe Indonesian batik is a native tradition, since regions such as Toraja, Flores, Halmahera, and Papua, which were not directly influenced by Hinduism, have an age-old tradition of batik making.
Rouffaer reported that the gringsing pattern was already known by the 12th century in Kediri, East Java. He concluded that this delicate pattern could be created only by using the canting, an etching tool that holds a small reservoir of hot wax, and proposed that the canting was invented in Java around that time. The carving details of clothes worn by East Javanese Prajnaparamita statues from around the 13th century show intricate floral patterns within rounded margins, similar to today's traditional Javanese jlamprang or ceplok batik motif. The motif is thought to represent the lotus, a sacred flower in Hindu-Buddhist beliefs. This evidence suggests that intricate batik fabric patterns applied with the canting existed in 13th-century Java or even earlier.
In Europe, the technique was described for the first time in the History of Java, published in London in 1817 by Stamford Raffles, who had been a British governor for the island. In 1873 the Dutch merchant Van Rijckevorsel gave the pieces he collected during a trip to Indonesia to the ethnographic museum in Rotterdam. Today the Tropenmuseum houses the biggest collection of Indonesian batik in the Netherlands. The Dutch and Chinese colonists were active in developing batik, particularly coastal batik, in the late colonial era. They introduced new patterns as well as the use of the cap (copper block stamps) to mass-produce batiks. Displayed at the Exposition Universelle at Paris in 1900, the Indonesian batik impressed the public and artists.
In the 1920s, Javanese batik makers migrating to Malaya (now Malaysia) introduced the use of wax and copper blocks to its east coast.
In Subsaharan Africa, Javanese batik was introduced in the 19th century by Dutch and English traders. The local people there adapted the Javanese batik, making larger motifs with thicker lines and more colors. In the 1970s, batik was introduced to Australia, where aboriginal artists at Erna Bella have developed it as their own craft.
TECHNIQUE
Firstly, a cloth is washed, soaked and beaten with a large mallet. Patterns are drawn with pencil and later redrawn using hot wax, usually made from a mixture of paraffin or bees wax, sometimes mixed with plant resins, which functions as a dye-resist. The wax can be applied with a variety of tools. A pen-like instrument called a canting (IPA: [tʃantiŋ], sometimes spelled with old Dutch orthography tjanting) is the most common. A canting is made from a small copper reservoir with a spout on a wooden handle. The reservoir holds the resist which flows through the spout, creating dots and lines as it moves. For larger patterns, a stiff brush may be used. Alternatively, a copper block stamp called a cap (IPA: [tʃap]; old spelling tjap) is used to cover large areas more efficiently.
After the cloth is dry, the resist is removed by scraping or boiling the cloth. The areas treated with resist keep their original color; when the resist is removed the contrast between the dyed and undyed areas forms the pattern. This process is repeated as many times as the number of colors desired.
The most traditional type of batik, called batik tulis (written batik), is drawn using only the canting. The cloth need to be drawn on both sides and dipped in a dye bath three to four times. The whole process may take up to a year; it yields considerably finer patterns than stamped batik.
CULTURE
INDONESIA
Many Indonesian batik patterns are symbolic. Infants are carried in batik slings decorated with symbols designed to bring the child luck, and certain batik designs are reserved for brides and bridegrooms, as well as their families. Some designs are reserved for royalties, and even banned to be worn by commoners. Consequently, a person's rank could be determined by the pattern of the batik he or she wore.
Batik garments play a central role in certain Javanese rituals, such as the ceremonial casting of royal batik into a volcano. In the Javanese naloni mitoni ceremony, the mother-to-be is wrapped in seven layers of batik, wishing her good things. Batik is also prominent in the tedak siten ceremony when a child touches the earth for the first time.
In October 2009, UNESCO designated Indonesian batik as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. As part of the acknowledgment, UNESCO insisted that Indonesia preserve its heritage.
POPULARITY
The popularity of batik in Indonesia has varied. Historically, it was essential for ceremonial costumes and it was worn as part of a kebaya dress, commonly worn every day. The use of batik was already recorded in the 12th century, and the textile has become a strong source of identity for Indonesians crossing religious, racial and cultural boundaries.
The batik industry of Java flourished from the late 1800s to early 1900s, but declined during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia. It further declined after the Indonesian independence, as people chose western clothes, decimating the batik industry. However, batik has somewhat revived at the turn of the 21st century, through the efforts of Indonesian fashion designers to innovate batik by incorporating new colors, fabrics, and patterns. Batik has become a fashion item for many Indonesians, and may be seen on shirts, dresses, or scarves for casual wear; it is a preferred replacement for jacket-and-tie at certain receptions. Traditional batik sarongs are still used in many occasions.
After the UNESCO recognition for Indonesian batik on 2 October 2009, the Indonesian administration asked Indonesians to wear batik on Fridays, and wearing batik every Friday has been encouraged in government offices and private companies ever since. 2 October is also celebrated as National Batik Day in Indonesia. Batik had helped improve the small business local economy, batik sales in Indonesia had reached Rp 3.9 trillion (US$436.8 million) in 2010, an increase from Rp 2.5 trillion in 2006. The value of batik exports, meanwhile, increased from $14.3 million in 2006 to $22.3 million in 2010.
Batik is also popular in the neighboring countries of Singapore and Malaysia. It is produced in Malaysia with similar, but not identical, methods to those used in Indonesia. Prior to UNESCO's recognition and following the 2009 Pendet controversy, Indonesia and Malaysia disputed the ownership of batik culture. However, Dr Fiona Kerlogue of the Horniman museum argued that the Malaysian printed wax textiles, made for about a century, were quite a different tradition from the "very fine" traditional Indonesian batiks produced for many centuries.
Batik is featured in the national airline uniforms of the three countries, represented by batik prints worn by flight attendants of Singapore Airlines, Garuda Indonesia and Malaysian Airlines. The female uniform of Garuda Indonesia flight attendants is a modern interpretation of the Kartini style kebaya with parang gondosuli motifs.
TERMINOLOGY
Batik is traditionally sold in 2.25-metre lengths used for kain panjang or sarong. It is worn by wrapping it around the hip, or made into a hat known as blangkon. The cloth can be filled continuously with a single pattern or divided into several sections.
Certain patterns are only used in certain sections of the cloth. For example, a row of isosceles triangles, forming the pasung motif, as well as diagonal floral motifs called dhlorong, are commonly used for the head. However, pasung and dhlorong are occasionally found in the body. Other motifs such as buketan (flower bouquet) and birds are commonly used in either the head or the body.
The head is a rectangular section of the cloth which is worn at the front. The head section can be at the middle of the cloth, or placed at one or both ends. The papan inside of the head can be used to determined whether the cloth is kain panjang or sarong.
The body is the main part of the cloth, and is filled with a wide variety of patterns. The body can be divided into two alternating patterns and colors called pagi-sore ('dawn-dusk'). Brighter pattern are shown during the day, while darker pattern are shown in the evening. The alternating colors give the impression of two batik sets.
Margins are often plain, but floral and lace-like patterns, as well as wavy lines described as a dragon are common in the area beside seret.
TYPES
As each region has its own traditional pattern, batiks are commonly distinguished by the region they originated in, such as batik Solo, Batik Pekalongan, and batik Madura. Batiks from Java can be distinguished by their general pattern and colors into batik pedalaman (inland batik) or batik pesisir (coastal batik). Batiks which do not fall neatly into one of these two categories are only referred to by their region.
