From QuiltIndex

"Comprised of some 30,000 objects, the Museum's collection of Costume and Textiles is one of the oldest and largest in the country. Rotating exhibitions that highlight diverse aspects of this encyclopedic collection are presented in Gallery 271.

Strong in woven and printed fabrics as well as embroidery and lace, the Museum’s textiles collection includes exceptional American quilts, coverlets, and samplers; as well as Middle Eastern and Asian archeological textiles. Recent acquisitions also include important groups of Asian material.

The extensive costume holdings feature outstanding examples of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century dress, undergarments, and accessories such as hats, gloves, bags, and shoes. Iconic twentieth-century fashions are also present, with particular strength in the designs of Elsa Schiaparelli. One of the most popular objects in the Museum’s collection is the wedding dress worn by Princess Grace of Monaco, the former Grace Kelly of Philadelphia."

source: Philadelphia Museum of Art, http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/430-6/related_exhibitions.html

African American Quilts in 2008

Philadelphia Museum Of Art will present an exhibition of African-American Quilts from the Ella King Torrey Collection during Fall 2008.

The Ella King Torrey Collection of African American Quilts includes 13 examples by leading Southern quilt makers. The collection was formed between 1981 and 1983 while Ms. Torrey was conducting fieldwork on African American quilt-making with Maud Southwell Wahlman.

Among its highlights are an appliqued "word quilt" by the Mississippi artist Sarah Mary Taylor (born 1916) and one of her "hand" quilts, a version commissioned for the film The Color Purple. Two quilts in the collection are by Taylor's mother, Pearlie Posey (1894 – 1984), who in 1980 followed her daughter's lead and began created rainbow-hued figurative applique quilts.

Source: Philadelphia Museum of Art, http://www.philamuseum.org Amanda.sikarskie 14:22, 23 October 2008 (EDT)

Related exhibitions

• Quilt Stories: The Ella King Torrey Collection of African American Quilts and Other Recent Quilt Acquisitions, August 16, 2008 - February 2009
• Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt, September 16, 2008 - December 14, 2008
• Linda Day Clark: The Gee's Bend Photographs, September 16, 2008 - December 14, 2008
• Woven for Comfort and Joy: Nineteenth-Century American Coverlets, May 22, 2004 - April 10, 2005
• Needlework from the Nineteenth Century, May 26, 2001 - March 3, 2002