The Barkowitz Mola Collection

History of the Barkowitz Family Mola Collection
by Edith Read Barkowitz Crouch

Seymour and Leah Barkowitz left the comfort of their home town in the United States, family and familiarity to move to the tropics with their toddler son and infant daughter. Their adventuresome spirits and love of travel took them to the Panama Canal Zone in the mid-1950s. My parents raised their children, adding two sons over the years; this beautiful and unique time and place was home. We were introduced to the many beauties of Panama – its lush tropical beaches, rainforests and mountains, rich history, indigenous cultures and arts – by my parents and their Panamanian friends.

My parents began collecting molas in the 1950s and continued through the 1980s; purchased from the Cuna women of the San Blas Islands (now known as the Guna of Guna Yala.) The women would bring their colorful textiles to places that Canal Zonians, Panamanians and tourists would gather – Stevens Circle in Balboa, the visitor’s center at Miraflores locks and the El Panama hotel to Flory Saltzman’s craft shop. My parents collected their molas from these places and while visiting the San Blas Islands. They framed and displayed them; some of the molas were made into functional art pieces such as pillows and a skirt or presented to other family members as gifts from Panama. Mola art was a vibrant accent in our lives in Panama and was appreciated by us all. The three decades my parents spent in Panama forever changed and enriched our lives and theirs.

I wrote a book “The Mola: Traditional Kuna Textile Art” in 2011 with the personal motivations that grew from this appreciation, inspired by my parent’s love for Panama and mola art, and the pull to return to the place of my childhood and life in Panama with the perspective of time, and to experience the familiar things I once loved and love still.

The Mola – Traditional Kuna Textile Art

Book Description
The mola is a multilayered textile art form and metaphor for the story of the Kuna, indigenous people of Panama. With over 890 images covering more than a century of molas, this book provides insights into design sources and influences for molas, perspectives on the aesthetic practices of women creating them, and hints for collecting and preserving this colorful textile art form. The hand-appliquéd art panels tell the tale of the Kuna women and are symbolic of their artistry, observation, and beliefs. Their lush tropical paradise, cultural cosmology, sense of humor, and exposure to foreign elements are represented in these fascinating fabric designs. A brief history of Panama and its rich tradition of indigenous arts place the mola in context.

The Seymour and Leah Barkowitz family mola collection was reunited for the production of this book from the private collections of Paul, Edith, Joe and Daniel Barkowitz.

Gallery 1 of 2

Foreign Faces molas, 18” height x 14 ½” width, c. 1970. These companion portrait molas depict two large non-Kuna or foreign female faces with small tutelary spirit figures and birds. The mola with the red fabric background depicts a woman with hair ornaments wearing earrings and an elaborate necklace; two spirit figures are on her lower left and right. The mola with the black fabric background depicts a girl wearing eyeglasses and hair barrettes who appears to be playing the flute with two spirit birds to her lower left and right. Barkowitz collection. Photographs by Ben Crouch.

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