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Special Exhibitions | |
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The Quilts of Gee's Bend |
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The Quilts of Gee's Bend
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Also on Display
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Memory Quilt - Photographs of Gee's Bend
by Arthur Rothstein and Marion Post Wolcott
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Memory Quilt - Photographs of Gee's Bend Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. These photographs document Gee's Bend, Alabama, in the late 1930s when the oldest quilts exhibited in The Quilts of Gee's Bend were made. The images record the community before and after the U.S. government provided any significant assistance during 1937-40. One goal was to replace farm tenancy with land-ownership. In 1937, Arthur Rothstein exposed the hardships in Gee's Bend - rudimentary windowless log houses with interior walls plastered with newspapers to keep out cold winter drafts. In 1939, Marion Post Wolcott recorded improvements - new houses with glass windows, two or three-bedrooms, a living room, kitchen with an iron stove (instead of cooking in the fireplace), a screened porch, and an outhouse, plus a new medical clinic and school. Both agricultural output and family income increased. The photographs are considered to be among the best examples of each artists work. This exhibition was organized by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. |