Monday 12 September 2011

Curiosities of Alentejo



When September is rainy and blustery and cold, like it's been in England, Portugal is definitely a good place to be.  This marble staircase was up with sun and beautifully tiled with 18th century tiles.  According to the sign outside, it was a police station - just a teeny bit different from our local nick here in London, so I crept in and took a few pictures.
  




In a little museum near Evora, I saw some very unusual embroideries.








Unfortunately, they were captioned all in Portuguese, a language I don't speak, but someone told me that several  incorporate pieces of "chestnut skin."      (I think that this means the shell of the chestnut fruit).  This thin and brittle substance is sewn onto the embroidery in a kind of applique. The examples here all date from about 100 years ago and didn't bear much resemblance to the "local"  embroideries on sale in the rather small number of souvenir shops I spotted.

I was in the Portuguese Alentejo, an agricultural and wine growing region which lies north of the Algarve, and is far less well-known than the Algarve.   With textiles in mind,  I also visited an amazing modern tapestry works in Portalegre.   The tapestries - often vast - are hand woven using a unique stitch which allows great precision in the design.   This gives them a really fine quality, and means that pictures or photographs or even paint techniques can be reproduced or suggested  far more accurately than they can in ordinary tapestry.  Like, paint on a wall...




By contrast, the tapestry below is in totally different style. Created to a mid-twentieth century design, it's  large, subtle and detailed and it is tremendously striking. I can only show one, much-reduced bit of it here. 


As the tapestries are hand made and so specialised, they're also ruinously expensive and production is very slow. Perhaps that's why the company doesn't even seem to have a website.  Now I know these tapestries exist, though, I have decided that if I ever win the lottery, I'll commission one to adorn the mansion which  I'm going to buy.

Since that's in my dreams, it doesn't matter that it would take years to weave!

26 comments:

  1. I love that white stair case even though everything you captured is beautiful!

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  2. Being Portuguese, I've been to Portugal many times and miss it dearly. Thank you for the photos and igniting memories!

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  3. You’ve given us great examples of tiles and diverse needlework that represent amazing pieces of art, trends and moments in time. Each work is utterly unique. Thanks for sharing these interesting finds from your travels. :)

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  4. This is a wonderful post.
    I love last picture, that is great.

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  5. I love all the colors they use too! sandie

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  6. Lovely post!



    Aloha from Waikiki;


    Comfort Spiral


    > < } } ( ° >



    ><}}(°>

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  7. Tapestries look so gorgeous. The detailed design of the second one looks interesting. Do they repressent some special event or something?
    My husband brought a dish designed in navy blue from Poland some years ago. The color of the tile reminds me of that.

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  8. wow...looks like the police over there has some artistic sense and liking....loved it :) and the museum :)

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  9. makes getting arrested not so bad. lol
    i LOVE the modern tapestry stuff, don't think i've ever seen any actually.

    gorgeous photos, thanks for sharing with us.

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  10. I have always been very fond of the tiled walls you so often find in Portugal to the extent that whenever I visit the country I never get too far on walks as I am always stopping to take photographs. The tapestries you feature are quite stunning. (and yes, it was a bag of oats for the donkey)

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  11. Were you arrested for loitering with intent to take photos?

    I love that modern tapestry, it's fantastic. That would look wonderful on my wall.

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  12. Oh, such gorgeous textiles! The delicate intimacy of the stitching, details and personal photographs of the older pieces are enchanting and heart-breaking. I'd so love to see one of those big modern tapestries with the paint-swirl effect; that's astonishing. The details in the last piece you've shown...well, if you hadn't said it was a tapestry I would have had no idea. Thanks for this informative and colourful tour.

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  13. If I have tons of money, I want tapestries to drape over my walls too. :)

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  14. The Portuguese seems to put the tiles everywhere, I think. Still, this is superb.

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  15. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and leaving a nice comment/

    The photos are beautiful and the textiles gorgeous!

    Beth

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  16. I envy you. While I am stick in London you are in Portugal. Life is unfair. Thanks for the pictures!

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  17. What color, I love the photos. Portugal is light and color as you show in your photos. A beautiful story. Greetings.

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  18. Beautiful tiles and beautiful tapestries. If only our police stations were that tastefully decorated, instead of the usual dreary institutional drabness they go in for.

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  19. These mosaics on the wall by the marble staircase are just gorgeous! What a police station...

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  20. Have you read Monica Ali's book Alentejo Blue? It had some mixed reviews but I really enjoyed it. I passed my copy on to my sister's friend who has lived in Portugal for the last few years. She and her husband both read the book and could relate to lots of the details about Portuguese life.

    Lovely photos. I have only been to the Algarve, but would like to see this region too.

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  21. Love the marble staircase and the mosaics! Thanks for sharing. =)

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  22. So much to look at. I was amazed to see the embroideries incorporating photos. That is such a "today" idea. Nothing is new under the sun as they say.

    Darla

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  23. Without actually being in a position to know this, my guess about the embroideries with the photos is that these were made to commemorate deceased loved ones.

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  24. I've never seen tiles and tapestries like these photos show. They must be precious and I understand your dream to buy one of the tapestries. When you'll win the lottery and get one, please take a photo for your posting.

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  25. A fascinating post.
    I wonder what the police cells were like?

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