Stunning Patterns: Woven Textiles from Madagascar’s Merina Kingdom

Tags For: Stunning Patterns: Woven Textiles From Madagascar’s Merina Kingdom
  • Special Exhibition
Sunday, December 6, 2026–Sunday, November 7, 2027
Location:  234 Textile Gallery
Arlene M. and Arthur S. Holden Gallery
Free; No Ticket Required

About The Exhibition

The first American exhibition on Malagasy textiles in over 20 years and the first worldwide on Merina textiles, Stunning Patterns: Woven Textiles from Madagascar’s Merina Kingdom weaves a dynamic story of royalty, resistance, reinvention, and resilience as told through the history of eastern African silk weaving. Focusing on the Merina Kingdom (c. 1540–1897, also called Imerina) and people, it considers how changing political, economic, and environmental factors affected the lamba, a pan-Malagasy woven textile used as a garment or shroud. 

The textile Raitra Marosoratra (“stunning with many patterns”), created in 2021 by the artists of Madagascar’s Lamba SARL workshop, is the first African textile commissioned by the Cleveland Museum of Art and the first Malagasy artwork to enter its collection. Woven from colorful silk, the large patterned and striped textile is a revival of historical silk mantles called lamba akotifahana. This exhibition contextualizes this important new commission by presenting it alongside historical Merina Kingdom textiles; depictions of Malagasy elites and diplomats wearing them; and new video content about the artists and Malagasy weaving filmed on-site.

Foregrounding how these textiles were used and made, it covers some two centuries through the present day, including new insights into the evolution of these textiles under colonial rule and in the independence era. Personal stories linking past figures to present-day individuals foreground points of connection. Additionally, it considers the important role of silkworms and tapia forests in preserving Madagascar’s unique ecology. The complex beauty of the exhibited works appeal to a wide spectrum of visitors––including lovers of textiles, history, and the environment––and speak to new trends in studying the arts of the African and Indian Ocean region.

Sponsors

All exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Exhibitions. Principal annual support is provided by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder, the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, the John and Jeanette Walton Exhibition Fund, and Margaret and Loyal Wilson. Major annual support is provided by the late Dick Blum and Harriet Warm and the Frankino-Dodero Family Fund for Exhibitions Endowment. Generous annual support is provided by two anonymous donors, Gini and Randy Barbato, Cynthia and Dale Brogan, Dr. Ben and Julia Brouhard, Brenda and Marshall Brown, Gail and Bill Calfee, the Leigh H. Carter family, Dr. William A. Chilcote Jr. and Dr. Barbara S. Kaplan, Mary and Jim Conway, Joseph and Susan Corsaro, Ron and Cheryl Davis, Richard and Dian Disantis, the Jeffery Wallace Ellis Trust in memory of Lloyd H. Ellis Jr., Leigh and Andy Fabens, Florence Kahane Goodman, Martha H. and Steven M. Hale, Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Linda Harper, Robin Heiser, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., the estate of Walter and Jean Kalberer, Mrs. Nancy M. Lavelle, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, William S. Lipscomb, Bill and Joyce Litzler, Lu Anne and the late Carl Morrison, Mrs. Peta and the late Dr. Roland Moskowitz, Jeffrey Mostade and Eric Nilson and Varun Shetty, Sarah Nash, Courtney and Michael Novak, Tim O’Brien and Breck Platner, Dr. Nicholas and Anne Ogan, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, Henry Ott-Hansen, the Pickering Foundation, Christine Fae Powell, Peter and Julie Raskind, Michael and Cindy Resch, Marguerite and James Rigby, William Roj and Mary Lynn Durham, in memory of Dee Schafer, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, Elizabeth and Tim Sheeler, Saundra K. Stemen, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Claudia Woods and David Osage.

    The Cleveland Museum of Art is funded in part by residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

    This exhibition was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts.

    logotypes for Cuyahoga arts and culture and the Ohio Arts Council