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Slovak
Folk Embroidery
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Embroidery
is generally viewed as the most important part of
Slovak folk cultural heritage. Richness of motifs
hand in hand with a great variability of
compositions and color schemes being used are the
best proof of a talent of Slovak folk and the only
evidence one can possibly ask for to prove the
uniqueness and sovereignty of our folk culture.
Within years, traditional embroidery has attracted
attention of numerous foreign exhibition visitors,
in many cases serving as a kind of "political
agitators" during our fight for the state
sovereignty and independence.
Quality of embroidery, as it is known from the
beginning of the 19thcentury, represents the eve of
"Golden era" of this folk artistic means
of expression. Of course, this period was preceded
by a centuries long gradual development. Majority of
specialists agree that functional stitching and edge
trimming of textiles gradually turned to a form of
art. The fact that clothes making belonged to one of
"inevitable" home chores means that
needlework was regarded as a necessary or crucial
skill of women of the past, comparable to cooking,
for instance.
In the early Medieval Period, more complicated
embroidery was almost exclusively used only on
ceremonial textiles. Portraits and epitaphs dating
back to the 16th century gave evidence of embroidery
forming an important part of merchant and nobility
costumes. Although there is not a lot of evidence on
the development of folk embroidery from this period,
its existence has been confirmed in official written
documents mentioning donations of embroidered
textiles made by village women to churches. In some
Slovak regions, home production of embroidery for
sale dates back to the 16the century. Most common
were embroidered pieces which used to be inserted
into home-made flex fabric thus forming the
adornments of sheets, tablecloths and towels. Zilina
was considered a main center of this craft those
days.
Since the 16th century, originally
"cosmopolitan" motifs started gaining
specific Slovak features. Contemporary western
motifs were being mixed together with the oriental
ones, chiefly owing to Turkish expansion and
contacts with both Turkish and Greek merchants. The
typical style of Slovak folk embroidery began to
form in the 17th and mainly in the 18th century,
encompassing the features of all the above mentioned
"schools." Regional variability started to
develop in the 19th century, allowing specific and
unique decorations to be introduced in particular
regions, many times giving the origin to
unparalleled ornaments particular for sometimes
single villages.
During the "Golden era" of folk embroidery
tradition, needlework in general became a subject of
a prolific trade and, of course, an income source of
various merchants and middlemen. In some regions,
especially of Western Slovakia, specialized
categories of ornament designers and embroidery
"ladies" were created. They were able to
meat even the most complicated orders of their
usually very demanding customers.
At the beginning, stitches were fairly simple, basic
ones being just a few. Later on, they gradually
developed into a great richness of techniques
cherished to these days. Embroidery respecting the
structure of material, namely cross-stitch and other
peculiar, very often complicated stitches, found its
use in domestic flex fabrics decorating.. The peak
of skillfulness represented white embroidery with
rich embossing and inserted sewn patches. Often,
embroidery was combined with applications on leather
and, perhaps surprisingly, on fur.
In the 19th century, first industrial workshops
started to appear in some Slovak regions. We must
say, that their influence on original folk
embroidery was more negative rather than positive.
On contrary, embroidery was in a center of attention
of national enlightenment patriots who helped the
origination of first institutions focusing on folk
traditions and cultural heritage preservation.
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