Today, I had a wonderful experience. I was invited to the press preview for Quilts and Color: The Pilgrim/Roy Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. We were given a tour of the exhibit of 58 quilts; just a small part of the massive quilt collection carefully curated by Gerald Roy and the late Paul Pilgrim. I had the privilege of listening to Gerald Roy speak about his quilts. I enjoyed hearing him speak so passionately about quilts as art and about quilters as artists who make purposeful design decisions in their work. The exhibit will be open to the public from April 6 through July 27. 2014. I encourage local guilds to schedule visits!
The exhibit is divided into themes. One piece of mid 20th century abstract art from the MFA collection is hung in each gallery drawing interesting parallels to the much earlier quilt designs. I really liked the way Roy and the curators decided to group the quilts in this manner.
Carpenter’s Square Quilt Made by: Mrs. Miller (American) American, Pennsylvania, Easton, Mennonite, about 1890 Pieced cotton plain weave top, cotton plain weave back and binding; quilted *Pilgrim / Roy Collection *Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The first theme is Vibrations. This selection of quilts is largely composed of complementary colors which, when placed next to one another, cause the edges to seem to vibrate and flicker.
Sunburst Quilt
Mrs. Ephraim Scott (American)
1856
Pieced printed cotton plain weave top, printed cotton plain weave
back and binding; quilted
* Pilgrim / Roy Collection
Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
In the second gallery, you will find quilts using colors of similar intensity or value. The theme here is Mixtures. The colors tend to blend together in these quilts, defying the mainstream trends at the time of contrast in fabric selection.
Quilt
about 1930
Wool and cotton plainweave and twill; pieces and quilted
* Museum purchase with funds donated by Hanne and Jeremy
Grantham, Jane and Robert Burke, an anonymous donor, Jane
Pappalardo, Lynne and Mark Rickabaugh, Carol Wall, Heidi Nitze,
Ruth Oliver Jolliffe, and Mrs. Robert B. Newman, and funds by
exchange from anonymous gifts, a Bequest of Miss Ellen Starkey
Bates, William Sturgis Bigelow Collection, Gift of the Estate of
Annie B. Coolidge, Gift of Mrs. John Dane, Gift of Louis H. Farlow,
Alfred Greenough Collection, Gift of M. M. Greer, Gift of Mrs.
Chester A. Hoefer, James Fund, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Harold Karlin,
Gift of Miss Mildred Kennedy, Gift of Francis Stewart Kershaw,
Gift of Mrs. Bliss Knapp, Gift of Mathias Komor, The Elizabeth
Day McCormick Collection, Gift of Miss Louise M. Nathurst, Gift
of Mrs. George N. Northrop, and Gift of Mrs. Albertine W. F.
Valentine, residuary legatee under the will of Hervey E. Wetzel
* Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The third gallery displays a collection of Amish quilts with the theme Harmonies. These quilts tend to be composed of analogous colors with a pop of a complementary color.
Log Cabin, Barn Raising Variation Quilt Mrs. Herrick American, Massachusetts, 1879 Foundation pieced top of cotton and silk in variety of structures including silk velvet with silk embroidery, silk plain weave backing quiltied to unknown material *Pilgrim / Roy Collection *Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The fourth theme was that of Gradations. This quilt is one sample from that gallery. As you can see, many gradations of color are used to achieve the pattern planned by the quilter. Roy said that this quilt was the first that got him and Pilgrim to think differently about quilts. When they looked at this quilt, they said that this quilt had nothing to do with keeping warm. It was all about the woman who made it. I love that. I have to admit that very few of my own quilts are about keeping warm but are my artistic statements so the statement rings true.
Touching Sunbursts Quilt American, Massachusetts, 1854 Pieced printed cotton plain weave top, cotton plain weave backing and binding; quilted *Pilgrim / Roy Collection *Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The fifth theme was Contrasts. Roy and Pilgrim typically chose quilts for their collection based on color value. They avoided quilts with white in them because as Roy explained, once white is introduced, there is contrast and then the colors don’t play against eachother. In later years, they did collect a group of more traditional quilts with white backgrounds and a few with applique made their way into this group as well. But even in these quilts, they looked for designs where the white was an equal player and not a background.
Off Center Log Cabin Barn Raising Quilt
1890
Foundation pieced printed plain weave cotton top, printed plain
weave cotton back
* Pilgrim / Roy Collection
Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Variations is the theme of the sixth gallery. Quilts showing multiple interpretations of the versatile log cabin block are displayed. Some are quite unique!
Field of Diamonds Quilt American, about 1860 Pieced wool plain weave and twill (some printed), glazed cotton plain weave back, wool plain weave binding; quilted *Pilgrim / Roy Collection *Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The seventh gallery is based on the theme of Optical Illusions. You will find lots of secondary designs in these quilts. As a fan of secondary designs, I found these particularly interesting.
Double Wedding Ring Quilt
African American, Missouri, about 1940
Pieced cotton plain weave top, cotton plain weave back and binding; quilted
Height x width: 208.3 x 210.8 cm (82 x 83 in.)
*Pilgrim/Roy Collection
*Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The final gallery theme is “Singular Vision.” These quilts were made by artists who worked outside of standard patterns and designs. Included in this group is the quilt shown above, chosen by the museum director to be the visual image that represents the exhibit.
This exhibit got me thinking, as a former curator and as a quiltmaker, who will be the collectors of quilts being made right now? Which quilts will they chose and for what reasons?
When you visit the museum to see this exhibit, you will want to spend some time checking out the re-installation of To Boston with Love in the Shapiro Gallery as well. I will share pictures of the re-installation in my next post.