Bidspirit auction | Guna Mola Blouse Spirit Figure

Guna Mola Blouse Spirit Figure and Fish - Panama (Guna Yala), circa 1970s 16 × 13.5 inches Complete Guna mola blouse featuring a boldly worked reverse appliqué, appliqué, and embroidery front and back panel set into a red cotton yoke with gathered short sleeves trimmed in turquoise rick-rack, and an orange band with blue rick-rack accent stitch at the panel junction. The mola panels present a large-scale spirit figure and fish rendered in black on a vivid red ground, the forms densely filled with closely spaced parallel dash and bar cutwork that creates a vibrating textural surface across the entire panel. On the front panel, a small spirit face is embroidered in yellow near the upper register — eyes, nose, and mouth rendered in fine running stitch — serving as a focal point within the otherwise austere two-color composition. The figures interlock across both registers of the panel with a fluid, painterly energy, their outlines bold and confident. The back panel repeats the composition with variation in the figure arrangement. The extreme economy of color — red revealed through black — gives this piece a graphic intensity. Consistent hand-stitching throughout. Worked in two layers of red and black cotton. Provenance: From the Parker & Neal Collection.