Permanent Collection Spotlight

Romare Bearden, Quilting Time, 1981, lithograph, 18 1/8 x 23 1/4 inches, Gift of T. Townson Ellis

Acquired in 1984, Quilting Time is one of two lithographs contained in the Art Museum of Southeast Texas’ permanent collection by the distinguished American, twentieth-century artist, Romare Bearden. In the Garden, 1980, lithograph, is also owned by the museum. 

Born in 1911 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Romare Howard Bearden is best known for his collage and photomontage compositions. He consistently depicted African-American culture and experience in his work. His oeuvre reflects the influences of various art traditions and reveals themes common to many different cultures undefined themes of death, the family, religious ritual, and the beauty of natural landscapes. Bearden also touched on aspects of jazz and city life through his works, and he was noted for his portraits of women in their many roles: mothers, lovers, gardeners, conjurers, healers, and even prostitutes. 

AMSET’s Quilting Time is a brightly colored composition depicting two African-American figures in profile sitting in a domestic setting engaged in sewing a quilt. The figures are clad in traditional dress from the nineteenth-century and are centrally positioned between two windows. Although their exact relation is ambiguous, one presumes that they are mother and son. The billowing fabric of the quilt that falls in the foreground center of the scene embraces the lower-half of the two figures and possibly symbolizes a social and cultural connecting force both for the two figures present and in a larger context for the African-American race. Bearden died in 1988 and his work is included in many public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.