ClassificationsAfrican Art

Apron (Isephephetu)

Place CreatedSouth Africa, Africa

CultureNdzundza Ndebele

Dateca. 1960

MediumCloth, beads, fiber

Credit LineGift of Norma Canelas Roth and William D. Roth

Dimensions13 1/4 x 17 x 3/8 in. (33.7 x 43.2 x 1 cm)

Object number2005.088.003

Label TextThis type of apron is made and worn by Ndzundza Ndebele women of South Africa. This art form emerged after the Ndzundza Ndebele peoples were defeated in the late 1880s by the Boers and physically dispersed. At around the same time, tiny glass seed beads from Europe became available through trade and Ndzundza Ndebele women began to bead bold geometric designs onto clothing. Not only did women stitch these eye catching designs onto clothing, they also painted them onto the exterior walls of homesteads. Through art, the scattered nation retained its identity.

In the early twentieth century, beadwork designs were dominated by a white color field and included only a few randomly placed geometric designs rendered in color. After the 1930s Ndebele aesthetics changed. As more colors of beads became available on the market, women began to include a wide range of colors and filled the composition with larger geometric and figurative motifs. For example, this apron features the image of a house.

This small stiff apron called Isephephetu is made and gifted by mothers to daughters upon their initiation into adulthood. The imagery stitched onto Isephephetu express mothers¿ aspirations for their daughters. Here, the elaborate house refers to the hope for marriage and attendant domestic roles.

Exhibition HistoryMCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, March 29, 2013 - December 1, 2014
Published ReferencesMCCM Newsletter, Spring/Summer 2013.

ProvenanceEx coll. William and Norma (1944-2022) Roth, United States.

Status

Not on view

Collections