ARTBOOK BLOG

RECENT POSTS

DATE 6/14/2023

LIVE from NYPL: Joel Meyerowitz with Lorenzo Braca on 'The Pleasure of Seeing'

DATE 6/5/2023

Pride Month Staff Pick: ‘Eric Hart Jr.: When I Think about Power’

DATE 6/1/2023

🌈 Take Pride, June 2023! 🌈

DATE 6/1/2023

Pride Month printed matter

DATE 5/30/2023

The lost voices of African American ancestry in 'Whitfield Lovell: Deep River'

DATE 5/28/2023

In celebration of Memorial Day, classic Lee Friedlander

DATE 5/27/2023

Artbook at Hauser & Wirth LA Bookstore presents J. Grant Brittain launching 'PUSH: 80s Skateboarding Photography'

DATE 5/22/2023

Joy and magnificence in Marilyn Minter's 'Elder Sex'

DATE 5/20/2023

Museum Store of the Month: MFA Houston Shop

DATE 5/16/2023

The essence of life itself in 'Noguchi and Greece, Greece and Noguchi'

DATE 5/14/2023

Mother! Origin of Life

DATE 5/14/2023

Goddess-like power in María Berrío and 'Women Painting Women'

DATE 5/6/2023

An expanded edition of the landmark survey


IMAGE GALLERY

"Court House Steps" quilt. Probably by: Creola Bennett Pettway (American, 1927–2015). Probably by: Georgianna Bennett Pettway (American, died in 2012). Conservation Status: After Treatment. American, Alabama, 1950s. Pieced cotton plain weave top; quilted. 2014.2049. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The Heritage Fund for a Diverse Collection. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. From
CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 10/6/2021

Quilt lovers, rejoice — 'Fabric of a Nation' opens Sunday at MFA Boston!

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.

Fabric of a Nation

Fabric of a Nation

MFA PUBLICATIONS, MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON
Hbk, 9.75 x 10.5 in. / 240 pgs / 120 color.

$45.00  free shipping





Salt of the Earth

DATE 4/22/2023

Salt of the Earth

Heads up for 4/20!

DATE 4/20/2023

Heads up for 4/20!

Welcome, Spring!

DATE 3/20/2023

Welcome, Spring!

Pure Couture

DATE 2/9/2023

Pure Couture

Into the meat grinder

DATE 1/21/2023

Into the meat grinder

Why Omaha?

DATE 1/10/2023

Why Omaha?

Raise your fist!

DATE 10/24/2022

Raise your fist!