Untitled (Strips and Bars Quilt)
Unidentified Artist
Details
Title
Untitled (Strips and Bars Quilt)
Artist/Maker
Unidentified Artist
Date
1950–1960
Medium
Acetate and cotton
Dimensions
80 x 60 inches
Credit
Gift of Carl and Marian Mullis
Accession #
2005.333
On View
Currently not on view
The artist who made this quilt alternated “strips and bars” of leftover fabric in warm and cool colors to create a tight composition. Scholars have noted how quilts such as this one bear a resemblance to traditions of weaving from Africa. The string quilt tradition spread from West African countries, including Ghana, to the Southern United States in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. “Strings” refer to the smallest usable rectangles of leftover cloth. In the string quilting tradition, these small pieces of fabric are sewn together to form horizonal and vertical bands.
More from this Artist
American polychrome carved wooden figural Shriner whirligig on stepped wooden base
Unidentified Artist
Abraham Lincoln as young man splitting a rail with one knee bent and an axe in hand
Unidentified Artist
American polychrome carved wooden Marine whirligig in uniform with cap and green and red flags as blades on white domed bas with red rim
Unidentified Artist