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Quilt: Vote, Housetop Variation

Quilt: Vote, Housetop Variation

(American, 1920–2015)
1975
Object PlaceGee's Bend, Alabama, United States
Medium/TechniquePrinted cotton plain weave, pieced
DimensionsOverall: 226.1 × 198.1 cm (89 × 81 in.)
Credit LineMuseum purchase with funds from the Frank B. Bemis Fund, The Heritage Fund for a Diverse Collection, and Gallery Instructor 50th Anniversary Fund to support The Heritage Fund for a Diverse Collection, and gift of Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the collection of Vanessa Vadim
Accession number2018.3095
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsTextiles
Description

A decade before Irene Williams made her Vote quilt, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to Gee’s Bend to speak at the Baptist church. He was there to encourage the residents of the small African American community to exercise their right to vote, assuring them that “You are somebody.” A few weeks later, he was leading the march from Selma to Montgomery when police with dogs attacked the peaceful marchers, a day that became known as Bloody Sunday.

 

Williams’s quilt speaks to the innumerable obstacles that had to be overcome to exercise this most basic right of citizenship. While we don’t know if Williams joined the 1965 march, her use of this red-white-and-blue VOTE patterned cotton suggests that the issue continued to resonate with her years later. By combining this dynamic graphic pattern with blocks of solids, checks, and stripes in the same patriotic colors, Williams created a rhythmic collage of her own vision. By making a warm quilt for a family member’s bed, the artist gave new life to old clothing and household textiles, while bearing witness to the struggles and resilience of her community.

ProvenanceBy 2010, sold by the artist to Vanessa Vadim. By 2010, acquired by Souls Grown Deep Foundation (founded 2010), Atlanta, GA; 2018, sold by Souls Grown Deep Foundation to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 12, 2018)