Category Archives: Inspiration

It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged about my Lessons in Modern Art for the Modern Quilter – but I’m back!

Today we’re looking at Cubism – hello, Picasso!

The style of Cubism was popular from 1907 – 1922.  Cubist artists worked to depict objects as they really were in the world – not as we perceive them.

To better understand this movement, let’s start by considering a glass.  A drinking glass has a circular opening.  However, when we view the glass from an angle at the side, the opening appears to be oval-shaped.  The glass has not changed, but our new position has changed the visual representation of the glass.  In order to depict a glass as it really is, a cubist painter would break the image of the glass into geometric shapes, and arrange them across a field so that multiple perspectives can be seen at once.

You can see this example in action here, in this small excerpt of Picasso’s Still Life with Compote and Glass, 1914-15:

We see a goblet from the side – noticing the height and shape of the glass’s silhouette, but we also see the circular nature of the cup opening due to its flipped and elevated placement above the goblet body.  By tossing aside notions of one-perspective and allowing multiple views to exist on the same canvas, we are able to achieve a fuller understanding for the true nature of the glass.   This style of multiple viewpoints is sometimes called simultaneity.

Another prominent Cubist artist was Georges Braque.  I love this piece where he takes the basic shapes of a violin, separates them into individual geometric pieces, and spreads them out so we can fully gather his impression of the instrument.

Still life with a violin, 1912, Georges Braque

See the works of : Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque

The concept of taking an object and breaking it down into it’s basic geometric shape is very familiar to us quilters!  And it should be noted that the cubist movement has been a very prominent source of inspiration for art quilters, who respond to the realism aspect and create a portrait of an object through fabric piecing, applique, and yes- sometimes glue!

But one modern quilt that comes to mind when I think of Cubism is the popular, intricate, lovely “Space Dust” quilt pattern from Tula Pink.  Here we gather the full impression of a cratered moon through the artful arrangement of triangles. 

Space Dust Quilt Pattern by Tula Pink available HERE

Key Sources: theartstory.org, metmuseum.org

In today’s Lessons in Modern Art for the Modern Quilter, we’ll examine the Italian tech-savvy artists of their time — the Futurists!

From about 1910 – 1920 an unofficial group of Italian artists became fascinated with modern technologies, and the new urban environment.  They wanted to make art that truly embraced the hustle-and-bustle of a metropolis.  How can flat paintings convey the tremendous motion of a busy city?

The new technology of chrono-photography showed these artists one way to show movement within a static frame.  Chronophotography was the use of a special camera (one with many lenses – as many as 12) that would take several pictures in rapid succession.  These frames could then be displayed together or even overlapped to convey movement.

a sample of “Chronophotographie d’un chien courant” by Étienne-Jules Marey

Compare the chronophotigraphic work above to this Futurist painting by Giacomo Balla.   True story, this is one of my favorite paintings : )

Dynamism of A Dog on a Leash (1912) by Giacomo Balla

There were also major developments in the Optical Sciences during this time.  Artists interpreted the theories presented in recent scientific developments to mean that colors would get a stronger luminescence if pure, unmixed dots or strokes of pigments were set next to each other.  Then the viewer would mix the dot colors together with their eyes, creating a more vivid look to the work.  This method of painting is called Divisionism and is a by-product of the Impressionist movement of Pointillism.   Pointillism was more focused on the paint-stroke style of juxtaposing pigment dots, and was not as concerned about the optical science basis of the separation of colors.

The most famous example of pointillism is this “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte” by Georges Seurat in 1884.  Here is an extreme close-up so that you can see the many dots of pigments:

For a look at the Divisionist technique we can look at this:

Sea = Dancer (1914) by Gino Severini

Not only does this work showcase the brush style of many small quick, unmixed strokes to create a vivid color representation, but it also is conveys movement and an even 3-D quality.

Combining the theories of technology and Pointillism / Divisonism, I believe the pixelated quilt trend, now offered as a class by Caro Sheridan, gels with a discussion of Futurism.  My favorite pixelated quilt?  Hello! The Ron Swanson quilt by Monica Solorio-Snow who blogs at thehappyzombie.com  :

Image used with permission. The Ron Swanson quilt by Monica Solorio-Snow

Digital photography has become the norm and with that comes the use of computer photo-editing software.   Concerns regarding DPI (dots per inch) or PPI (pixels per inch) have crossed over from the technological world into our sewing designs!  Modern Quilters certainly are linked to modern technologies – uploading images to their blogs, joining link-up parties, using every latest mode of social media; we can use the term MODERN to mean of-the-moment and up-to-speed, but it’s also fun to look at the Modern Art style of Futurism and see the comparisons with our modern quilting movement.

Key Sources: theartstory.org and guggenheim.org

By the turn of the 19th century, colonialists and explorers transported African art to Europe.  Having stolen or otherwise obtained the items, the works were often sold to pawn shops or trinket stores.  However, after time the creations gained artistic appreciation and were showcased in a variety of galleries and added to personal art collections. Maurice de Vlaminck, André Derain, and Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso were all known to have collections of art from Africa. As the world broadened, exposure to the artistic works of other cultures heavily influenced the future of Western Art… so let’s take a further look into the response of Modern painters towards African art.

Here were representations of the human form that focused on the spiritual and eliciting emotion rather than achieving accurate, literal representations.

Seated Male, 19th–20th century – Côte d’Ivoire

Referred pejoratively as “Primitive Art,” these artifacts were not seen as having artistic value until the Expressionist and Fauvist painters and sculptors started collecting the works and creating their own art heavily influenced from these African forms.

Even without any understanding of these distant cultures, Western artists could sense the spirituality evoked from these avant-garde forms.  With their other-worldly, exaggerated, elongated, transformed and imaginative representations of human features – African art transported the viewer outside of the literal everyday. Freed from the restrictions of depicting naturalistic representations of the corporal form, artists tapped into their imaginations and into their own spiritual sides as they created art from visions within the human mind and soul.

“I paint things not as they look, but how I see them” – Pablo Picasso

Girl before a Mirror -
Pablo Picasso – 1932

Key Sources: artguidenw.com, metmuseum.org

Tapping into unknown cultures, drawing inspiration from the works of “isolated” communities, certainly one thinks of the profound impact exposure to the quilts of Gee’s Bend had on the birth Modern Quilting movement.

Lucy T. Pettway – “Housetop” – 1945

Living in rural, geographically isolated Gee’s Bend, Alabama, a society of hard-working women used what fabric scraps were available to create glorious, graphic, imaginative quilts in order to keep their families warm.

“The compositions of these quilts contrast dramatically with the ordered regularity associated with many styles of Euro-American quiltmaking. There’s a brilliant, improvisational range of approaches to composition that is more often associated with the inventiveness and power of the leading 20th-century abstract painters than it is with textile-making,” says Alvia Wardlaw, curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Museum of Fine Arts.

The world of quilt making was forever changed after the discovery (and subsequent exploitation – can I say that?) of these magnificent creations, heavily inspiring the work of Modern Quilting founders including Denyse Schmidt – check out THIS QUILT and THIS ONE.

In today’s Lessons in Modern Art for the Modern Quilter, it’s time to Express Yourself!  That’s right, we’re at the period of emotional, introspective art that emerged from 1905 throughout the early 1930s that we know as Expressionism.

The Expressionists continued the style of symbolic color usage popularized by the Fauvists.  However, these new painters turned to inspiration within their own emotions rather than their literal surroundings.  Increased urbanization, as well as the frightening, alienating experience of war created a sense of heightened emotions that started to take prominence in the work of these artists. The subject matter of these pieces became more abstract and sometimes completely isolated from the task of describing physical objects.  This was truly the birth of the abstract art movement.

Paul Klee – Affected place (1922)

Paul Klee – “Highways and Byways” (1929)

Expressionist art can be evaluated based on how successfully the artists conveyed his or her emotions, rather than the quality of the representation of a landscape, person, or object.  Many of the most prominent Expressionist painters were also musicians.  Here, you can see how Kandinsky’s bright, joyous colors almost vibrate with musical tones:

Color Study: Squares with Concentric Circles- Wassily Kandinsky- 1913

See the works of : Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee

There are many wonderful Modern quilts that reflect the work of these Expressionists.  All of the bright string quilts featured in THIS FLICKR GROUP are reminiscent of the color studies of Kandinsky. 

But in terms of a quilt simply evoking an emotion, I wanted to share this T is for Tipsy Quilt by Dorie of Tumbling Blocks:

T is for Tipsy quilt by Dorie Schwarz

Although all of the blocks share the same basic pattern and the color-scheme is relatively monochromatic, the brilliant composition absolutely illustrates the desired “tipsy” emotion.  This quilt is playful, liberating, merry-making, and go home T blocks cause you’ve definitely got the spins!

Key Sources: theartstory.org, artfactory.com,

In today’s Lessons in Modern Art for the Modern Quilter, we mix it up with the “Wild Beasts!” … It’s Fauvism!

From about 1899 – 1908 a group of artists get even more bold with their color choices and the abstract nature of their art.  The compositions of these paintings were simpler to accommodate the unnatural and vivid colors.

Portrait of Madame Matisse. (The green line) – Henri Matisse – 1905

There was no concern for if the colors were “realistic,” but rather if the paint choices represented the mood the artist was trying to convey.  Here, the colors of the paints were chosen for symbolic purposes and to stir emotion.

