Gender and art

Victoria Royall Broadhead, Tumbling Blocks Quilt (detail), ca. 1865–70

Over time, quilts have been revered as nostalgic emblems of the past, hailed as examples of American ingenuity, and dismissed as women’s work. This exhibition breaks new ground by examining these categorizations through the lens of contemporary feminist theory. In an innovative display, “Workt by Hand” showcases 35 18th–20th-century quilts from the Brooklyn Museum’s renowned decorative arts collection. Revealing the shifting cultural status of this medium, the exhibition explores issues specific to quilting practices, such as anonymity versus authorship and the conventional view of quilts as craft rather than fine art.

“Workt by Hand”: Hidden Labor and Historical Quilts

National Museum of Women in the Arts

on view December 20, 2013–April 27, 2014

Quilting is a craft we usually associate with the American collective. Unless you have a mother, grandmother or other distant female relative who mastered the art of the quilt, we generally envision a group of anonymous laborers, mostly women, working over hordes of fabric together.

There are two assumptions built into this constructed history of quilting -- that the practice is a decorative craft, not a feature of fine art, and that the field is occupied by nameless women whose work exists beyond their authorship. But how did this particular understanding of quilting come to be? And is it entirely accurate?

A new exhibit at the National Museum of Women in the Arts is tackling the quilting conundrum. Called "Workt by Hand: Hidden Labor and Historical Quilts," the show features 35 quilts created over the past 200 years in an attempt to explore and reexamine the ways we've interpreted and presented quilt work over the centuries. The clever title alludes to the very intimate act of producing a quilt by hand, as well as the impressive yet overlooked amount of collective effort that went into the final product, an accomplishment that's somehow been undermined in popular art history accounts.

“Workt by Hand”: Hidden Labor and Historical Quilts

on view December 20, 2013–April 27, 2014

National Museum of Women in the Arts

http://www.nmwa.org/exhibitions/%E2%80%9Cworkt-hand%E2%80%9D