JAVANESE BATIK
INLAND BATIK
Inland batik or batik kraton (Javanese court batik) is the oldest form of batik tradition known in Java. Inland batik has earthy color such as black, indigo, brown, and sogan (brown-yellow color made from the tree Peltophorum pterocarpum), sometimes against a white background, with symbolic patterns that are mostly free from outside influence. Certain patterns are reserved for royalty, while other are worn on specific occasions. At a Javanese wedding for example, the bride wears specific patterns at each stage of the ceremony. Noted inland batiks are produced in Solo and Jogjakarta, cities traditionally regarded as the center of Javanese culture. Batik Solo typically has sogan background and is preserved by the Susuhunan and Mangkunegaran Court. Batik Jogja typically has white background and is preserved by the Yogyakarta Sultanate and Pakualaman Court.
COASTAL BATIK
Coastal batik is produced in several areas of northern Java and Madura. In contrast to inland batik, coastal batiks have vibrant colors and patterns inspired by a wide range of cultures as a consequence of maritime trading. Recurring motifs include European flower bouquets, Chinese phoenix, and Persian peacocks. Noted coastal batiks are produced in Pekalongan, Cirebon, Lasem, Tuban, and Madura. Pekalongan has the most active batik industry.
A notable sub-type of coastal batik called Jawa Hokokai is not attributed to a particular region. During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia in early 1940, the batik industry greatly declined due to material shortages. The workshops funded by the Japanese however were able to produce extremely fine batiks called Jawa Hokokai. Common motifs of Hokokai includes Japanese cherry blossoms, butterflies, and chrysanthemums.
Another coastal batik called tiga negeri (batik of three lands) is attributed to three regions: Lasem, Pekalongan, and Solo, where the batik would be dipped in red, blue, and sogan dyes respectively. As of 1980, batik tiga negeri was only produced in one city.
SUNDANESE BATIK
Sundanese or Priangan Batik is the term for batik from the Priangan region of West Java and Banten. Although Priangan batiks can use a wide range of colors, a preference for indigo is seen in some of its variants. Natural indigo dye made from Indigofera is among the oldest known dyes in Java, and its local name tarum has lent its name to the Citarum river and the Tarumanagara kingdom, which suggests that ancient West Java was once a major producer of natural indigo. Noted Priangan batik is produced in Ciamis, Garut, and Tasikmalaya. Other traditions include Batik Kuningan influenced by batik Cirebon, batik Banten that developed quite independently, and an older tradition of batik Baduy.
Batik Banten employs bright pastel colors and represents a revival of a lost art from the Sultanate of Banten, rediscovered through archaeological work during 2002–2004. Twelve motifs from locations such as Surosowan and several other places have been identified.
Batik Baduy only employs indigo color in shades ranged from bluish black to deep blue. It is traditionally worn as iket, a type of Sundanese headress similar to Balinese udeng, by Outer Baduy people of Lebak Regency, Banten.
SUMATRAN BATIK
Trade relations between the Melayu Kingdom in Jambi and Javanese coastal cities have thrived since the 13th century. Therefore, coastal batik from northern Java probably influenced Jambi. In 1875, Haji Mahibat from Central Java revived the declining batik industry in Jambi. The village of Mudung Laut in Pelayangan district is known for producing batik Jambi. Batik Jambi, as well as Javanese batik, influenced the Malaysian batik.
The Minangkabau people also produce batik called batiak tanah liek (clay batik), which use clay as dye for the fabric. The fabric is immersed in clay for more than 1 day and later designed with motifs of animal and flora. The Batik from Bengkulu, a city on west coast of Sumatra, is called Batik Besurek, which literary means "batik with letters" as they draw inspiration from Arabic calligraphy.
BALINESE BATIK
Batik making in the island of Bali is relatively new, but a fast-growing industry. Many patterns are inspired by local designs, which are favored by the local Balinese and domestic tourists. Objects from nature such as frangipani and hibiscus flowers, birds or fishes, and daily activities such as Balinese dancer and ngaben processions or religious and mythological creatures such as barong, kala and winged lion are common. Modern batik artists express themselves freely in a wide range of subjects.
Contemporary batik is not limited to traditional or ritual wearing in Bali. Some designers promote batik Bali as elegant fabric that can be used to make casual or formal cloth. Using high class batik, like hand made batik tulis, can show social status.
MALAYSIA
Batik was mentioned in the 17th century Malay Annals. The legend goes when Laksamana Hang Nadim was ordered by Malacca King, Sultan Mahmud, to sail to India to buy 140 pieces of serasah cloth (batik) with 40 types of flowers depicted on each. Unable to find any that fulfilled the requirements explained to him, he made up his own. On his return unfortunately his ship sank and he only managed to bring four pieces, earning displeasure from the Sultan.
The method of Malaysian batik making is different from those of Indonesian Javanese batik, the pattern being larger and simpler with only occasional use of the canting to create intricate patterns. It relies heavily on brush painting to apply colors to fabrics. The colors also tend to be lighter and more vibrant than deep colored Javanese batik. The most popular motifs are leaves and flowers. Malaysian batik often displays plants and flowers to avoid the interpretation of human and animal images as idolatry, in accordance with local Islamic doctrine. However, the butterfly theme is a common exception.
INDIA
Indians are known to use resist method of printing designs on cotton fabrics, which can be traced back 2000 years. Initially, wax and even rice starch were used for printing on fabrics. Until recently batik was made only for dresses and tailored garments, but modern batik is applied in numerous items, such as murals, wall hangings, paintings, household linen, and scarves, with livelier and brighter patterns. Contemporary batik making in India is also done by the Deaf women of Delhi, these women are fluent in Indian Sign Language and also work in other vocational programs.
SRI LANKA
Over the past century, batik making in Sri Lanka has become firmly established. The Sri Lankan batik industry is a small scale industry which can employ individual design talent and mainly deals with foreign customers for profit. It is now the most visible of the island's crafts with galleries and factories, large and small, having sprung up in many tourist areas. Rows of small stalls selling batiks can be found all along Hikkaduwa's Galle Road strip. Mahawewa, on the other hand, is famous for its batik factories.
CHINA
Batik is done by the ethnic people in Guizhou Province, in the South-West of China. The Miao, Bouyei and Gejia people use a dye resist method for their traditional costumes. The traditional costumes are made up of decorative fabrics, which they achieve by pattern weaving and wax resist. Almost all the Miao decorate hemp and cotton by applying hot wax then dipping the cloth in an indigo dye. The cloth is then used for skirts, panels on jackets, aprons and baby carriers. Like the Javanese, their traditional patterns also contain symbolism, the patterns include the dragon, phoenix, and flowers.
AFRIKA
In Africa, paste made from starch or mud is used as a resist instead of wax. The most developed resist-dyeing skills are to be found in Nigeria where the Yoruba make adire cloths. Two methods of resist are used adire eleso which involves tied and stitched and adire eleko that uses starch paste. The paste is most often made from cassava starch, rice, and other ingredients boiled together to produce a smooth thick paste. The Yoruba of West Africa use cassava paste as a resist while the Soninke and Wolof people in Senegal uses rice paste. The Bamana people of Mali use mud as a resist.
WIKIPEDIA
The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company tower, designed by Pierre L. LeBrun of Napoleon LeBrun & Sons, is a major and memorable evocation of the world-famous campanile in Venice's Saint Mark's Square. Built in 1907-09, the Metropolitan Life tower was for a time, the tallest building in the world. It is also the final and crowning work of a firm, father and sons, whose combined production spanned almost seventy years of American architecture.
The tower was extensively renovated (1960-64) by Lloyd Morgan & Eugene V. Meroni, Architects, successors to Leonard Schultze & Associates, who retained the tower's major features — monumental clock faces, setback arcade, pyramidal spire, cupola, chime and lantern — as well as its original entasis. The tower's site, opposite historic Madison Square Park at 24th Street, is one of the finest settings in the city. For the past eighty years the tower has been both a significant silhouette on the Manhattan skyline and a corporate symbol; the lantern at its top has been called "The light that never fails."
