| | | | Fabric of a NationAmerican Quilt StoriesEdited with text by Pamela A. Parmal, Jennifer M. Swope, Lauren D. Whitley. Preface by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.
 Made by Americans of European, African, Native and Hispanic heritage, these quilts and bedcovers range from family heirlooms to acts of political protest, each with its own story to tellA New York Magazine 2021 holiday gift guide pick
A mother stitches a few lines of prayer into a bedcover for her son serving in the Union army during the Civil War. A formerly enslaved African American woman creates a quilt populated by Biblical figures alongside celestial events. A quilted Lady Liberty, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln mark the resignation of Richard Nixon. These are just a few of the diverse and sometimes hidden stories of the American experience told by quilts and bedcovers from the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Spanning more than 400 years, the 58 works of textile art in this book express the personal narratives of their makers and owners and connect to broader stories of global trade, immigration, industry, marginalization, and territorial and cultural expansion.
Artists include: Faith Ringgold, Sanford Biggers, Irene Williams, Bisa Butler, Harry Tyler, Harriet Powers, Marie D. Webster, Marguerite Zorach, Dorothy Phillips Haagensen, Rachel Cary George, Florence Peto, Creola Pettway, Susan Hoffman, Molly Upton, Nancy Crasco, Agusta Agustsson, Edward Larson, Michael James, Virginia Jacobs and Carla Hemlock.
Featured image is "Double Wedding Ring Quilt," Unknown African‑American, Missouri, about 1940. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift of the Pilgrim / Roy Collection, 2014.1945. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.PRAISE AND REVIEWSThe 2022 Historic New England Book Prize Named an Honor Book. Wall Street Journal Rebecca Malinsky Filled with photos of vibrant, historical and modern hand-stitched textile art. Guardian Kathryn Bromwich Once a luxury item, since the 17th century quilts have evolved into a democratic art form that celebrates collaboration. Fabric of a Nation, a new book, brings together quilts spanning more than 300 years from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It’s a snapshot of America – Native American history, women’s suffrage, the construction of the railway, the civil rights movement. “Quilts are incredibly accessible objects,” says Jennifer M Swope, who curated the book and exhibition running in Boston. “They have been made and treasured by so many – rich and poor; women and men; urban and rural; white makers and artists of colour. In this way, quilts speak to many threads of the story of America.” |
|  | Free Shipping UPS GROUND IN THE CONTINENTAL U.S.
FOR CONSUMER ONLINE ORDERS | |
| | FROM THE ARTBOOK BLOG CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 9/17/2022 All hail the MFA Boston Shop, our Museum Store of the Month, September 2022. Housed in one of the greatest and most comprehensive art museums in the world—with a collection that encompasses nearly 500,000 works of art—the MFAShop reflects all of the complexity, scholarship, experimentation, history and discovery of the MFA's renowned collection, "telling a multifaceted story of the human experience—a story that holds unique meaning for everyone."
continue to blogFROM THE ARTBOOK BLOG CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 10/6/2021 Made around 1955, this Bricklayer or Courthouse Steps quilt from Gee’s Bend, Alabama, is reproduced from Fabric of a Nation: American Quilt Stories, published to accompany the highly anticipated exhibition opening Sunday, October 10, at MFA Boston. Spanning 400 years of quilt-making by Americans of European, African, Native and Hispanic heritage, this enlightening volume focuses on 58 quilts “unlike any other in the world,” to quote novelist Alice Walker. This particular quilt was probably made by Creola Bennett Pettway in the mid-1950s. “A sophisticated arrangement of red and white cotton strips, its color blocks form a dynamic hourglass shape in a minimalist composition that would rival any abstract painting. Typical of Gee’s Bend, Creola Pettway came from a long line of prolific quilt makers including her mother, Delia Bennett. Steeped in quilt making from an early age, Creola remembered her mother had four quilt frames and encouraged her daughters to help with quilting the corners. Later, as a master quilter herself, Creola took pride in the free-form creativity required to compose her works, recalling that she would ‘decide in my mind the way I want that quilt. When I decide the way I want it, I can make it. You can do things out of your head.’”
Court House Steps quilt. Probably by Creola Bennett Pettway (American, 1927–2015) or possibly by Georgianna Bennett Pettway (American, died in 2012). Alabama, 1950s. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The Heritage Fund for a Diverse Collection, 2014.2049. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. continue to blog | OF RELATED INTEREST |  | MFA PUBLICATIONS, MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTONISBN: 9780878468249
USD $45.00 | CAN $60 UK £ 30Pub Date: 4/30/2014
Active | In stock
|
|  | RADIUS BOOKS/MINGEI INTERNATIONAL MUSEUMISBN: 9781942185192
USD $60.00 | CAN $79 UK £ 53Pub Date: 11/21/2017
Out of stock indefinitely | Not available
|
|  | WALTHER KöNIG, KöLNISBN: 9783960986331
USD $29.95 | CAN $41.95Pub Date: 1/21/2020
Out of stock indefinitely | Not available
|
|  | CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM ST. LOUISISBN: 9780997736403
USD $25.00 | CAN $34.95 UK £ 22Pub Date: 5/21/2019
Active | Out of stock
|
|
| FORTHCOMING AND NEW: DESIGN AND DECORATIVE ARTS |  | SKIRAISBN: 9788857249285
USD $35.00 | CAN $50.5Pub Date: 6/6/2023
Active | In stock
|
|  | SKIRAISBN: 9788857248011
USD $45.00 | CAN $63Pub Date: 4/25/2023
Active | In stock
|
|  | MARSILIO ARTEISBN: 9791254630891
USD $45.00 | CAN $63 UK £ 39Pub Date: 8/8/2023
Forthcoming
|
|  | SILVANA EDITORIALEISBN: 9788836652921
USD $45.00 | CAN $63Pub Date: 5/30/2023
Active | In stock
|
|  | SKIRAISBN: 9788857248257
USD $52.00 | CAN $73Pub Date: 4/25/2023
Active | In stock
|
|  | MARSILIO ARTEISBN: 9791254630624
USD $35.00 | CAN $49 UK £ 30Pub Date: 3/14/2023
Active | In stock
|
|  | HATJE CANTZISBN: 9783775752558
USD $50.00 | CAN $69Pub Date: 1/3/2023
Active | In stock
|
|  | SILVANA EDITORIALEISBN: 9788836648399
USD $55.00 | CAN $75Pub Date: 6/7/2022
Active | In stock
|
|  | SKIRAISBN: 9788857246734
USD $60.00 | CAN $82Pub Date: 4/5/2022
Active | In stock
|
|  | SKIRAISBN: 9788857246659
USD $69.95 | CAN $94.95Pub Date: 8/2/2022
Active | In stock
|
|  | KANTISBN: 9788074373527
USD $39.95 | CAN $53.95Pub Date: 4/26/2022
Active | In stock
|
|  | SILVANA EDITORIALEISBN: 9788836649471
USD $45.00 | CAN $61Pub Date: 6/7/2022
Active | In stock
|
|
|
| |
