Pictorial quilt
Harriet Powers
(American, 1837–1910)
1895–98
Object PlaceAthens, Georgia, United States
Medium/TechniqueCotton plain weave, pieced, appliqued, embroidered, and quilted
Dimensions175 x 266.7 cm (68 7/8 x 105 in.)
Credit LineBequest of Maxim Karolik
Accession number64.619
On View
Not on viewClassificationsTextiles
Collections
According to family history, Reverend Charles Cuthbert Hall received this quilt as a gift from a group of “faculty ladies” at Atlanta University in 1898. As Hall had recently become president of the Union Seminary in New York, the women may have commissioned or purchased the quilt from Harriet Powers as a tribute to his achievement. They also wished to thank Hall for his support of Atlanta University, founded in 1865 by the American Missionary Association to educate African Americans.
This quilt’s Old and New Testament scenes made it an appropriate gift for a Presbyterian minister. Harriet Powers also depicted four stories of natural phenomena and a morality lesson. Many of the events occurred before her birth. Powers’s inclusion of these non-Biblical stories attests to their lasting importance to the artist and her community.
ProvenanceAbout 1895-1898, Dr. Charles Cuthbert Hall (1852-1908), New York [see note 1]; 1908, by inheritance to his son, the Reverend Basil Douglas Hall (1888 - 1979), New York; between November 2, 1960 and February 7, 1961, sold by Hall to Maxim Karolik (1893-1963), Boston; 1964, bequest of Karolik to MFA. (Accession date: May 13, 1964)
NOTES:
[1] Commissioned and purchased for Hall, President of the Union Theological Seminary in New York, by the faculty ladies of Atlanta University where he had served as chairman of the board of trustees.
NOTES:
[1] Commissioned and purchased for Hall, President of the Union Theological Seminary in New York, by the faculty ladies of Atlanta University where he had served as chairman of the board of trustees.
about 1847–50
about 1830
1940s
about 1859
about 1830
mid-19th century
about 1850
Early 19th century
