Thursday, August 30, 2012

Why Quilts Matter: Quilts and Art History


The latest "Why Quilts Matter" guest blog is now posted, and the topic is Quilts and Art History. It's a topic that's near and dear, because I first started learning about quilts when I was enrolled in art school. However, art history curriculum didn't include quilts.


To accompany the blog, I chose this wonderful Diamonds quilt from the 1890s, one of my personal favorites. This stained glass window made of silk is an iconic, memorable image- and isn't art history built around iconic, memorable images?

Art history should include quilts- quilts like this! It's a masterpiece. When thinking of Victorian quilts and quilt history, it comes easily to mind. It's a remarkably good example of the Victorian obsession with embellishment and detail. And even though it is far more structured than most quilts of the period, it is no less obsessive. A rare, but representative example.

How do we even begin to address the inclusion of quilts in art history? To read my take on the subject, click here.




2 comments:

  1. Great article! Thanks for talking about this. The exclusion of quilts in the art world has always baffled me.

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  2. How to define art? I know it when I see it
    and this is it

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