Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Where have I seen that quilt before? (2)


The French expression "deja vu" translates to "already seen" and is meant to express the uncanny feeling of recollection. Sometimes people look at the quilts in my collection and think, "Deja vu!" Chances are, they have already seen the quilts...but where? 

Perhaps you saw it at a library or a book store. Maybe you saw it in a museum or a magazine. This dazzling, 1920s velvet "Fans" quilt from New York is such a head-turner, and it famously appeared on the cover of "American Quilts: The Democratic Art, 1780-2007" by Robert Shaw. 



It also appeared in the second, updated edition of the book and the 2012 exhibition at the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Washington.



New York quilt dealer Laura Fisher owned the quilt at the time of the exhibition, and I recall seeing photos of it years earlier. I bought it when it was hanging at the Whatcom, but had to wait for the exhibition to end before receiving it. 


The quilt appeared in a 2014 article about my collection in the German magazine, Patchwork Professional; but I have not shared it with a lot of publications because it was already very well known when I got it. Old quilts can be celebrities, too!

The best part about having a quilt collection is sharing the quilts, even if it seems like oversharing. People worry about oversharing in 2018. It's a thing. I never worry about it with old quilts. I want everyone to see them, even if some folks saw them before. The quilts may be old, but it never gets old looking at them.

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