Celebrating the Museum’s 100th year
By Yerusalem Work
Jul/Aug 25
The Textile Museum at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. is celebrating its centennial this year. This 100-year-old institution is a treasure trove of priceless cultural artifacts from across the world. With free admission and a convenient location, this museum is an attractive, historical, and must-visit destination for all.
The museum is located within walking distance of the Foggy Bottom metro station in the heart of Washington, D.C. The fourth floor, the highest level, is reserved for the Arthur D. Jenkins Library, a non-circulating textile-arts library. It is a repository of rare multimedia materials that significantly bolster the museum’s mission.
Visitors enter through the first floor which houses the museum store and the Artisans Gallery. This shop is overflowing with high-quality pillows, bags, scarves, and books possessing vibrant colors and designs. It is where you can take a sample of a well-made textile home with you.
The second and third floors contain exhibits that draw in high traffic, and the museum’s basement hosts a center where visitors can get firsthand experience with textile design by creating digitized images at a computer kiosk. Using a computer program, visitors can choose their own garment (bag, blanket, or shirt), fiber (wool, cotton, or silk), structure (knit, woven, or felt), main color, and accent color (red, yellow, blue, green, and black). At the end of this process, visitors can email their finished works to themselves. This makes for a fetching e-souvenir that helps participants gain a deeper appreciation for the thought that goes behind the creation of contemporary textiles.
There are also opportunities for visitors to try out textile-making techniques. The loom provides both warp and weft (vertical and horizontal) threads where visitors can experiment with making knots, a vital and intricate part of the textile-making process. Practicing the art and craft of textile design offers visitors an immersive museum experience which is bound to create a lasting appreciation of this form of historical and cultural expression.
Muslims and Textiles
The Islamic World is sometimes known as the “Textile Society” because of the vital role this artform played in daily life in antiquity. The museum displays a sizable collection of Islamic textiles – textiles made or used by those who profess faith in Islam – distinguished by geometric designs, vegetal motifs, and floral patterns each bearing meticulous attention to minute detail. Whether massive carpets towering over patrons or modestly sized wall hangings, items in the museum’s collection are carefully placed by dedicated curators to enrich the viewer’s overall experience. Some objects are encased in glass while others are displayed with no barrier between the viewer and the artifact. Patrons are allowed to take photographs as long as they omit the flash.
Within The Textile Museum, representation of the Islamic World is impressively diverse. Of the more than 21,000 items in the museum’s international collection, some of the most precious, notable, and rare pieces are from Muslim artisans. Here, samples from the entire Muslim World are on display. Visitors can browse through authentic pieces from Egypt, North Africa, Spain, India, Turkey, the Caucasus, Iran, Central Asia, and China. Textiles on display here date from as early as the fourth century and represent a remarkable diversity of purpose. Some items present the colorful garb worn by nomads and villagers across the ages; others exhibit the trappings of the royal courts of the Muslim World.
The largest carpet in The Textile Museum’s collection is 340 inches in height and 131 inches in width and is made of cotton and wool with asymmetrical knots. This piece dates to the Safavid period (1501-1736) in Northwestern Iran, likely either modern day Tabriz or Isfahan, though the exact geographical origin is uncertain.
The museum also displays a rectangular kilim, a flat, woven carpet or rug, that also originates from Iran and dates to the Safavid period. The kilim is composed of a dragon and phoenix medallion, animal and floral motifs, corner quarter medallions, and cartouches.
When visiting Washington, D.C., these artistic treasures are not to be missed.
Honoring Textile Creations from Around the World
The exhibit titled “Enduring Traditions: Celebrating the World of Textiles” will be on display from now until Dec. 20. Textiles that have played a role in celebrations, performances, and religious ceremonies will be gathered here to represent a wide array of cultures and geographies. Carpets that once decorated palaces and festive robes that once adorned royal families will tell the stories of communities and their traditions.
The Arabic saying, “The eye sees far, but the hand can’t reach,” seems apropos in this context. With one glance in this museum, viewers can see meaningful slices of life as they encounter rugs, carpets, and other textiles from periods long past. In this way, The Textile Museum’s sumptuous collection can be seen as well as felt but only with the mind, heart, and soul. The collection in general cannot be physically touched.
Although in the museum’s basement, there is an interactive gallery where different fabrics can be physically touched. This tactile component gives museum patrons a genuine encounter with fabrics that have served humanity from time immemorial.
The Textile Museum was founded by George Hewitt Myers in 1925. It was formerly located in two historic buildings: the Myers family home (designed by John Russell Pope) and an adjacent building designed by Waddy Wood.
In 2015, it relocated to The George Washington University’s Foggy Bottom campus and re-opened as The George Washington University’s Textile Museum.
The Textile Museum is a treat for all ages. It is truly family-friendly and appropriate for a wide range of eclectic audiences. It welcomes engagement from scholars, enthusiasts, and tourists from all cultural backgrounds.
Yerusalem Work is a creative writer and an educator with a master’s degree in library science. She currently teaches English as a second language for international students in the Washington, D.C. area.
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