Quilt Images From the American Museum of Folk Art

Equally an fine art form, quilts have deep roots in American life and feel. For more than three centuries, the artists, primarily women, have created highly individualized expressions in this medium that is both yielding and unforgiving, challenging the maker to examination the limits imposed by cutting and piecing bits of fabric.

The very fine choice of quilts on view in this show is from the distinctive collection of the American Folk Art Museum in New York Urban center. They range across time and place from the mid-nineteenth to the late twentieth century, from Alabama to Pennsylvania. The four sections of the exhibition highlight early twentieth-century quilts from a menses of arts and crafts revival, designs developed by Amish communities, examples by African American makers, and traditional nineteenth-century patterns that formed a foundation for generations of quiltmakers to come.

The exhibition begins with quilts that reflect the popularity of traditional American handicrafts inspired by the United states Centennial Exhibition of 1876 and the Arts & Crafts Motility. Quilters moved away from the ornate designs of the Victorian era, which featured sumptuous velvets and silks, and embraced the utilize of cotton wool fabrics, clean lines, and schematic patterns of Colonial and early on nineteenth century bed covers, as seen in the Lozenge Quilt.

Amish communities—including those in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana—have produced some of the about beloved American quilt patterns, which were adjusted to suit their preferences and religious principles. Withal, despite the Amish belief in modesty and simplicity, bright colors were not forbidden. Bold blues, pinks, and purples—as juxtaposed in the Sunshine and Shadow Quilt—belie common conceptions of the plainness of Amish visual civilisation.

Each of the African American quilts in the exhibition is infused with stunning dynamism, expressing visual and material energy that seemingly will not exist contained by strict geometry. Although they may draw on traditional Euro-American or revival patterns, their asymmetry, bold colors, and outsized designs may also exist linked to earlier African fabric practices. Lucinda Toomer, who created the Le Moyne Star Variation Quilt, and Leola Pettway, who made the Star of Bethlehem with Satellite Stars Quilt, accept each described improvisation as vital to their quilting practice.

The exhibition closes with a selection of traditional patterns dating from the mid to late 1800s that illustrate the foundational quilting techniques of piecing and appliqué and formed a foundation for generations of quiltmakers to come up. Piecing celebrates the straight line, often joining together many small squares and triangles to create larger abstruse patterns. With appliqué, quilters cut out a diverseness of forms and sew them onto a larger background. Undertaken individually or within a grouping of women, many quilts accept years to finish. Though the names of many of these quilters are unknown today, their dedication and creativity infuse these quilts with the emotional weight of passing time.

This exhibition was organized by the American Folk Art Museum, New York, and supported in part by the Bresler Foundation, the David Davies and Jack Weeden Fund for Exhibitions, and the Council for Traditional Folk Art.

Originally curated for installation at the American Folk Art Museum, August 6–September 1, 2019, by Stacy C. Hollander. Bout coordinated by Emelie Gevalt, Curator of Folk Fine art, the American Folk Art Museum.

At the Hudson River Museum, the exhibition is generously sponsored by The Coby Foundation, Ltd.

In conjunction with Wall Ability!, the Hudson River Museum volition display 5 important quilts from its ain collection in Collection Spotlight: Storied Quilts from the Hudson River Museum.

Artist unidentified. Amish, United States. Sunshine and Shadow Quilt, 1920s. Silks and wools, 83 × 75 ½ inches. American Folk Art Museum, New York. Souvenir of Karen and Werner Gundersheimer, 2018.2.6. Photo past Gavin Ashworth.

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Source: https://www.hrm.org/exhibitions/wall-power/

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