Souls Grown Deep
Detail of "Blocks and Strips Quilt," 2003, by Irene Williams. © Estate of Irene Williams/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Purchased with the Joseph E. Temple Fund, and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection, 2017. Image courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2019.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art presents Souls Grown Deep: Artists of the African American South, an exhibition including paintings, sculptures, and quilts that celebrates the recent acquisition of twenty-four works from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation. Many of these pieces were composed of found and salvaged materials and are deeply rooted in personal history of their makers. This exhibition is presented in conjunction with The Art of Collage and Assemblage, a related exhibition of collages and assemblages from the museum’s broad holdings of American and European modern and contemporary art.
Installation view of Souls Grown Deep: Artists of the African American South, featuring quilts by Irene Williams (L, C) and Nettie Young (R). Photo by Juan Arce, courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2019.
While their subjects vary, the individual works featured in Souls Grown Deep are rooted in artistic traditions of the southeastern region of the U.S. and bound up with the personal histories of the artists who made them. Many of these works represent responses to issues such as poverty, oppression, violence, marginalisation and racial conflict. The quilts span the period from the 1920s to the early 2000s, while the paintings and sculptures date from 1985 to 2004.
"Blocks, Strips, Strings, and Half Squares," 2005, by Mary Lee Bendolph. © Estate of Mary Lee Bendolph/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Stephen Pitkin/Pitkin Studio/Art Resource (AR), New York. Purchased with the Phoebe W. Haas fund for Costume and Textiles, and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection, 2017. Image courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2019.
The fifteen quilts in the exhibition show how artists from in and around Gee’s Bend—a relatively isolated community on the Alabama River just south of Selma—transformed well-worn materials into works of art. The women of this locale recycled clothing and goods of various fabrics including plain weave cotton, denim, corduroy, and sateen to create vibrant and colourful quilts that would not only serve a utilitarian purpose but also provided a creative communal activity.
Until 2 September 2019, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19130
Read next: Shelly Zegart's article Quilt Collecting in the Celebrate! issue. Subscribe to Selvedge here.