Quilts: 1700-2010
Wonderful exhibition at the V&A of British quilts.
Where to start really it was all so good! I loved the way a number of quilts were shown on beds so you could see them from many directions. The early quilts were so moving as these are probably the only thing left of the women who made them and yet, on the whole, we don’t know who they were.
I hadn’t realised that patchwork began as an upper class hobby as it showed off the lavish material they had access to. It was only with the spread of machine printed cotton that it became a working class occupation.
I liked the fact that old and contemporary quilts were shown together so a dialogue began between them. There was a lovely modern one called “Punctuation” based on a letter the artist had found in her mother’s belongings.
Favourite quilt was one called the Garden of Eden with super biblical scene such as Jacob’s ladder. The bottom border was small fish and shells.
I have to admit I cried at one point! I found the video of the making of the quilt at Wandsworth prison very moving and reeled from that into the one made at Changi. Both so poignant.
Reviews
Times
Guardian
Evening Standard
Where to start really it was all so good! I loved the way a number of quilts were shown on beds so you could see them from many directions. The early quilts were so moving as these are probably the only thing left of the women who made them and yet, on the whole, we don’t know who they were.
I hadn’t realised that patchwork began as an upper class hobby as it showed off the lavish material they had access to. It was only with the spread of machine printed cotton that it became a working class occupation.
I liked the fact that old and contemporary quilts were shown together so a dialogue began between them. There was a lovely modern one called “Punctuation” based on a letter the artist had found in her mother’s belongings.
Favourite quilt was one called the Garden of Eden with super biblical scene such as Jacob’s ladder. The bottom border was small fish and shells.
I have to admit I cried at one point! I found the video of the making of the quilt at Wandsworth prison very moving and reeled from that into the one made at Changi. Both so poignant.
Reviews
Times
Guardian
Evening Standard
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