![Huari Culture, Stylised Huari Tunic, Circa. 800AD](https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_1600,h_1600,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/artlogicstorage/paulhughes/images/view/dd8a0d1c791bd6b10c466751d5a375b4j/paulhughesfinearts-huari-culture-stylised-huari-tunic-circa.-800ad.jpg)
![Huari Culture, Stylised Huari Tunic, Circa. 800AD](https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_1600,h_1600,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/artlogicstorage/paulhughes/images/view/7a1f3eae0a651ae63ce326b5c124ed8bj/paulhughesfinearts-huari-culture-stylised-huari-tunic-circa.-800ad.jpg)
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![Huari Culture, Stylised Huari Tunic, Circa. 800AD](https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_1600,h_1600,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/artlogicstorage/paulhughes/images/view/04b4c0bca4b463d63a769269b54b222dj/paulhughesfinearts-huari-culture-stylised-huari-tunic-circa.-800ad.jpg)
Huari Culture 100 AD-1200 AD
Stylised Huari Tunic, Circa. 800AD
Camelid fibres
Upper end: 104 x 100 cm, Lower end: 100 x 100 cm (trapezoidal)
Upper end: 40,9 x 39,3, in Lower end: 39,3 x 39,3 in (trapezoidal)
Upper end: 40,9 x 39,3, in Lower end: 39,3 x 39,3 in (trapezoidal)
HUA0023 / PH0015
Copyright of Paul Hughes Fine Arts
Further images
This rare and almost complete densely woven tapestry tunic was created so acutely stylised and abstracted that the figures are essentially unrecognisable, perhaps in a deliberate attempt by the elite...
This rare and almost complete densely woven tapestry tunic was created so acutely stylised and abstracted that the figures are essentially unrecognisable, perhaps in a deliberate attempt by the elite to monopolise their interpretation. Abstract figures distorted almost beyond recognition may also be an attempt to represent the shamanic transformation and drug-induced trance consciousness which were part of Wari religious ceremonies.
In the Wari and Tiwanaku civilisations, images from stone carvings were repeated, abstracted, compressed, and expanded, emphasising the rectilinear and thus imperial power and its ability to order the world. The pattern on this tunic, a profile face with a vertical split eye and crossed fangs, and an inverted stepped fret motif, is a unique Wari design.
We can borrow this association between Wari textiles and architecture from art historian Rebecca Stone and archaeologist Gordon McEwan. In their seminal piece on the subject, they argue that both patio groups and elites’ tunics are built using an “additive mode of production.” In other words, both a textile and a wall are built “row by row” from the ground up. Further, both elite textiles and Wari complexes contain what Stone and McEwan call “anomalies.” In architecture, these anomalies include curved walls. In textiles, they occur as a change in the expected color pattern. Thus, there is an element of chaos that exists across Wari works of art, breaking expected patterns. By orchestrating the construction of these chaotic elements, elites further denied commoners’ access to the underlying logic. It is worth noting as a well that both textiles and architecture are “lived in” spaces. Elites chose to spend their entire lives in their organised chaos, within a system only they could comprehend. They could work in this world of confusion, choosing to wear dramatic colours and to wander through the confusing halls of Wari cities, in life and in death.
In the Wari and Tiwanaku civilisations, images from stone carvings were repeated, abstracted, compressed, and expanded, emphasising the rectilinear and thus imperial power and its ability to order the world. The pattern on this tunic, a profile face with a vertical split eye and crossed fangs, and an inverted stepped fret motif, is a unique Wari design.
We can borrow this association between Wari textiles and architecture from art historian Rebecca Stone and archaeologist Gordon McEwan. In their seminal piece on the subject, they argue that both patio groups and elites’ tunics are built using an “additive mode of production.” In other words, both a textile and a wall are built “row by row” from the ground up. Further, both elite textiles and Wari complexes contain what Stone and McEwan call “anomalies.” In architecture, these anomalies include curved walls. In textiles, they occur as a change in the expected color pattern. Thus, there is an element of chaos that exists across Wari works of art, breaking expected patterns. By orchestrating the construction of these chaotic elements, elites further denied commoners’ access to the underlying logic. It is worth noting as a well that both textiles and architecture are “lived in” spaces. Elites chose to spend their entire lives in their organised chaos, within a system only they could comprehend. They could work in this world of confusion, choosing to wear dramatic colours and to wander through the confusing halls of Wari cities, in life and in death.
Exhibitions
Pre-Columbian Andean Textile Arts, Gallery Carla Sozzani, Milan, 1991Art of the Ancient Andean Cultures, Accademia Italiana, London, 1992
Hauser & Wirth, Zurich, 1995
Paul Kasmin, New York, 1995
Ancient Textiles from the Andes, the Whitworth, Manchester, 2019
Continuities: 2000 Years of Abstract Art, Wiltshire, 2021
Confluences: 4000 Years of South American Art, Cork Street, London, 2022
Continuities, 2000 Years of Female Art in South America,Sala Brazil, London, 2023
Publications
Pre-Colombian Andean Textile Art, p.26, Carla Sozzani Editore (1991)Art of the Ancient Andean Cultures, Accademia Italiana (1992)
Time Warps, p.119 Hauser & Wirth (1995)
Ancient Textiles from the Andes, the Whitworth, Manchester, (2019)
Confluences in Art, p.139, Paul Hughes Fine Arts (2019)