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| Photo courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Harriet Powers (American, 1837-1910) Pictorial Quilt American (Athens, Georgia), 1895-1898 Cotton plain weave, pieced, appliqued, and embroidered Bequest of Maxim Karolik, 64.619 |
Quilts and bed covers are emblematic of the American experience. Their longevity and ubiquity make quilts and coverlets the ideal “democratic” art form from which to explore the story of America and its people. This talk will introduce an exhibition planned for the fall of 2020 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, that will feature more than 50 iconic examples and examine this complex history by going beyond aesthetics and technique to reveal the lives of diverse Americans whose stories are rarely told. Many of the selected pieces were made by people of European ancestry; however, the inclusion of quilts and other bed coverings created by African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans, as well as examples from Britain, France, and India, enables visitors to gain a broader understanding of our diverse society. Stories of the many human lives that contributed to textile production, directly and indirectly through enslaved and immigrant labor, need to be told. Distinct narratives embedded in each of the exhibition’s quilts and coverlets also connect to broader ones, such as the movement of commodities and labor across oceans and continents, the nation’s territorial expansion and its emergence as a world power.
Pamela Parmal began work at the MFA in 1999 as Associate Curator, became Curator and Department head in 2004 and was appointed Chair of the David and Roberta Logie Department of Textile and Fashion Arts in 2014. She has curated a number of exhibitions including Fashion Show: Paris Collections 2006, November 2006-March 2007; And So To Bed: Indian Bed Curtains from an Stately English Home, November 2008-July 2009; The Embroideries of Colonial Boston in 2012; and #techstyle, March-July 2016. She most recently collaborated on the exhibition Casanova: The Seduction of Europe for which she has written an essay on Casanova and dress.
Parmal received a Masters Degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. The University of Wisconsin granted her BAs in Art History and French. Before taking her position at the MFA, she worked as Assistant and then Associate Curator for the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design where she served as co-project director during the planning stages for the NEH funded exhibition and catalogue, From Paris to Providence: The Tirocchi Sisters Dressmaking Shop and curated the exhibition, Geoffrey Beene, for which she also wrote the accompanying catalogue.
Photo courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Harriet Powers (American, 1837-1910)
Pictorial Quilt
American (Athens, Georgia), 1895-1898
Cotton plain weave, pieced, appliqued, and embroidered
Bequest of Maxim Karolik, 64.619
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