Harriet Powers' Bible Quilt, 1886
Harriet Powers, known as the “mother of African-American quilting”, was born into slavery in Athens, Georgia in 1837. Because there is no record of her childhood, it is assumed she grew up as a house slave, trained to be a seamstress and instructed in the craft of appliqué quilt-making.
Powers’ acclaimed cotton quilts are comprised of storytelling and extensive documentation with the use of appliqué. The quilts consist of several pictorial squares depicting local history, biblical stories and celestial phenomena. Powers’ use of technique and design trued back to African and new world African American influences.
Harriet Powers
There are only two of Powers’ quilts, both made after the Civil War, which survive today. One of Powers’ quilts, the “Bible Quilt”, is an appliquéd quilt comprised of eleven panels based on stories in the Bible. The “Bible Quilt” was first exhibited in 1886 at the Clarke County Cotton Fair in Athens, Georgia. There, a southern, white art teacher by the name of Jennie Smith offered to purchase the quilt. Originally, Powers declined to sell it. Persistent to purchase the quilt, Smith remained in constant communication with Powers. Five years later, Powers found herself in financial trouble and agreed to sell the quilt to Smith for five dollars. At the time of the sale, Powers provided Smith a detailed description of the imagery on the quilt. Smith preserved the quilt and the information, and both now reside at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
The second quilt, commonly called the “Pictorial Quilt”, was believed to have been commissioned after the Bible Quilt. The “Pictorial Quilt”, comprised of fifteen panels, consisting of a mixture of Biblical stories with celestial and other events. This quilt was purchased in 1898, by Pastor, Dr. Charles Cuthbert Hall, who dedicated his life to educating fellow African Americans. Dr. Hall kept and cherished the quilt as did his family after his death. Today, the “Pictorial Quilt” resides at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts.
Harriet Powers' Pictorial Quilt, 1898
Harriet Powers died on January 1, 1910, in Athens. Not much else was known about Powers’ daily life or the number of quilts she made during her lifetime. But, each panel preserved from her quilt-making career became priceless spiritual works of art. They have been credited as being the finest examples of nineteenth-century Southern quilting and considered masterworks of American folk art.
Clarke Art Consulting encourages you to visit the Smithsonian Museum, in Washington D.C. and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts to experience these extraordinary quilts first hand. We want you to cherish, relate and live art history made by African Americans.
Published by Clarke Art Consulting © 2010
