Rosie Lee Tompkins Review

Quilt, 1985

Irene Howard quilted many of Effie's tops.

I belong to a small group of amateur critics (Fabulous Five of us) who email often about politics, the museum world, textiles and general fatuousness of fellow humans. Servers California to D.C. were buzzing last week when the New York Times published an article called "The Radical Quilting of Rosie Lee Tompkins."
The Link:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/26/arts/design/rosie-lee-tompkins-quilts.html?action=click&module=Editors%20Picks&pgtype=Homepage

Header photo of Rosie Lee Tompkins (1936-2006)

whose name was actually Effie Mae Martin Howard, 

the name we will use for her here. 

Julie Silber began with two words:

"Oy.
Vey."

Virginia Vis tried to calm us (an unusual position vis-à-vis Ms Vis*):

"I  was impressed the NY Times gave that much page space to quilts - with pics. While the white male thing infuriated me re: the Gees Bend quilt phenomena, once deep into the article I felt better about the attitude of the white male involved here."

From the Eli Leon collection

Effie often used synthetic fabrics of velvet and satinweave, 

textured weaves that take color and reflect and absorb light

 more dramatically than the usual cotton broadcloth.

Julie pointed out the author was not your white male critic but Roberta Smith, the newspaper's female co-chief art critic. Ms. Smith had been to see a show by the artist in Berkeley in 1987 and was impressed enough to recall it lyrically almost 35 years later.

Julie circled this sentence in the second paragraph:

"They were crafted objects that transcended quilting, with the power of painting."

Three words

Julie's interpretation of what Smith was saying:

"These quilts are great because they are almost like paintings" a statement she described as
"demeaning, condescending, dismissive (even contradictory.)"

Julie's opinion:

"Quilts are not great because they look like other forms. They stand on their own---and the makers who excelled (reaching aesthetic heights) need to be acknowledged as 'masters' ('mistresses)?' "

 

Now, me---I glanced at the story last week. I try to avoid reading about quilts in the New York Times---well, actually any newspaper. I have my blood pressure to worry about. I'm sick of cliches about women's work, of knee-jerk cultural condescension, of Painters' Privilege in the art world.

I got as far as the words "transcended quilting." I've been fighting the attitude since I was 21 years old and turned in a full-size quilt for my senior art education project and was told it didn't count as art. I substituted a few cranked-out paintings/collages and passed with a B.

Alden translates "transcended quilting" to mean these pieces are "something better, because trust me, we would NEVER claim QUILTS are worth talking about as art."

Looking at this quilt I realize it's a family history quilt. 
It says Effie 36 & Mark, John, Barrett, Luke, etc.
 probably with birthdates & Richmond.

Debby Cooney highlighted the article's comparisons to male painters---Klee, Van Gogh---something we see constantly. Alden's translation: "It reminds me of oil paintings done by a white man in the modern canon, therefore it's worth talking about." 

Not only are such comparisons patronizing---implying the textile is just as good (or almost as good) as paintings by men, it's using short-hand cliches of visual imagery rather than fresh words to  describe a work of art---sloppy art criticism.

Collection of the Whitney Museum of Art, 1986

Effie seems to have worked in series, using different shapes at times.

We must assume much of her fabric was found or given

rather than purchased as yardage.

Eli Leon supplied her with some.

Collection of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

 1999

They accepted the 400 quilts from Leon's collection.

1983, 

Collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

So should we be pleased the New York Times has featured quilts on the art pages? 

Julie:

 "As for the article going far and wide... I disagree that this is good. Bad news. SO many people will now miss the point. 'Legitimizes' the wrong ideas."

Well, at least it's been enjoyable to look at the color & composition.

The artist in me will undoubtedly steal that set and 

come to believe it was my idea.

Virginia remained calm:

"This discussion has made me really examine why I'm not outraged--- and I am sorry to say it is at least partly because I don't expect any better from...Public Opinion of Textile Arts in general."

She's worked in the art world.

1997 catalog by Eli Leon & Lawrence Rinder

We can view Eli Leon as Effie's partner like her quilter Irene Banks. He gave Effie her pseudonym, promoted the work of a woman who requested privacy and collected her quilts as obsessively as she sewed them. (He had 400 when he died last year.)

1987 catalog by Eli Leon: 

Who'd A Thought It: Improvisation in African-American Quiltmaking. 

San Francisco Craft & Folk Art Museum

Effie Mae Martin Howard (1936-2006)

Relevant quilt by Joe Cunningham

*Sorry, VV