Here brilliantly photographed in full colour are eighty-two masterpieces of American quiltmaking, selected from one of the country's finest repositories of classic Amish quilts, the Esprit collection. All were conceived and stitched by women of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, between 1870 and 1950. All are profoundly "home-made" creations, geometric in pattern, works of practicality and simplicity that reflect the essence of Amish principles. But in their boldness, their purity, their inspiration and their power, American quilts of this caliber can no longer be looked at solely as examples of domestic craftsmanship. They are seen here as true works of art.
The text by Robert Hughes, one of America's most distinguished art critics, celebrates and analyses the quilt as a major art form in the context of twentieth-century American painting and sculpture.
Julie Silber, curator of the collection, provides an introduction as well as historical and interpretative commentaries for each quilt. Douglas Tompkins, in his afterword, writes about the quilts from the collector's point of view.
