The high-contrast quilts you see here are just a few of the 651 works that were included in a 2011 exhibit of red and white quilts spanning three centuries at the American Folk Art Museum in NYC. Ever since the Whitney Museum of American Art held a quilt-focused art exhibit back in 1971, quilts have often hung in galleries and museums as artworks rather than folk crafts. For centuries, though, quilts had a much more utilitarian use—warmth. (Of course, their decorative designs added to the pleasure they gave.) Quilting has a long tradition in the United States, going back to colonial times. Quilts were created not only for bedding but also to commemorate special occasions, like a wedding or a new baby. Quilting bees brought out the whole community—including many men—to share the work.
Quilts as high art
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
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Union Square, Manhattan
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The Cutty Sark turns 150
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A spectacle unlike any other
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Lake Pehoé, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile
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Antarctica Day
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Antarctica Day
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North Cascades National Park at 50
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Have you turned off your electronic device?
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Göreme, Cappadocia, Turkey
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A splash by the sea
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Wahclella Falls, Oregon
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A predator at risk
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A tree amid the Tetons
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International Surfing Day
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Hallstatt, Austria
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And to think that I saw it in Cappadocia
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In the Highlands for Saint Andrew s Day
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Sea Otter Awareness Week
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It’s Draw a Bird Day
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Mesmerizing murmuration
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Honoring the first American woman in space
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A star blows a bubble
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A bull, some flowers, and a stratovolcano
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Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in Costa Rica
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World Elephant Day
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Boating on the Bojo
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Glacier cave in Iceland
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The moai you know
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It s Republic Day in India
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Let s run em up!