Madison Square Park - a brief history
Few buildings in New York enjoy the spacious and verdant setting Madison Square Park provides the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company home office complex and tower. The park itself had been included by the Street Commissioners in their 1811 Map of Manhattan nearly 180 years ago. Then the park was a reserve of almost 239 acres; it was not pared down to its present seven acres until 1844. Even as the park's size diminished, its historical significance increased; decades before the architecture of commerce came to dominate its borders, Madison Square possessed a rich civic, military, social and cultural history.
With the onset of the War of 1812, President James Madison mobilized troops and the site, a temporary home to upstate volunteers, became "Camp Madison," a likely source for the square's name. Today only commemorative monuments remain, echos of American military victories. The Fifth Avenue Hotel, a Republican Party stronghold, opened in 1858 and the park opposite became a pantheon of the party's most revered public servants from New York; with bronze statues of Secretary William H. Seward, Senator Roscoe Conkling, and President Chester A. Arthur.2 To the east, Madison Avenue, insulated by the park, became a fashionable residential enclave.
On the corner of 24th Street was the Madison Square Presbyterian Church (1854). From its pulpit the Reverend Dr. Charles H. Parkhurst marshaled the moral indignation that ended Boss Tweed's domination of municipal government.
In the 1880s and 1890s the Madison Square area became a theatrical center. Steele McKay built the Madison Square Theatre in 1880 and the Lyceum Theatre in 1885. In 1890 McKim, Mead & White's famous Madison Square Garden (demolished in 1924) opened at the northeast corner of Madison and East 26th Street on the site where P.T. Barnum formerly had his Monster Classical & Geological Hippodrome, and Gilmore's Garden had sheltered boxing demonstrations and the annual National Horseshow.
In the same year Joseph F. Knapp, the president of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, initiated the first of many property acquisitions the company would make on Madison Square when the houses on the Square's east side were purchased. With the exception of Dr. Parkhurst's church, the whole block front was demolished to build the company's new headquarters, an eleven-story office building faced with Tuckahoe marble, designed by Napoleon LeBrun & Sons. Considered in retrospect, it was the entertainment industry's encroachment that prompted residents to move further uptown, but it was the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company's new and solid presence which re-stabilized Madison Square's eastern border. In 1896 the State of New York erected the marble courthouse for the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court (James Brown Lord, architect), a designated New York City Landmark, on the northeast corner of Madison and 25th Street. Knapp's vision of the square prepared the site for the next chapter in its history, the growth of corporate giants.
History of Metropolitan Life
Metropolitan Life began as the National Union Life & Limb Insurance Company in 1863, but was split into two separate companies, the National Life Insurance Company and the National Travellers Insurance Company, in 1866. In 1868 the company's charter and its name were changed to Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.4 At this time the life insurance industry in this country was already dominated by several well-established companies. The agency system was well-developed and the principal policy plans of today — straight life, endowment, annuity and term insurance — were already in use.
Metropolitan Life's first president, Dr. John Richardson Dow, who served from 1866 until his death in 1870, was a retired physician of ample means. Like Dow, the majority of the stockholders and directors were Brooklyn residents, well known to one another. Metropolitan Life was first located in offices at 243 Broadway. In 1870 the company moved to 319 Broadway. It was at this time that the Hildise Bund, a sizeable society of German-speaking wage earners organized about 1870, approached Metropolitan Life seeking coverage for its membership. The Bund collected weekly premiums from its members and transmitted them quarterly to Metropolitan Life. It was this German business which pulled Metropolitan Life through the Panic of 1873.
Joseph Fairchild Knapp, Metropolitan Life's second president from 1871 until his death in 1891, had formerly been a principal in the Major & Knapp Engraving, Manufacturing and Lithographing Company. Metropolitan Life's growth required more space and in 1876 the company leased the five-story Wilson B. Hunt building at the corner of Park Place and Church Street (now demolished). In 1879 Knapp initiated Industrial insurance, an area previously ignored in the United States. Industrial insurance had been introduced by the Prudential Assurance Company of London; Knapp was so impressed with Prudential's succesp that he imported English agents to train Metropolitan Life's employees.
Metropolitan Life and its Home Offices
As well as mastering the insurance business, Knapp appears to have understood the value of architectural imagery. Knapp must have been aware of the new Second Empire style Equitable Life Building (1868-70) on Broadway. Knapp commissioned the architectural firm of Napoleon LeBrun & Son to undertake the renovation of Metropolitan Life's new home on Park Place. LeBrun had demonstrated his skill in this fashionable commercial style already. In 1870 LeBrun won the Masonic Lodge competition with his solid Second Empire design. LeBrun brought the two simple Italianate elevations of the Wilson B. Hunt building up to date.
By re-organizing the ground floor and adding a two-story pavilioned mansard, he established the strong symmetry characteristic of this style. This commission was the first of many that Metropolitan Life awarded to the LeBruns. In 1890 Metropolitan Life purchased the site at 1 Madison Avenue, then so far uptown that no office building had yet been constructed there. Knapp turned again to the LeBrun firm. This eleven-story office block contained a delicately carved program of Italian Renaissance motifs which enriched the reveals and spandrels of windcws and doorways.7 This new building, on its corner site opposite Madison Square Park, did much to establish Metropolitan Life in the eyes and the mind of the public.
John Rogers Hegeman, Metropolitan Life's third president from 1891 until his death in 1919, was an even more avid builder than his predecessor Joseph Knapp. He, too, recognized the value of an impressive home office. During his tenure, the company expanded its complex to the whole block, building the great tower, and initiating its incursion to the adjacent block to the north. In 1894 lots on the south side of East 24th Street, immediately behind the Presbyterian church and tangent to the new home office building, were purchased and subsequently so were lots along East 23rd Street.
A twelve-story addition was constructed on 24th Street. By 1902 the company owned the Lyceum Theatre site and was purchasing the northeast corner of the block. In 1904-05 the new buildings, all from plans prepared by the LeBrun firm, completed the block; except for the northwest corner where the church stood.
Finally, on April 5, 1906, the church site was secured. Dr. Parkhurst had objected to selling, but when Metropolitan Life offered him the more spacious site just across East 24th Street as well, he and his Session accepted. The old church was razed and Metropolitan Life's 700 foot tower was begun, the tallest building in the world, and the LaBruns' final, crowning achievement.
By 1909 all eight of these buildings (the tower included) — all of Block 853 — were complete (Plate 3). Their exterior elevations, adaptations of the building commissioned by Knapp (1890), presented broad, unified eleven- and twelve-story facades along Madison and Park Avenues and 23rd and 24th Streets. While these buildings were linked by a major corridor running east and west from avenue to avenue and minor north-south corridors to both streets, each building had its own elevator shafts. At least six courts — generous light wells — brought light and air to the interior spaces of this block-size warren. As work spaces expanded, the thick party walls may have become obstructions. By the mid-1920s a more centralized structure was needed to house the increasing divisions of a large corporation the size of Metropolitan Life.
Begun in 1952, Morgan & Meroni's reconstruction of the home office complex, or south building as it is now called, and the tower, took place in three stages: the northeastern portion — an angled northwest to southeast diagonal dividing the block, from the tower to the corner of Park Avenue and 23rd Street, for the most part following the system of internal light courts; the southwestern portion; and the tower. Business continued in the old spaces before demolition and in the new as they became accessible. The new home office is a fourteen-story, skeletal steel structure with generous setbacks, faced with ashlar limestone. Though conservative in its conception, stylistically Lloyd Morgan's design draws upon aspects of the Moderne — the symmetry of both the building's mass and its window bays and entrances — as well as upon the tenets of the International Style. (This building is not included within this designation.)
