Album Quilt

CC0 Public Domain Designation

Textiles

1854

Sarah Ann Wilson (American, active mid-19th century)
New York or New Jersey, United States

Made before the Civil War, as indicated by the date inscribed in a square in the bottom row, this quilt depicts African American figures who seem to be a family. The figures are sensitively portrayed, with appliquéd and embroidered brown fabric comprising their faces and hands. The familial narrative is reinforced by the hand-and-heart motif in the bottom right corner. The specificity of the portrayal and the similarity of the figures to those in another quilt (depicted here) suggest that these figures may represent the maker’s own family. Although historians know little about Wilson, she may have been a free black woman living in New York.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Textiles

Artist: Sarah Ann Wilson
Title: Album Quilt
Place: New York (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: Made 1854
Medium: Appliquéd, pieced and embroidered quilt; dyed, undyed and printed cotton plain weave fabrics and cotton and silk velvet fabric; cotton embroidery threads
Inscriptions: Inscription: Sarah Ann Wilson Aug 1854
Dimensions: 217.1 × 255.8 cm (85 1/2 × 100 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by Mrs. David W. Grainger
Reference Number: 1999.509
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/153633/manifest.json

Rita Reif, Auctions, New York Times (Dec. 28, 1984).
Dennis Duke and Deborah Harding, eds., America’s Glorious Quilts (New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, 1987), 26.
Quilt Engagement Calendar (New York: E.P. Dutton,1987), #41.
Susanna Pfeffer, Quilt Masterpieces (New York: Park Lane, 1990), 56-57 (ill.).
Carter Houck, The Quilt Encyclopedia Illustrated (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1991), 12.
American Hurrah, Quilt Calendar (New York: Longmeadow Press, Sept. 1992).
Mary Clare Clark, Story Quilts and How to Make Them (New York: Sterling Publications, Museum Quilts, 1995), 82-85 (ill.)

Nashville, TN, Heart of Country, A Picture is Worth a 1,000 Words: Pictorial Imagery in American Quilts, Feb. 1993.
Houston, TX, International Quilt Festival, America Collects Quilts, Nov. 3-6, 1994.
Paducah, KY, Museum of the American Quilter’s Society, Antique Quilts from the Shelly Zegart Collection, Apr. 4-July 18, 1998.
Art Institute of Chicago, Elizabeth F. Cheney and Agnes Allerton Textile Galleries, An International Collection of Appliquéd, Embroidered and Pieced Bedcoverings, Feb. 28–May 28, 2001.
Art Institute of Chicago, Gallery 265, A Century of Collecting: African American Art in The Art Institute of Chicago, Jan. 31–May 19, 2003.
Art Institute of Chicago, Making Memories: Quilts as Souvenirs, Galleries 57-59, Oct. 20, 2017-Apr. 1, 2018.

Robert W. Skinner’s Auctions, Bolton, MA, by Oct. 27, 1984 [this and the following according to Reif 1984 and Sothey’s New York, Jan. 23-25, 1992; copies in curatorial object file]; sold to Kate and Joel Kopp, America Hurrah, New York, Oct. 27, 1984; sold to Stephen Score, Essex, MA, by 1987 [Duke and Harding 1987, 26]. Harry and Abigail (Housen) Lasker; sold, Sotheyby’s Jan. 1992, lot 773, to Shelly Zegart, Louisville, KY [Invoice, June 14, 1999; copy in curatorial object file]; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1999.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.