Housetop and Bricklayer with Bars quilt

Lucy T. Pettway

ca. 1955 · Top and back: cotton and acetate · Modern and Contemporary Art

Lucy T. Pettway was known to be a keen observer of the world around her. She carried paper and pencil as she walked to and from her work in the fields each day and jotted down things that caught her eye, later using them as inspiration for her quilt designs. This extraordinary work is the only Gee’s Bend quilt in the collection that seems to be intentionally pictorial. Using the favored Housetop and Bricklayer pattern blocks, Pettway created an imaginary aerial view of the old Pettway plantation, with the large owner’s house at the top and four slave cabins below. The small printed calicos to the left of the houses represent the fields, while on the right, the blue Alabama River flows between red banks.

Artist

Lucy T. Pettway

Date

ca. 1955

Medium

Top and back: cotton and acetate

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Gift of Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection, 2014