The Quilts of Gee's Bend

×

Expand

Nettie Young

"Cotton and Corduroy," 1928

For four generations, a community of African American women in the remote, historically black town of Gee's Bend, Alabama, have joined together to produce patchwork quilts. Made with found fabric scraps from worn-out clothes, over the years these handmade, practical works have evolved into masterful works of intentional art. The women's shared history of African ancestry and collective historical experience as African Americans come alive in the forms of geometric shapes and improvisational design techniques reminiscent of African art and jazz rhythms. 

The New Orleans Museum of Art will display five of these extraordinary quilts, acquired through the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, from August 9, 2019–March 30, 2020. noma.org.