Photo, Print, Drawing Weavers of Jipijapa Hats, Province of Neiva. Provincia de Neiva. Tejedoras de sombreros de jipijapa
About this Item
Title
- Weavers of Jipijapa Hats, Province of Neiva.
Other Title
- Provincia de Neiva. Tejedoras de sombreros de jipijapa
Summary
- This watercolor by Manuel María Paz (1820-1902) shows two women weaving a traditional Panama hat from the leaves of the Jipijapa palm, Carludovica palmata (which, despite its name, is not a true palm). The younger leaves of this plant are used to make hats, and older ones to make baskets, mats, and thatched roofs. The scene Paz depicted was in the Province of Neiva (in present-day Huila Department), in southwest Colombia. The watercolor is typical of Paz's work, which captured the diversity of the population of Colombia and depicted the daily activities and traditional customs of the country's different ethnic, racial, and social groups. Paz was born in Almaguer in the province of Cauca. He joined the Colombian army at a young age and showed exceptional skills as a cartographer and painter. In 1853 he took over the role of draftsman of the Comisión Corográfica (Chorographic Commission) formerly held by Henry Price (1819--63). The commission, which began work in 1850, was tasked with studying the geography, cartography, natural resources, natural history, regional culture, and agriculture of the Republic of New Granada (present-day Colombia and Panama). Paz worked under Agustín Codazzi (1793--1859), the Italian-born geographer and engineer who co-founded and directed the commission. In 1859, at Codazzi's death, Paz was among the collaborators who took on the task of reviewing, completing, and publishing the work that the Comisión Corográfica had undertaken since 1850. As a draftsman, Paz executed watercolors and drawings that were very exact and strove to represent the places and people of Colombia in a naturalistic and objective style. These pictures constitute invaluable documentary records for the history and culture of Colombia. They also provided information pertinent to drawing up the maps that were one of the main objectives of the Comisión Corográfica. More than 90 paintings by Paz are preserved at the National Library of Colombia.
Names
- Colombia. Comisión Corográfica Sponsor.
- Paz, Manuel María, 1820-1902 Artist.
Created / Published
- [place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], 1857.
Headings
- - Colombia--Huila
- - 1857
- - Clothing and dress
- - Expeditions and surveys
- - Hats
- - Palm frond weaving
- - Regional Memory of the World Register, Scientific Memory of Andean America
- - Weaving
Notes
- - Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
- - Original resource extent: 1 painting : watercolor ; 23 x 31 centimeters.
- - Original resource at: National Library of Colombia.
- - Content in Spanish.
- - Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.
Medium
- 1 online resource.
Source Collection
- Colección Comisión Corográfica
Digital Id
Library of Congress Control Number
- 2021670148
Online Format
- compressed data
- image