Javanese batik-workers
1923
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1923
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Javanese batik-workers is a 1923 paint by Elfrida Tharle-Hughes, a Art Nouveau work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
The painting shows a group of Javanese women sitting on the ground, drawing patterns on cotton cloths. They are surrounded by bowls of colors and tools. The scene is set in a workshop with bamboo stands holding up the cloths. The women are making batik, a traditional textile art. This painting is interesting because it gives a glimpse into a specific craft and culture. It shows the careful process of creating batik by hand. To learn more about the art and craft depicted in this scene, look up the technique of sfumato.
The work shows eleven Javanese women seated on the floor inside a workshop, each drawing patterns by hand onto cotton cloths held on bamboo stands. Bowls of dyes, tools, and a wax-heating stove occupy the foreground, illustrating the batik process in progress. The scene was sketched on July 21, 1923, at the Kunstarbeid Depot in Yogyakarta, Java, where the artist observed the workers under the Dutch colonial administration.
Read the full account in the museum source.