The Architects
Two architectural firms are responsible for the appearance of the Metropolitan Life tower today: Napoleon LeBrun & Sons and Lloyd Morgan & Eugene V. Meroni, Architects. The LeBrun firm served as architects to the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company from 1876 until 1909. Morgan & Meroni received the commission to reconstruct the whole of the original home office complex and to "modernize" the tower in the early 1950s.
Pierre Lassus LeBrun (1846-1924) has not received the attention that he is due, perhaps in part, because the name of the firm, Napoleon LeBrun & Sons, made him, and later his brother Michel, all but anonymous. Little is known of Pierre's formal architectural education. Apparently he was imbued with his father's classical preferences. Napoleon Eugene Charles LeBrun (1821-1901) was born to French emigrant parents in Philadelphia. At fifteen years of age he was placed in the office of classicist Thomas Ustick Walter (1804-1887), where he remained for six years. LeBrun began his own practice in 1841 in Philadelphia but moved to New York in 1864 where the choice in 1870 of his Second Empire style Masonic Temple competition submission did much to establish his reputation.
In the same year his son Pierre joined him and the firm became Napoleon LeBrun & Son. Like his father, Pierre LeBrun was not so much an innovator as he was an adherent to a stylistic consistency at a time of stylistic transition and flux. With but few exceptions this preference was demonstrated in the work of both generations. Father and sons were active members of the new American Institute of Architects.
The firm's work can be divided into two periods, an early one spanning the 1870s into the mid-80s and a later one from the later 1880s until the firm's dissolution in 1909. The earlier is robust. The later work was significantly different. Building elevations became more planar; walls were no longer load bearing. Design of ornament relied solely upon historic prototypes. The first Metropolitan Life building was an example of a new building type given stylistic character through the application of ornament, as is LeBrun's still-extant Home Insurance Company (1893-94) facade on Broadway above Murray Street. This conventional, tall office building is enhanced by the Renaissance style triumphal arch motif applied to its first three stories. The tall, pyramidal copper roof is fronted by a three-story dormer, intelligently crafted from some study storage collection of Renaissance motifs.
While little is known of Pierre LeBrun's architectural education, his three trips abroad in the service of the Willard Architectural Commission are documented. Levi Hale Willard, a wealthy businessman, died in 1883 leaving to the newly founded Metropolitan Museum of Art $100,000 toward the creation of a collection of models and casts illustrative of the art and science of architecture, to be made under the direction of a commission chosen by the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. In his will Willard nominated Napoleon LeBrun as president of the Commission; Willard, a friend, had often discussed with LeBrun the need to cultivate a popular taste for architecture. Pierre LeBrun was appointed the Commission's purchasing agent. The younger LeBrun visited the significant sites and met with the suppliers of casts in Paris, Munich and Rome.
The historical accuracy characterizing the ornament of the LeBruns' later work appears to have been inspired by the Willard Collection.9 Surely, Pierre LeBrun was the partner responsible for the firm's designs in the later phase. Filial duty and affection prompted Pierre and his brother Michel to maintain the firm's name as their father had proudly amended it, first in 1870 and again in 1892. Only someone of Pierre's generation could readily understand the requirements of tall building design; only someone with the historical knowledge gained in acquiring the Willard bequest could know how to appropriately integrate historic detail with a new building type. There is every reason to attribute the designs for these later buildings — and certainly that of the Metropolitan Life Tower — to Pierre L. LeBrun.
In a 1914 history of the company there is a chapter on architecture, and the architecture of the tower in particular. It is written with such authority that the reader may assume that the anonymous author is Pierre LeBrun himself.10 He indicates that the resolution of a skyscraper style depends upon the utilization and reshaping of the elements of past styles. Size, he points out, is the only departure from precedent. To justify the propriety of his tower design he presents two comparisons, a brief survey of the proportions of height to width of towers, his and earlier monuments, and a second historic survey of the proportions of the height of tcwers to the mass of adjacent structures.
The architects responsible for the Metropolitan Life tower renovation in 1960-64 are Lloyd Morgan and Eugene V. Meroni, formerly of Leonard Schultze & Associates. The tower work — the architects called it a "modernization" — was but a P&rt of the complete rebuilding of the home office which commenced in 1951.
Lloyd Morgan (1892-1970) graduated from the Pratt Institute in 1911 and pursued subsequent study at the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was awarded the Paris Prize in 1921 and spent the next five years in Europe, studying for a time at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. In 1926 Morgan joined the firm of Schultze & Weaver which specialized in the design of hotel and office buildings and was made a partner three years later. Outside the office he served as an acting professor of architecture at Yale and New York University and conducted his own classes — the Atelier Morgan — for students who could not afford to attend architectural school. Upon S.F. Weaver's death in 1940, the firm became Leonard Schultze & Associates.
Morgan is credited with designing some of the firm's best known buildings: the Waldorf-Astoria, the Barbizon Plaza and the Pierre Hotel in New York? the Miami Biltmore and the Roney Plaza in Miami Beach. Morgan also designed suburban housing projects, Parklabrea in Los Angeles, Parkmerced in San Francisco, and Parkfairfax near Washington, D.C., all for Metropolitan Life. Eugene V. Meroni graduated from the Mechanics' and Tradesmen's Institute and trained at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design.1 It seems Morgan was the partner responsible for the design of Metropolitan Life. At Schultze's death in 1951, the firm became Lloyd Morgan & Eugene V. Meroni, Architects.
Building Design
John Rogers Hegeman, Metropolitan Life's third president, is generally credited with conceiving the idea of the tower; different versions of his inspirations are recorded and to each a possible date and different set of circumstances can be attached. (Behind them all stands the remembered silhouette of the tall steeple of the Presbyterian Church, sharply rising against the sky, a sharp vertical at 24th Street.) The first version is based upon a composite image attributed to Hegeman himself. Sometime after the Home Life Insurance Building (1893-94) was finished, Hegeman clipped an illustration of its facade and juxtaposed it to the left of an illustration of the new home office, a hint to his architects of what he had in mind.
In the second version, a published description of the tower as it neared completion, it is indicated that a "tower or campanile" had been part of the original plan for this corner. Though it appears that a tower was not on Joseph Knapp's immediate building agenda, a tower became an important component of Hegeman's. The company's aggressive campaign to acquire the remainder of the block, after its initial base was secure, is we 11-documented. But at what stage of the home office's enlargement a tower was projected, or even what form it was to assume, is not.
In his dedicatory remarks in 1909, John Hegeman described the tower as a symbol of integrity.17 Only four years earlier he had endured the inquiries conducted by New York State's Armstrong Committee concerning unethical practices in the insurance industry. Although Metropolitan Life was cleared, Hegeman was indicted, though subsequently exonerated.18 Might he not have seen his tower — the tallest in the world — as a symbol of vindication, both corporate and personal?
According to the final version, the great sixteenth-century campanile in Venice's Piazza San Marco, a landmark much beloved by Hegeman, was the prototype of the Metropolitan Life tower.19 The Venetian campanile made global headlines shortly after 9:50 A.M., July 2, 1902, when it collapsed, crushing Jacopo Sansovino's Loggetta. Despite opinions to the contrary,20 the Venetians rebuilt it; work did not begin until the end of 1908 almost three years after the Metropolitan Life tower was begun. While it is true that the campanile form had been considered as an appropriate expression for the tall office building, it was LeBrun who realized it first. But the news from Venice — the loss of one of that city's most familiar features — produced a great swell of public sentiment. An evocation of the fallen tower, anchored to Manhattan's bedrock, would be understandable. Perhaps, then, it was in the summer of 1902 that the projected Metropolitan Life tower in the form of the great Venetian campanile was conceived in the minds of the company president and his architect.
