What do you think?
Rate this book
The Quilts of Gee's Bend: Masterpieces from a Lost Place
Since the 19th century, the women of Gee’s Bend in southern Alabama have created stunning, vibrant quilts. Beautifully illustrated with 110 color illustrations, The Quilts of Gee’s Bend includes a historical overview of the two hundred years of extraordinary quilt-making in this African-American community, its people, and their art-making tradition. This book is being·released in conjunction with a national exhibition tour including The Museum of Fine Art, Houston, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
140 pages, Hardcover
First published September 23, 2002
10 people are currently reading
382 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
August 27, 2020
The lovely fabric art leaves this reader speechless. Five stars.
June 20, 2011
This is a beautiful art and biographical book about southern quilts and the women who made them. I was expecting to enjoy looking at the colorful pictures of the hand-stitched quilts, but was surprised at how touching and fascinating the stories were that went along with them. I lost my copy in a move a couple of years ago and I have put it on my Christmas list along with the other Gee's Bend quilt books. This is the book that sparked my interest in sewing and quilting.
July 23, 2007
This book was a gift from my dad, Craig, and I love it. I loved seeing the quilts with my Dad, Mom, and Moo at the High Museum. They are life and they are art, form and function.
September 28, 2007
The little peninsula of Gees Bend created a type of isolation from the moving culture of the south and the larger United States. Affording the people of Gees Bend to hold more closely to their African traditions. All these quilts tell a story as textiles in Africa are used to convey all types of information.
This book tells a similar story to the Fisherman Coats of Awaji Islands of Japan. Using the fabrics of their lives, the clothes they wore and worked in were transformed into works of beauty using their own unique skills in sewing and pattern.
This book tells a similar story to the Fisherman Coats of Awaji Islands of Japan. Using the fabrics of their lives, the clothes they wore and worked in were transformed into works of beauty using their own unique skills in sewing and pattern.
September 17, 2013
I can't get enough of this book. I've taken it out of the library a number of times and each reading leaves me in awe of the women who made these quilts, which have a raw beauty that causes pause and a reevaluation of what is art, what is symmetry, what is it that pleases the eye? To say nothing of the colors.
August 29, 2020
I decided to read this book after I heard about this amazing community of women in the book, Joyful. The quilts these women created are simply magnificent: true works of art, demonstrating grit, creativity and unique cultural experiences. If you’re interested in history, art, textiles or sewing, this is well worth your time.
June 14, 2017
I got this book for Christmas and I've been looking at it, reading it and savoring it ever since. It's rich with historical facts but it took me a long time to do the reading as I would be captivated by quilts.
It's huge and expensive because it's worth it.
It's huge and expensive because it's worth it.
March 19, 2024
Wow...not only do I love the history..but the full page pictures of the esteemed quilts are amazing! But the best part was reading the stories of the quilters alongside their quilts! A must read for my friends that love to quilt or just relish and treasure quilts.
January 30, 2012
The quilters of Gees Bend blow my mind.
May 19, 2024
A celebration of incredible quilters and their fabulous quilts - the women of Gee’s Bend - a small, remote, black community in Alabama - have created hundreds of quilt masterpieces from early twentieth century to the present.
December 15, 2017
Like others, I am drawn to and fascinated by this book, and yet -- it raises a lot of troubling questions for me about what is "art" and how things get "valued" . . . the whole Gee's Bend phenom sometimes feels as though, if these women hadn't created something that would later be defined as "art" by "experts," their humanity wouldn't be as recognized . . . the book has made me go back to look at the square-patch scrap quilts my grandmother made all her grandchildren: some of them are "pretty," others I've always thought of as wild or ugly, but loved because Gram made them -- does it matter?
Others have given nice overall reviews, so I'll just note the things that were interesting to me:
It was interesting the several times the quilts of Gee's Bend have been "discovered" and would be even more interesting to have a formal ethnography of this phenomenon -- there was the involvement of the New Deal in the 1930s, then their "discovery" by New York artists in the 60s, then the scaling of that with sales to Macy's etc., the quilting bee in the 60s (whose only lasting impact was the use of the corduroy from Sears) and the re-rediscovery in the 90s.
"Classic work-clothes quilts have probably been made in Wilcox county for longer than anyone can remember . . . they are a phenomenon in the history of American art whose complexity rivals that of most major substyles in painting or graphics. . . Pearlie Pettways' quilt dating from around the middle of the twentiety century, with its combination of faded denim, gray pants cloth, and central expanse of cotton" (56)
work-clothes quilts explore "tactility and density" In the Gee's Bend quilts, stitching as an element is subjugated "stitching helps to demarcate areas, or to hold things together, or separate them, in the service of the larger design (Among the Amish, for instance, stitching often became a form of drawing, taking on a life of its own that rarely occurs among Gee's Bend women) (56).
