This is one of a series of three quilts made by Loretta Pettway in the early 1960s, all of the same gray, blue, and olive recycled clothing fabrics. It illustrates the Housetop pattern in its purest form—a single central square with strips in alternating colors built around it until the quilt grew big enough to cover a bed. Housetop designs like this one are uncommon outside the Gee’s Bend community, but they may have been originally inspired by central medallion quilts of the early nineteenth century. The earlier examples, which were particularly popular in the southeastern United States, consist of a central square or rectangle—most often appliquéd with colorful chintz—framed by concentric bands of decorative printed fabric.
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the artist, Gee's Bend, Ala. (1963–99: in 1999 to Arnett); William S. Arnett, Atlanta (1999–2002; his gift in 2002 to Tinwood Alliance); Tinwood Alliance, Atlanta (2002–10; transfer in 2010 to Souls Grown Deep); Souls Grown Deep Foundation, Atlanta (2010–14; their gift to MMA)
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Quilts of Gee's Bend," September 8–November 10, 2002, unnumbered cat. (p. 73; lent by the Tinwood Alliance, Atlanta).
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "The Quilts of Gee's Bend," November 21, 2002–March 9, 2003, unnumbered cat.
Mobile, Ala. Mobile Museum of Art. "The Quilts of Gee's Bend," June 14–August 31, 2003, unnumbered cat.
Milwaukee Art Museum. "The Quilts of Gee's Bend," September 27, 2003–January 4, 2004, unnumbered cat.
Washington, D.C. Corcoran Gallery of Art. "The Quilts of Gee's Bend," February 14–May 17, 2004, unnumbered cat.
Cleveland Museum of Art. "The Quilts of Gee's Bend," June 27–September 12, 2004, unnumbered cat.
Norfolk, Va. Chrysler Museum of Art. "The Quilts of Gee's Bend," October 15, 2004–January 2, 2005, unnumbered cat.
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. "The Quilts of Gee's Bend," February 13–May 8, 2005, unnumbered cat.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "The Quilts of Gee's Bend," June 1–August 21, 2005, unnumbered cat.
Auburn, Ala. The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University. "The Quilts of Gee's Bend," September 11–December 4, 2005, unnumbered cat.
Atlanta. High Museum of Art. "The Quilts of Gee's Bend," March 25–June 18, 2006, unnumbered cat.
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum. "The Quilts of Gee's Bend," July 15–November 12, 2006, unnumbered cat.
Orlando Museum of Art. "Gee's Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt," January 28–April 22, 2007, unnumbered cat. (p. 71; lent by the Tinwood Alliance, Atlanta).
Baltimore. Walters Art Museum. "Gee's Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt," June 17–August 26, 2007, unnumbered cat.
Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale. "The Quilts of Gee's Bend," September 6, 2007–January 7, 2008, unnumbered cat.
Denver Museum of Art. "Gee's Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt," April 13–July 6, 2008, unnumbered cat.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Gee's Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt," August 2–October 2, 2008, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "History Refused to Die: Highlights from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation Gift," May 22–September 23, 2018, unnumbered cat. (pl. 38).
Joanne Cubbs inGee's Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt. Ed. Paul Arnett, Joanne Cubbs, and Eugene W. Metcalf Jr. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Atlanta, 2006, p. 68, ill. p 71 (color).
Amelia Peck inMy Soul Has Grown Deep: Black Art from the American South. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2018, pp. 79, 108, colorpl. 38.
Mario Naves. "History Refused to Die: Highlights from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation Gift." New Criterion 37 (September 2018), p. 38.
Karen Wilkin. "A Visual Equivalent of Jazz." Wall Street Journal (May 31, 2018), p. A13.
Kerry James Marshall (American, born Birmingham, Alabama, 1955)
2014
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