The Metropolitan Life Tower - Original Design
The Metropolitan Life tower's fifty-story height, articulated as base, shaft and capital - though surmounted with the setback and pyramidal spire of its prototype, and the cupola and lantern - was distinguished by its classical proportions and defined by historical ornamental detail — a reference to Sansovino's Loggetta distinguished the second and third stories (Plate 1). Pierre LeBrun likened the proportions of his tower to those of a Doric column; he had designed the shaft with an entasis — one foot, six inches on the short axis and two feet on the long axis — which the engineers, Purdy & Henderson, duly translated to the steel frame. The tower's elevations were nearly identical and completely faced with White Tuckahoe marble. A concentration of ornamental detail was reserved for the shaft's principal feature, the four great clock faces.
Purdy & Henderson designed the tower's footing and skeletal frame, which is anchored to bed rock at depths varying between twenty-eight and forty-six feet below the curb. Although it was not structurally innovative, the tower attracted attention because it was to be the tallest building in the world.26 The fireproofing of the tower's structure was considered an advance in 1909. Rather than heavy brick, or lighter terra cotta, all of the steel members — columns, girders, girths and windbracing — were encased in concrete carefully packed within wooden forms to eliminate air spaces.27 The tower was the crowning commission of Pierre LeBrun's professional career; he was able to apply his historic erudition to this most challenging of new building types.
The Metropolitan Life Tower- Renovation
Though planned in 1951-52, Morgan & Meroni's renovation of the Metropolitan Life tower did not begin until i960 and was not complete until 1964. For a second time the design of the Metropolitan Life tower was brought into harmony with an adjacent home office building.
Morgan's task was twofold: duplicate the new building's limestone cladding on portions of the tower's surface, and translate its planar character to the tower's four elevations. In the effort to reconcile the tower to the new home office, Morgan removed much of Pierre LeBrun's architectural detail; he chose the areas where ornament had been most concentrated —the base, the shaft quoins, the arcade and spire cupola — but retained the proportions and the entasis, recognizing them as the major defining architectural features of the tower.
It is clear that Morgan appreciated Metropolitan Life's splendid site opposite the Park as well. He massed and scaled the home office building to flatter the tower's 700 foot sweep upward from the curb to its lantern. Rather than repeating the blunt right angle of the tower's old juxtaposition to the original home office building, Morgan had the tower emerge up from behind the three graduated steps of the new building's tenth, eleventh and thirteenth story setbacks.
Description
In plan the tower retains its 75 by 85 foot configuration. The fifty-story Metropolitan Life tower remains articulated in the conventional manner: base, shaft, and capital and from within the arcaded capital rises a setback capped with a pyramidal spire, cupola and lantern. The tower's new two-story base conforms with that of the adjacent new home office building. A polished, light gray granite water table (five feet high) - an extension of the new building's wall base - runs the widths of both the tower's Madison Avenue and East 24th Street elevations and is flush with the tower's limestone cladding. Along Madison Avenue three tall, one-over-one, plate glass show windows light the tower's first story; their thin frames and vertical mul lions are stainless steel.
On 24th Street, two of these show windows flank a broad though unarticulated entrance architrave of the polished granite. Currently this entrance is not in use. The two pairs of doors within the architrave are false; entrance to the tower is gained through the South Building. Like the doors, the tripartite transom above them is framed in stainless steel. The architrave is immediately flanked by two signs, metal with raised letters, the ground painted black: "Metropolitan Life Insurance Company" with the company's logo. The second-story windows in both elevations correspond in width to the show windows below, but they are a fraction of their height (plates 5 & 6). Each is vertically tripartite, the central, single pane is wider than those flanking it, a modified Chicago window. The dividing stainless steel mul lions are broad but the window's stainless steel frames are thin. A simple, forty-five degree angle string course separates the tower's base from its shaft.
Two distinct elements characterize the tower's four shaft elevations, the three attenuated bays of triple window openings contained within the simple corner reveals and the monumental clock faces. The shaft's dominant verticality is modified by the repetition of projecting window sills every second story on only the uneven stories, starting at the third story.
The third-story windows do not extend all the way down to their sills; their lower rails are higher than those on any other story. The fourth-, fifth- and eleventh-story window spandrels are higher than those on other stories (plates 2 & 6).31 At the twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh stories, the triple window openings of the outermost bays are reduced to paired windows.
These, and all of those in the center bay, have been eliminated by the breadth of the clock faces. Each of the shaft's window openings has its own architrave, in section an elaboration of a Vitruvian scroll molding, retained from LeBrun's design. All the windows are of reflective, single-paned glass and framed in stainless steel, and although recessed, the reflective glass sustains Morgan's planar aesthetic..
LeBrun's ornamental detail is retained around the four monumental clock faces (plate 8). The decorative spandrels each contain a shell supported by a pair of reversed dolphins. The clock dials are encircled by marble wreaths of fruits and flowers, ornament which Pierre LeBrun modelled after early Italian Renaissance motifs — the Delia Robbias or Desiderio di Settignano. The dials themselves are reinforced concrete slabs, almost twenty-seven feet in diameter and faced with vitreous turquoise blue and white mosaic tile. The blue tiles create a decorative corona at the center and a border just inside the minute marks.
The hands are built on iron frames, sheathed with copper. The minute hand is seventeen feet from end to end and weighs 1000 pounds; the hour hand measures thirteen feet, four inches and weighs 700 pounds. The numbers, four feet high, are edged in copper. The peripheral minute markers, ten and a half inches in diameter, are edged in copper also. The hands, numerals and minute markers are glazed and are illuminated at night.
Just as the triple bays and clock faces articulate the tower's shaft, the three-story arcades — five arches per elevation — characterize the tower's capital. The twenty-ninth and thirtieth story fenestration serves as a transition from the lower tripartite rhythm to the arcade's pentad above. Ten smaller windows light the twenty-ninth story. On the thirtieth, the ten windows have been arranged in five pairs.
Morgan's preference for the planar is most clearly expressed in the capital, the tower's thirty-first to thirty-fourth stories. The new arcades (plate 9), pared of all of their considerable marble ornament, become flat screens, the ashlar limestone applied as precise voussoirs. The secondary planes of the emerging setback are introduced within the arcade (plate 10). The new limestone balustrades have been greatly simplified and flattened. The comers of each baluster are chamfered.
Five windows, one above each arch, light the thirty-fourth story. The cornice projects now only enough to halt the eye momentarily. The balustrade above, at the thirty-fifth story, shorn of its ornamental balusters and finials, adheres to Morgan's planar aesthetic. The corners of these balusters are articulated with right angle channels (plate 12).
The freestanding portion of the tower's setback — stories thirty-five to thirty-eight — acts as a massive plinth for the pyramidal spire, cupola and lantern above. It is here that the tower's wider north and south and narrower east and west elevations are made evident (Plates l and 2). This is seen clearly in the disparity of the fenestration within the setback's framing reveal. On the north and south elevations the reveal frames six windows — three pairs of two — on each story. Just above the setback's cornice — the thirty-ninth story — there are four small windows on the north and south elevations and three on the east and west. Similarly in the spire. The spire's marble surfaces are articulated with a raised lattice pattern punctuated with four stories of round hooded dormers.
