Creations from the celebrated quilters of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, are now being featured on a new line of upholstered furniture. The line features digitally reproduced artwork of five quilts from the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s collection in partnership with home décor company Cloth & Company, and a portion of sales go back to the artists: Mary Lee Bendolph, Delia Bennett, Annie E. Pettway, Loretta Pettway, and Magdalene Wilson.
The quilt makers of Gee’s Bend are part of a small community at a U-shaped bend in the Alabama River. They are mostly descendants of enslaved Africans who worked on a cotton plantation owned by Joseph Gee and his descendants and later worked as tenant farmers and sharecroppers. The women of the community had long woven quilts, and in the 1960s during the Civil Rights Movement, some of them organized the Freedom Quilting Bee and started selling them to large department stores such as Bloomingdale's, Saks, and Sears, providing both economic opportunity and political empowerment.
More than 30 years later, these forms of their personal artistic expression started receiving national attention when the quilts were displayed at museums across the country. Today the quilts are renowned for their vibrant improvisations and geometric simplicity and have homes in more than 30 leading art museums' collections.
“The distinctive style and exceptional talent of these quilters, coupled with the profound cultural legacy of their community, have solidified the women of Gee's Bend as iconic figures in the American art scene,” says Meganne Wecker, founder of Cloth & Company. “I’m delighted that Cloth & Company's technology can bring the quilting works of these incredibly talented women directly into people's homes, while also supporting the Gee's Bend artists.”
The Cloth & Company collection’s 16 silhouettes—which include beds, accent chairs, ottomans, and pillows—are made to order in Chicago and are shipped to the buyer in three weeks. The digital reproductions boast a near perfect likeness to the original quilts and celebrate the quilting tradition in America—and specifically at Gee’s Bend.
All five of the quilts that were digitally reproduced for this line were acquired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2017 through the Souls Grown Deep Foundation. Thirteen of the museum’s fifteen quilts are set to return in March 2024.
“This collaboration is a perfect way to showcase our collections and create a way for visitors to bring these ethically and sustainably crafted designs into their homes,” says Christine Kostyrka, director of retail for Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Cloth & Company x Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gee’s Bend edition debuted on November 8 and is available exclusively at store.philamuseum.org.
