Quilts: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum

Center Star Quilt
Artist unidentified
New England
1815–1825
Glazed wool
100 1/2 x 98 in.

American Folk Art Museum, gift of Cyril Irwin Nelson in honor of Robert Bishop, American Folk Art Museum director (1977–1991), 1986.13.1
For many years, late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century whole-cloth wool quilts were mistakenly referred to as “linsey-woolseys.” Today, however, it is understood that these bedcovers were not made of a homespun combination of linen and wool, as that term implies, but rather were usually sewn entirely of wool. Often the wool that was selected for textiles such as this one was a professionally manufactured, glazed, worsted fabric known as “calimanco,” which probably was imported from England. This quilt also exhibits elaborate quilting motifs that are typical of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century calimanco and silk quilts. The fruit and floral motifs seen here are similar to Jacobean crewel embroidery designs and may have been adapted from the crewelwork bed hangings that were popular in eighteenth-century America.

Baltimore-Style Album Quilt Top
Artist unidentified
Baltimore; found in Uniontown, Pennsylvania
1845–1850
Cotton with wool embroidery
84 x 82 in.
American Folk Art Museum, gift of Altria Group, Inc., 2008.9.3
Photo by Gavin Ashworth

Probably the best-known sampler album quilts are those made in Baltimore between about 1845 and 1855. This quilt was made in the style attributed to “Designer 2” in the literature. Contrary to that label, however, quilts in the Designer 2 style probably were made by groups of women working together rather than an individual. Quilts in both the Designer 1 and Designer 2 groups have long been associated with makers who were members of the Protestant churches in Baltimore. The building in the center of this quilt is an interpretation of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

Soldier’s Quilt
Artist unidentified
Probably United States, Canada, or Great Britain
1854–1890
Wool melton
67 x 66 1/2 in.
American Folk Art Museum, gift of Altria Group, Inc., 2008.9.1
Photo by Gavin Ashworth

This textile belongs to a group of bedcovers that are also known as military quilts or, sometimes, Crimean quilts. Most of the known examples were found in Great Britain, where they were traditionally made from wool fabric used in the production of military uniforms. During the second half of the nineteenth century, soldiers were encouraged to take up sewing as a useful alternative to the less salubrious pursuits of drinking and gambling. Sewing was also used as a form of therapy for soldiers injured in conflict and recuperating in hospitals.

Cornucopia and Dots Whitework Quilt (detail)
Artist unidentified
United States
1800–1820
Cotton
95 x 89 in.
American Folk Art Museum, gift of Cyril Irwin Nelson, 2005.11.1
Photo by Gavin Ashworth

The raised motifs on this bedcover were created by cording and stuffing (a technique that is sometimes called trapunto in reference to a possible Italian origin for the tradition). This elaborate and time-consuming method involves quilting two layers of fabric together in a process termed “flat quilting,” which allows the seamstress to take minute stitches. Floral motifs, leaves, and other enclosed shapes are contained on all sides by quilting; the quiltmaker then pads the designs by working small bits of cotton through the coarse backing fabric.

Yuen No Akari: Light From Far-Away Space
Setsuko Obi (b. 1942)
Tokyo, Japan
2001
Antique Japanese fabrics and hand-woven silk
78 3/4 x 48 in.
American Folk Art Museum, gift of the artist, 2001.30.1
Photo by Gavin Ashworth

Setsuko Obi learned quiltmaking while living in California in the 1970s. Since then, she has continued to quilt independently, specializing in works that employ antique Japanese fabrics. She particularly excels at quilts that emphasize color gradations and are made of many small pieces of fabric.

Whig Rose Quilt With Swag and Tassel Border
Artist unidentified
United States
1850–1860
Cotton
100 x 82 in.
American Folk Art Museum, gift of Irene Reichert in honor of Nathan Druet, 1993.1.2
Photo by Gavin Ashworth

One of the most popular floral appliqué patterns rendered in the red, green, and white color scheme was the Whig Rose, a design that is represented in the museum’s collection in a number of different variations. This quilt is distinguished by its “swag and tassel” border, evidence of the enduring popularity of the Greek Revival style in nineteenth-century America.

Wedding Ring Interpretation Quilt
Lureca Outland (c. 1904–2009)
Boligee, Alabama
1991
Cotton, wool, and synthetics
82 x 75 in.
American Folk Art Museum purchase made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, with matching funds from the Great American Quilt Festival 3, 1991.13.5

Lureca Outland’s version of the well-known Double Wedding Ring pattern features straight lines and squared centers instead of the traditional circles. As a child, Outland quilted the tops her mother had pieced. When she was in her teens, her mother taught her to make quilts using worn-out clothing. As Outland recalled, “Those quilts were not fancy like they are now. We used to piece up strip quilts. My mother knew some pattern quilts.” After her own children were grown, Outland joined a senior-citizens quiltmaking group and began to make “fancy” quilts, including the example shown here.

Crazy Patch Quilt
Leah Zook Hartzler (dates unknown)
Mifflin County, Pennsylvania; Black Topper Amish, Peachey Group
Dated 1903
Wool and cotton with cotton embroidery
88 x 75 in.
American Folk Art Museum, gift of Mr. and Mrs. William B. Wigton, 1984.25.15
Photo by Schecter Lee

According to family history, this quilt was made by Leah Zook Hartzler for her sister, Lydia, on the occasion of Lydia’s marriage to Daniel J. Yoder in 1903. While obviously influenced by the silk Crazy quilts popular in America in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, this Amish maker from Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, imposed order and regularity on what is by definition a disordered and asymmetrical design. The Crazy patches are set off neatly by pumpkin-colored squares at the corners, and close examination reveals that even the Crazy patches themselves are ordered by a traditional Mifflin County four-patch pattern. Unlike typical Crazies that are usually tied and often lack a filling, this is a real quilt, composed of three layers joined together by a variety of quilting motifs.

Grover Cleveland Quilt
Artist unidentified
New York State
1884–1890
Cotton
85 1/2 x 85 1/2 in.
American Folk Art Museum, gift of Made in America—Margy Dyer, 1982.17.1

The portrait of Grover Cleveland in the center of this quilt may have been taken from a flag banner that had been used in Cleveland’s 1884 Presidential campaign or from a red handkerchief or bandanna that was one of the symbols of his 1888 reelection bid. The portrait forms the center of the bedcover, which was pieced in a light-and-dark pattern that resembles the set of some Log Cabin quilts.

Log Cabin Throw, Light-and-Dark Variation
Harriet Rutter Eagleson (1855–c. 1925)
New York City
1874–1880
Silk and cotton
57 3/4 x 57 3/4 in.
American Folk Art Museum, gift of Miss Jessica R. Eagleson, 1979.18.1
Photo by Gavin Ashworth

According to information supplied by her daughter, Jessica R. Eagleson, Harriet Rutter began this Log Cabin throw in 1874, the year she married William A. Eagleson. Although the textile was never finished, both Harriet and her daughter saved it until it was donated to the museum in 1979, when Jessica was 99 years old. Harriet Eagleson’s last listing in the New York City directories was in 1924/25; no death record has been located.

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Past Exhibition

Quilts: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum

October 5, 2010–July 8, 2011

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