Ten half-round hooded dormers break the latticed stone surface of the north and south elevations, one-above-two above three-above-four. There are seven dormers on the east and west, one-above-one above two-above-three. A broad reveal frames each pyramidal surface? the corner ribs rise to support the quarter-circle bevels of the forty-fifth story viewing platform (Plate 13). On the north and south elevations five long brackets, originally more ornate, support the platform? two eyelet windows between them light the forty-fourth floor. On the east and west four long brackets support the platform and there is but one window between them.
Morgan redesigned LeBrun's ornately carved, viewing platform balustrade. The north and south elevations have four panels of the new cylindrical balusters (plate 14), the east and west have three. The cupola's base, wider on its northern and southern elevations, is the highest and last demonstration of the tower's rectangular plan. The cupola itself is a regular octagon in plan (plate 15). The eight columns, originally Corinthian, of its two-story peristyle (at the forty-sixth and forty-seventh stories) are no longer round but angled to conform with the cupola's octagonal plan and Morgan's planar aesthetic (plate 16). The four bronze bells of the tower's chime (cast at the Meneely Foundry near Troy, New York) are mounted on the forty-sixth story.
The largest, the 7000 pound bell, is mounted on the western projection of the cupola's base; the next to largest, a 3000 pound bell, is mounted on the eastern projection (plate 17). The smaller 2000 and 1500 pound bells, are mounted on the north and south within the peristyle. The forty-seventh story windows, seen through the peristyle, light a circular staircase within the cupola's core. The cupola's entablature, the highest point at which stone is used, is also the sill for the eight half-round hooded dormers in the cupola's gold-colored anodized aluminum dome, the tower's forty-eighth story.
The tower's steel frame continues to the top, though sheathed in the gold anodized aluminum. The topmost platform with its gold anodized aluminum railing is at the forty-ninth story (plate 18). The tower's terminal feature is the octagonal electric lantern —"the light that never fails" — on the fiftieth story (plate 19). It is eight feet in diameter and 700 feet above the sidewalk. After ten in the evening - when the tells cease their chiming until dawn, the lantern blinks each quarter hour.
After dark and until midnight the tower's upper portions are bathed with light, often tinted. The lamps are inobtrusively hidden within the arcade and behind parapets. The quality of this illumination has been remarkably fine, so that the Metropolitan Life tower makes as distinguished a contribution to New York's skyline at night as it does by day.
APPENDIX
The same master clock — a mercurial compensated astronomical clock — which powers the hands on the tower's monumental clock faces as well as the hundreds of clocks throughout the home office, drives the tower's chime bell hammers. Originally each of the four bells was supported on a steel pipe filled with cement grout and sunk into stone-faced, solid concrete, but now the bells rest atop battered sided steel supports (Plate 17). The smallest, the 1500 pound bell — G natural, is struck by a hammer of fifty four pounds. The 2000 pound bell — F natural — is struck by a hammer of sixty-one pounds. The 3000 pound bell — E flat — is struck by a seventy-one pound hammer. The largest, the 7000 pound bell — B flat — is struck by ninety-four pound hammer. There is a fifth hammer of 131 pounds to strike the hours on the 7000 bell.
Of the best known bell foundries in the United States, the Meneely Foundry of Watervliet near Troy, N. Y., is the oldest. An earlier LeBrun-designed church building, the Cathedral Of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia, has a chime peal from the Meneely works. The bronze of the Meneely bells is composed exclusively of seventy-eight part, purest ingot copper which gives their bells their fine and brilliant tone.
The bells of the Metropolitan Life tower chime are struck in quarters — four blows at the quarter hour, eight at the half hour, twelve at the three quarter hour, and sixteen at the hour followed by the hour stroke — from seven o'clock in the morning until ten at night. The tune has a fine but often misunderstood provenance.
- From the 1989 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
. . . boiling out the wax
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Batik is a technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to whole cloth, or cloth made using this technique. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of the resist with a spouted tool called a canting (IPA: [ʈ͡ʂantiŋ], also spelled tjanting), or by printing the resist with a copper stamp called a cap (IPA: [ʈ͡ʂap], also spelled tjap). The applied wax resists dyes and therefore allows the artisan to color selectively by soaking the cloth in one color, removing the wax with boiling water, and repeating if multiple colors are desired.
A tradition of making batik is found in various countries, including Nigeria, China, India, Malaysia, Philippines and Sri Lanka; the batik of Indonesia, however, is the most well-known. Indonesian batik made in the island of Java has a long history of acculturation, with diverse patterns influenced by a variety of cultures, and is the most developed in terms of pattern, technique, and the quality of workmanship. On October 2009, UNESCO designated Indonesian batik as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
ETYMOLOGY
The word batik is Javanese in origin. It may either come from the Javanese word amba ('to write') and titik ('dot'), or may derive from a hypothetical Proto-Austronesian root *beCík ('to tattoo'). The word is first recorded in English in the Encyclopædia Britannica of 1880, in which it is spelled battik. It is attested in the Indonesian Archipelago during the Dutch colonial period in various forms: mbatek, mbatik, batek and batik.
HISTORY
Wax resist dyeing of fabric is an ancient art form. It already existed in Egypt in the 4th century BC, where it was used to wrap mummies; linen was soaked in wax, and scratched using a stylus. In Asia, the technique was practiced in China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), and in India and Japan during the Nara Period (645-794 AD). In Africa it was originally practiced by the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria, Soninke and Wolof in Senegal. These African version however, uses cassava starch or rice paste, or mud as a resist instead of beeswax.
The art of batik is most highly developed in the island of Java in Indonesia. In Java, all the materials for the process are readily available - cotton and beeswax and plants from which different vegetable dyes are made. Indonesian batik predates written records: G. P. Rouffaer argues that the technique might have been introduced during the 6th or 7th century from India or Sri Lanka. On the other hand, the Dutch archaeologist J.L.A. Brandes and the Indonesian archaeologist F.A. Sutjipto believe Indonesian batik is a native tradition, since regions such as Toraja, Flores, Halmahera, and Papua, which were not directly influenced by Hinduism, have an age-old tradition of batik making.
Rouffaer reported that the gringsing pattern was already known by the 12th century in Kediri, East Java. He concluded that this delicate pattern could be created only by using the canting, an etching tool that holds a small reservoir of hot wax, and proposed that the canting was invented in Java around that time. The carving details of clothes worn by East Javanese Prajnaparamita statues from around the 13th century show intricate floral patterns within rounded margins, similar to today's traditional Javanese jlamprang or ceplok batik motif. The motif is thought to represent the lotus, a sacred flower in Hindu-Buddhist beliefs. This evidence suggests that intricate batik fabric patterns applied with the canting existed in 13th-century Java or even earlier.
In Europe, the technique was described for the first time in the History of Java, published in London in 1817 by Stamford Raffles, who had been a British governor for the island. In 1873 the Dutch merchant Van Rijckevorsel gave the pieces he collected during a trip to Indonesia to the ethnographic museum in Rotterdam. Today the Tropenmuseum houses the biggest collection of Indonesian batik in the Netherlands. The Dutch and Chinese colonists were active in developing batik, particularly coastal batik, in the late colonial era. They introduced new patterns as well as the use of the cap (copper block stamps) to mass-produce batiks. Displayed at the Exposition Universelle at Paris in 1900, the Indonesian batik impressed the public and artists.
In the 1920s, Javanese batik makers migrating to Malaya (now Malaysia) introduced the use of wax and copper blocks to its east coast.
In Subsaharan Africa, Javanese batik was introduced in the 19th century by Dutch and English traders. The local people there adapted the Javanese batik, making larger motifs with thicker lines and more colors. In the 1970s, batik was introduced to Australia, where aboriginal artists at Erna Bella have developed it as their own craft.