Annie Mae Young, “I never did like the book patterns some people had. Those things had too many little bitty blocks. I like big pieces and long strips. However I get them, that’s how I used them. I liked to sew them however they be. I work it out, study the way to make it, get it to be right, kind of like working a puzzle. You find the colors and the shapes and certain fabrics that work out right . . . . When they open up the quilting bee up there, they didn’t want the kind of sewing and piecing I do, and I didn’t like what they was doing. They had to do things too particular, too careful, too many little blocks”” (100)
Others have given nice overall reviews, so I'll just note the things that were interesting to me:
It was interesting the several times the quilts of Gee's Bend have been "discovered" and would be even more interesting to have a formal ethnography of this phenomenon -- there was the involvement of the New Deal in the 1930s, then their "discovery" by New York artists in the 60s, then the scaling of that with sales to Macy's etc., the quilting bee in the 60s (whose only lasting impact was the use of the corduroy from Sears) and the re-rediscovery in the 90s.
"Classic work-clothes quilts have probably been made in Wilcox county for longer than anyone can remember . . . they are a phenomenon in the history of American art whose complexity rivals that of most major substyles in painting or graphics. . . Pearlie Pettways' quilt dating from around the middle of the twentiety century, with its combination of faded denim, gray pants cloth, and central expanse of cotton" (56)
work-clothes quilts explore "tactility and density" In the Gee's Bend quilts, stitching as an element is subjugated "stitching helps to demarcate areas, or to hold things together, or separate them, in the service of the larger design (Among the Amish, for instance, stitching often became a form of drawing, taking on a life of its own that rarely occurs among Gee's Bend women) (56).
Annie Mae Young, “I never did like the book patterns some people had. Those things had too many little bitty blocks. I like big pieces and long strips. However I get them, that’s how I used them. I liked to sew them however they be. I work it out, study the way to make it, get it to be right, kind of like working a puzzle. You find the colors and the shapes and certain fabrics that work out right . . . . When they open up the quilting bee up there, they didn’t want the kind of sewing and piecing I do, and I didn’t like what they was doing. They had to do things too particular, too careful, too many little blocks”” (100)
March 27, 2008
SOOO beautiful! I'd seen these prints before and I read the book in anticipation of the exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Be forewarned: this book contains a lot of "art theory" which is completely foreign to me . . . so I skimmed those sections. But, the history of Gee's Bend, Alabama is amazing and the textile art produced there will take your breath away.
February 22, 2016
Very emotional. The mix of primitive manipulation and exact precision is unbelievable. The personal stories of the lives of these various women and their families is both endearing and heartbreaking. A treasure of a book
March 12, 2016
OH, how I'd love to see these for myself some day. Imagine! Such artistry. Such incredible beauty.
October 5, 2020
There was an excellent exhibit of these marvelous quilts in SF in 2002.I went twice to see them and bought postcards and had them hanging on my inspiration board for a long time. These quilts are about history and people. They are wonderful in their sustainability. They use materials that are at hand and recycled family or community items. Some are very creative. Some are simple. Some talk to texture. Some talk about color. And all quilts tell about form and stitching variations or sameness.
October 22, 2018
I was really interested in reading this books. My grandmother was very good at making quilts. She made a quilt for every grandchild in her family. I have a quilt my mother passed down from when she was born. I sleep with a 57-year old quilt at night, so I related to this story very well. I recommend this book to anyone who likes reading books that were in the past centuries.
April 10, 2018
Loved it. Great stories, great quilts. Big pictures of the pieces.
November 1, 2018
Interesting history of small community and its generations of quilting from slavery to commercialization in the 20th century to artists.
May 15, 2025
Excellent story, great photos. Reminds me of my own grandmother's utilitarian quilts from the 30's, 40's and 50's.
March 14, 2015
I looked for this book for some time and finally realized it was at my local library at the oversized section at the bottom of the bookcase with other quilting books. Besides the amazing pictures and stories of the women making these original quilts, it should be said that they select used material in their quilts. They also do not shy away from large uneven sections instead of what we see more often: small repetitive blocks. FYI: the pictures from this book and other books about Gee's Bend quilts and quilters can be found through a Google search.
January 5, 2013
This is a wonderful hisotry of one particular plantation and the slaves who lived, worked and survived on it. Secluded and cut off from the outside world because of the physical location of the plantation, the women slaves created inspiring and practical quilts from whatever fabric was available. Not your beautiful and intricate quilts so cherished by society today, these quilts tell a real story of life and survival and gratitude.
March 24, 2008
This is not a sit down and read cover to cover book but a history of a group of black women from Alabama and the quilts they have made over many years. Besides, of course, the quilts, the women were fascinating.
May 6, 2008
What a fascinating and inspirational book. Not to mention that the hardships of my own life were thrown instantly into perspective (ie., not hardships at all). I find myself in awe of these women and their beautiful quilts.
October 9, 2008
I actually read every word in this book, even though it is mostly a picture book. I am amazed at the stories of these women who knew nothing better, but to survive the best way they knew how.
It is a testament that everyone has a story in their own right.
It is a testament that everyone has a story in their own right.
July 30, 2015
I just don't want to give this book back to the library. Those old black ladies from Alabama are so precious. They tell their stories in this book and just hearing them talk that southern talk brings my mom back to me. I love looking at their pictures and at their quilts. Just so special.
June 9, 2007
I will look at this book over and over. The quilts are masterpieces, and the stories of the women are so great.
September 26, 2007
these quilts are just about the most beautiful things i ever saw.
January 7, 2009
this book opened doors to a new love of mine. low stress, chaotic quilting
February 26, 2011
Amazing, gorgeous, contemporary quilts from before their time.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews