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Gees Bend Christmas Quilt

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c. 1960's. This specific quilt was mentioned in Jane Livingston's Book, "Gee's Bend - The Women and Their Quilts. Hand-stitched fabric. Very good condition. Provenance Donald McKinney. McKinney recalls that this piece was produced by Loretta Pettway. Light staining and wear. 61 x 80 Est. $5,000 - $8,000 Ship: $30 Gee’s Bend is a small rural community southwest of Selma, Alabama. Founded in antebellum times, it was the site of cotton plantations, primarily the lands of Joseph Gee and his relative Mark Pettway, who bought the Gee estate in 1850. After the Civil War, the freed slaves took the name Pettway, became tenant farmers for the Pettway family, and founded an all-black community nearly isolated from the surrounding world. The town’s women developed a distinctive, bold, and sophisticated quilting style based on traditional American (and African American) quilts, but with a geometric simplicity reminiscent of Amish quilts and modern art. The women of Gee’s Bend passed their skills and aesthetic down through at least six generations to the present. The United Postal Service under The American Treasures Series created the series of stamps, The Quilts of Gee’s Bend. Early 2006, Alabama Public Television (PBS) filmed a documentary on black artists of the south - in relationship to American artists of the second half of the 20th century. The consignor, Donald McKinney of Kendon Antiques out of New York, and formerly of Hirschl & Adler, was interviewed on his experience with Gee’s Bend and all three quilts, Lots 114, 115 and 116. The Gee’s Bend Quilts are featured in this documentary - which is being released nationally later this year. The three quilts consigned by McKinney were mentioned on page 63 of The Freedom Quilting Bee, by Nancy Callahan. Mr. McKinney is quoted, “I was impressed by the honesty and simplicity of the quilts,” he states. “They were simple yet sophisticated. I could feel the honesty and warmth. I dislike cuteness, and they weren’t cute. There was strength in those quilts.”

Light staining and wear.

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