TECHNIQUE
Firstly, a cloth is washed, soaked and beaten with a large mallet. Patterns are drawn with pencil and later redrawn using hot wax, usually made from a mixture of paraffin or bees wax, sometimes mixed with plant resins, which functions as a dye-resist. The wax can be applied with a variety of tools. A pen-like instrument called a canting (IPA: [tʃantiŋ], sometimes spelled with old Dutch orthography tjanting) is the most common. A canting is made from a small copper reservoir with a spout on a wooden handle. The reservoir holds the resist which flows through the spout, creating dots and lines as it moves. For larger patterns, a stiff brush may be used. Alternatively, a copper block stamp called a cap (IPA: [tʃap]; old spelling tjap) is used to cover large areas more efficiently.
After the cloth is dry, the resist is removed by scraping or boiling the cloth. The areas treated with resist keep their original color; when the resist is removed the contrast between the dyed and undyed areas forms the pattern. This process is repeated as many times as the number of colors desired.
The most traditional type of batik, called batik tulis (written batik), is drawn using only the canting. The cloth need to be drawn on both sides and dipped in a dye bath three to four times. The whole process may take up to a year; it yields considerably finer patterns than stamped batik.
CULTURE
INDONESIA
Many Indonesian batik patterns are symbolic. Infants are carried in batik slings decorated with symbols designed to bring the child luck, and certain batik designs are reserved for brides and bridegrooms, as well as their families. Some designs are reserved for royalties, and even banned to be worn by commoners. Consequently, a person's rank could be determined by the pattern of the batik he or she wore.
Batik garments play a central role in certain Javanese rituals, such as the ceremonial casting of royal batik into a volcano. In the Javanese naloni mitoni ceremony, the mother-to-be is wrapped in seven layers of batik, wishing her good things. Batik is also prominent in the tedak siten ceremony when a child touches the earth for the first time.
In October 2009, UNESCO designated Indonesian batik as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. As part of the acknowledgment, UNESCO insisted that Indonesia preserve its heritage.
POPULARITY
The popularity of batik in Indonesia has varied. Historically, it was essential for ceremonial costumes and it was worn as part of a kebaya dress, commonly worn every day. The use of batik was already recorded in the 12th century, and the textile has become a strong source of identity for Indonesians crossing religious, racial and cultural boundaries.
The batik industry of Java flourished from the late 1800s to early 1900s, but declined during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia. It further declined after the Indonesian independence, as people chose western clothes, decimating the batik industry. However, batik has somewhat revived at the turn of the 21st century, through the efforts of Indonesian fashion designers to innovate batik by incorporating new colors, fabrics, and patterns. Batik has become a fashion item for many Indonesians, and may be seen on shirts, dresses, or scarves for casual wear; it is a preferred replacement for jacket-and-tie at certain receptions. Traditional batik sarongs are still used in many occasions.
After the UNESCO recognition for Indonesian batik on 2 October 2009, the Indonesian administration asked Indonesians to wear batik on Fridays, and wearing batik every Friday has been encouraged in government offices and private companies ever since. 2 October is also celebrated as National Batik Day in Indonesia. Batik had helped improve the small business local economy, batik sales in Indonesia had reached Rp 3.9 trillion (US$436.8 million) in 2010, an increase from Rp 2.5 trillion in 2006. The value of batik exports, meanwhile, increased from $14.3 million in 2006 to $22.3 million in 2010.
Batik is also popular in the neighboring countries of Singapore and Malaysia. It is produced in Malaysia with similar, but not identical, methods to those used in Indonesia. Prior to UNESCO's recognition and following the 2009 Pendet controversy, Indonesia and Malaysia disputed the ownership of batik culture. However, Dr Fiona Kerlogue of the Horniman museum argued that the Malaysian printed wax textiles, made for about a century, were quite a different tradition from the "very fine" traditional Indonesian batiks produced for many centuries.
Batik is featured in the national airline uniforms of the three countries, represented by batik prints worn by flight attendants of Singapore Airlines, Garuda Indonesia and Malaysian Airlines. The female uniform of Garuda Indonesia flight attendants is a modern interpretation of the Kartini style kebaya with parang gondosuli motifs.
TERMINOLOGY
Batik is traditionally sold in 2.25-metre lengths used for kain panjang or sarong. It is worn by wrapping it around the hip, or made into a hat known as blangkon. The cloth can be filled continuously with a single pattern or divided into several sections.
Certain patterns are only used in certain sections of the cloth. For example, a row of isosceles triangles, forming the pasung motif, as well as diagonal floral motifs called dhlorong, are commonly used for the head. However, pasung and dhlorong are occasionally found in the body. Other motifs such as buketan (flower bouquet) and birds are commonly used in either the head or the body.
The head is a rectangular section of the cloth which is worn at the front. The head section can be at the middle of the cloth, or placed at one or both ends. The papan inside of the head can be used to determined whether the cloth is kain panjang or sarong.
The body is the main part of the cloth, and is filled with a wide variety of patterns. The body can be divided into two alternating patterns and colors called pagi-sore ('dawn-dusk'). Brighter pattern are shown during the day, while darker pattern are shown in the evening. The alternating colors give the impression of two batik sets.
Margins are often plain, but floral and lace-like patterns, as well as wavy lines described as a dragon are common in the area beside seret.
TYPES
As each region has its own traditional pattern, batiks are commonly distinguished by the region they originated in, such as batik Solo, Batik Pekalongan, and batik Madura. Batiks from Java can be distinguished by their general pattern and colors into batik pedalaman (inland batik) or batik pesisir (coastal batik). Batiks which do not fall neatly into one of these two categories are only referred to by their region.
JAVANESE BATIK
INLAND BATIK
Inland batik or batik kraton (Javanese court batik) is the oldest form of batik tradition known in Java. Inland batik has earthy color such as black, indigo, brown, and sogan (brown-yellow color made from the tree Peltophorum pterocarpum), sometimes against a white background, with symbolic patterns that are mostly free from outside influence. Certain patterns are reserved for royalty, while other are worn on specific occasions. At a Javanese wedding for example, the bride wears specific patterns at each stage of the ceremony. Noted inland batiks are produced in Solo and Jogjakarta, cities traditionally regarded as the center of Javanese culture. Batik Solo typically has sogan background and is preserved by the Susuhunan and Mangkunegaran Court. Batik Jogja typically has white background and is preserved by the Yogyakarta Sultanate and Pakualaman Court.
COASTAL BATIK
Coastal batik is produced in several areas of northern Java and Madura. In contrast to inland batik, coastal batiks have vibrant colors and patterns inspired by a wide range of cultures as a consequence of maritime trading. Recurring motifs include European flower bouquets, Chinese phoenix, and Persian peacocks. Noted coastal batiks are produced in Pekalongan, Cirebon, Lasem, Tuban, and Madura. Pekalongan has the most active batik industry.
A notable sub-type of coastal batik called Jawa Hokokai is not attributed to a particular region. During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia in early 1940, the batik industry greatly declined due to material shortages. The workshops funded by the Japanese however were able to produce extremely fine batiks called Jawa Hokokai. Common motifs of Hokokai includes Japanese cherry blossoms, butterflies, and chrysanthemums.
Another coastal batik called tiga negeri (batik of three lands) is attributed to three regions: Lasem, Pekalongan, and Solo, where the batik would be dipped in red, blue, and sogan dyes respectively. As of 1980, batik tiga negeri was only produced in one city.