La danse (second version) – Henri Matisse – 1909 – 1910

See the works of: Henri Matisse, André Derain

La Gerbe – 1953 – Henri Matisse

I want to include these pieces here, eventhough they were not created until the 1940s and 50s.  In the 1940s Matisse became sick with cancer and had to undergo several surgeries.  Life in a wheelchair did not hinder his art, as Matisse began to create beautifully vivid paper-cutout pieces called gouaches découpés. 

I’ve always thought these pieces would make fantastic applique quilts  : )

The Fall of Icarus – Henri Matisse – 1943

Koi Pond Quilt by Pat Merkle

I also wanted to include a picture of this brilliant quilt (blogged here – image used with permission) as an example of the power of color choice.  This is a beautiful blanket, made all the more stirring by it’s use of highly contrasting solid fabrics. 

 Although perhaps not unique to Modern Quilts, the saturated nature of solid fabrics common in Modern projects reflects the appreciation for vivid, bold colors found within the Fauvist movement.

Key Sources: theartstory.org and metmuseum.org

As Impressionism and Post-Impressionism guided painters towards more abstract shapes and away from the glorification of the past, another movement was well underway.  The Arts and Crafts movement is dated from the 1860s – 1910.   As galleries and exhibitions continued to value the ornate and ostentatious, artisans started looking for ways to increase the beauty of a home with simple, purposeful, and well-crafted items.   Here materials mattered, and function mattered, and ornaments were secondary or viewed as unnecessary.   There was a reliance on bold colors and vivid patterns that were exciting without being over-decorated.

Library table, 1904
William Lightfoot Price

The handicraft gained appreciation as a reaction against the over-mechanized, industrialized tones of the time.  One person creating one good from start to finish was rare in a world where factory lines assembled endless bits of products.

During this movement, we see a trend occurring in the world of painting during 1890 – 1905 that has been classified as “Art Nouveau.”  In these paintings we see artists using organic, flowing lines based on what they saw in nature, but creating this style with bold lines and shapes.

See the works of: Gustav Klimt

See more of Rossie’s quilt here…

Look at these paintings and see how they are filled with modern quilting patterns.  With the wabi-sabi crosses, squares and triangles, certainly we can link our quilting movement to this era in history.

After learning more about the Arts and Crafts movement, I had greater appreciation for this quote from the Modern Quilt Guild:

“Modern quilts and quilters… make primarily functional rather than decorative quilts”

Indeed, our projects are not overly ornate.  Whereas many art-quilts may employ beading, wires, and glue as decoration, the Modern Quilt is meant to be comforting.  Even if hung on a wall as decoration, these blankets are made to warm a space (literally and figuratively).  There is a respect given to the “homey” nature of the quilt, rather than an undervaluing.  And certainly any quilter can appreciate the valuing of the individually created versus mass produced.   The admiration of the individual is especially evident in the world of modern quilting, as improvisational piecing and free-form design means more blankets are made without patterns and can therefore never be precisely recreated.

The Post-Impressionists emerged in the 1880s and lasted primarily throughout the 1910s.  Can rebels rebel from the rebels?  Of course!  They do all the time and such was the case with the Post-Impressionists.

“Moulin Rouge: La Goulue” – 1891
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

The Post-Impressionists reacted against the “en plein air” naturalism of Impressionism, and wanted to explore the use of abstract form and pattern – relying less on nature and more on the personal experiences of the self.   A style emerged from this unofficial group of painters showcasing more saturated, simple colors and more abstract forms.

The popularity of the camera was a participating factor in the push towards abstract art.  In 1900 Kodak created the Brownie, an affordable box camera that could be easily operated. Now many people could own a camera and quickly create accurate portraits with a snapshot, but a painter had the infinity of imagination to represent personal emotions.

See the works of: Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh

Paul Cézanne – Study of Trees, 1904

Looking at this painting, I definitely see a Modern Quilt.   The colors are more isolated from each other, there is space to breathe in the composition, and in a sense it appears to be just a glimpse of what we can imagine is a never-ending vision.   This painting goes beyond the canvas borders.

Is there a sense within the Modern Quilting community that, when looking at the precision of traditional quilts, there‘s a bit of “I can’t do that” or maybe “I could, but I don’t want to!”  That’s what comes to mind when I think of the inundation of portrait photography versus abstract art.  Maybe there’s a part of “I can’t compete, so why play” that leads to abandoning elaborately pieced, meticulously joined traditional quilts in favor or pursuing the loose nature of improvisational piecing, or large-scale piecing.  Moreover, I believe there’s a grander sense of “that’s been done – let’s try something new!”

Key Sources: theartstory.org, metmuseum.org, kodak.com