SUNDANESE BATIK
Sundanese or Priangan Batik is the term for batik from the Priangan region of West Java and Banten. Although Priangan batiks can use a wide range of colors, a preference for indigo is seen in some of its variants. Natural indigo dye made from Indigofera is among the oldest known dyes in Java, and its local name tarum has lent its name to the Citarum river and the Tarumanagara kingdom, which suggests that ancient West Java was once a major producer of natural indigo. Noted Priangan batik is produced in Ciamis, Garut, and Tasikmalaya. Other traditions include Batik Kuningan influenced by batik Cirebon, batik Banten that developed quite independently, and an older tradition of batik Baduy.
Batik Banten employs bright pastel colors and represents a revival of a lost art from the Sultanate of Banten, rediscovered through archaeological work during 2002–2004. Twelve motifs from locations such as Surosowan and several other places have been identified.
Batik Baduy only employs indigo color in shades ranged from bluish black to deep blue. It is traditionally worn as iket, a type of Sundanese headress similar to Balinese udeng, by Outer Baduy people of Lebak Regency, Banten.
SUMATRAN BATIK
Trade relations between the Melayu Kingdom in Jambi and Javanese coastal cities have thrived since the 13th century. Therefore, coastal batik from northern Java probably influenced Jambi. In 1875, Haji Mahibat from Central Java revived the declining batik industry in Jambi. The village of Mudung Laut in Pelayangan district is known for producing batik Jambi. Batik Jambi, as well as Javanese batik, influenced the Malaysian batik.
The Minangkabau people also produce batik called batiak tanah liek (clay batik), which use clay as dye for the fabric. The fabric is immersed in clay for more than 1 day and later designed with motifs of animal and flora. The Batik from Bengkulu, a city on west coast of Sumatra, is called Batik Besurek, which literary means "batik with letters" as they draw inspiration from Arabic calligraphy.
BALINESE BATIK
Batik making in the island of Bali is relatively new, but a fast-growing industry. Many patterns are inspired by local designs, which are favored by the local Balinese and domestic tourists. Objects from nature such as frangipani and hibiscus flowers, birds or fishes, and daily activities such as Balinese dancer and ngaben processions or religious and mythological creatures such as barong, kala and winged lion are common. Modern batik artists express themselves freely in a wide range of subjects.
Contemporary batik is not limited to traditional or ritual wearing in Bali. Some designers promote batik Bali as elegant fabric that can be used to make casual or formal cloth. Using high class batik, like hand made batik tulis, can show social status.
MALAYSIA
Batik was mentioned in the 17th century Malay Annals. The legend goes when Laksamana Hang Nadim was ordered by Malacca King, Sultan Mahmud, to sail to India to buy 140 pieces of serasah cloth (batik) with 40 types of flowers depicted on each. Unable to find any that fulfilled the requirements explained to him, he made up his own. On his return unfortunately his ship sank and he only managed to bring four pieces, earning displeasure from the Sultan.
The method of Malaysian batik making is different from those of Indonesian Javanese batik, the pattern being larger and simpler with only occasional use of the canting to create intricate patterns. It relies heavily on brush painting to apply colors to fabrics. The colors also tend to be lighter and more vibrant than deep colored Javanese batik. The most popular motifs are leaves and flowers. Malaysian batik often displays plants and flowers to avoid the interpretation of human and animal images as idolatry, in accordance with local Islamic doctrine. However, the butterfly theme is a common exception.
INDIA
Indians are known to use resist method of printing designs on cotton fabrics, which can be traced back 2000 years. Initially, wax and even rice starch were used for printing on fabrics. Until recently batik was made only for dresses and tailored garments, but modern batik is applied in numerous items, such as murals, wall hangings, paintings, household linen, and scarves, with livelier and brighter patterns. Contemporary batik making in India is also done by the Deaf women of Delhi, these women are fluent in Indian Sign Language and also work in other vocational programs.
SRI LANKA
Over the past century, batik making in Sri Lanka has become firmly established. The Sri Lankan batik industry is a small scale industry which can employ individual design talent and mainly deals with foreign customers for profit. It is now the most visible of the island's crafts with galleries and factories, large and small, having sprung up in many tourist areas. Rows of small stalls selling batiks can be found all along Hikkaduwa's Galle Road strip. Mahawewa, on the other hand, is famous for its batik factories.
CHINA
Batik is done by the ethnic people in Guizhou Province, in the South-West of China. The Miao, Bouyei and Gejia people use a dye resist method for their traditional costumes. The traditional costumes are made up of decorative fabrics, which they achieve by pattern weaving and wax resist. Almost all the Miao decorate hemp and cotton by applying hot wax then dipping the cloth in an indigo dye. The cloth is then used for skirts, panels on jackets, aprons and baby carriers. Like the Javanese, their traditional patterns also contain symbolism, the patterns include the dragon, phoenix, and flowers.
AFRIKA
In Africa, paste made from starch or mud is used as a resist instead of wax. The most developed resist-dyeing skills are to be found in Nigeria where the Yoruba make adire cloths. Two methods of resist are used adire eleso which involves tied and stitched and adire eleko that uses starch paste. The paste is most often made from cassava starch, rice, and other ingredients boiled together to produce a smooth thick paste. The Yoruba of West Africa use cassava paste as a resist while the Soninke and Wolof people in Senegal uses rice paste. The Bamana people of Mali use mud as a resist.
WIKIPEDIA
Multi image copy of one image. Omega Rapid 100 6x7 rangefinder, Kentmere Pan 400 @400 D-23 1+3 for 24 minutes rotary
On 26 June 2023, my daughter had a free day and asked if I felt like going out for the day. She suggested maybe we could head out to the mountains and, as I hadn't been out there for a long time, it sounded a great idea.
Setting out at 9:00 am, we headed south on Highway 22 until we met the highway that runs through Kananaskis, Hwy 40. The morning was hazy and the distant mountains did not look too inviting. Thankfully, the weather cleared up somewhat, until around mid-afternoon, when we had some rain.
Our first stop was to see if we could see a Hummingbird. Had just a quick look at a Rufous Hummingbird and was happy to get a couple of distant shots. The Barn Swallows were busy nesting, as usual each year.
Further north, we had a very quick stop to see if there was any sign or sound of a tiny Pika. I had not intended to follow my daughter over the rocky ground, especially as I am still dealing with the various injuries from my bad trip and fall, back in the city, in September 2022. That experience has made me really nervous about walking anywhere, and has kept me at home or else out on an occasional drive. So, I only climbed up a few feet and just caught sight of one Pika - and got only one rapid, totally blurry shot. My Pika album contains many better images, so I won't post this recent one. Nice to see the various wildflowers - and a pile of bear scat!
Eventually, we reached our destination and stopped to eat a bit of lunch. The spectacular mountain range that I love to see, was in shadow, though it slowly brightened up. While we were eating, a White-Spotted Sawyer Beetle flew and landed on my daughter's arm. This was great, as I hadn't seen a Sawyer Beetle for ages.
From that location, we headed back south the same way we came. Much as I would love to have taken a gravel back road instead of the highway, I really did not want to risk repeating the bad experience I had just a matter of days earlier, when I ended up on a different gravel road and collected a LOT of gravel and rocks in my wheels. Had to take my car in to be fixed!
My daughter suddenly spotted two Grizzly Bears in the far distance, feeding amongst the beautiful, bright red Paintbrush flowers. A quick 5-minute stop to take a few (blurry!) photos and we left them in peace and continued the drive home. So very thankful to have seen these bears, though Mom was the main one as her big cub had already disappeared into the bushes and trees.
Back in the city. we had already decided to call in at Fish Creek Park to see if we could see a family of Pileated Woodpeckers. The three youngsters had already just fledged, but we did see a couple of them. I hadn't seen a Pileated in quite a while.
A throroughly enjoyable day - my favourite kind of day, when my daughter is free!