Monet and the Women of Gee's Bend

What do Monet and the Women of Gee's Bend have to do with each other? Absolutely nothing except for the fact that one was an exhibit at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco and the other was an exhibit at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco and the same ticket got us into both exhibits. It was our intent to go to both so we were pleased that the ticket worked for both. It was a good deal and even better for me since my friend, Carol, decided to give me the ticket for a birthday present. What a nice surprise!

We started with the Monet exhibit. After donning our headphones - a must for me as a budding painter and follower of Monet's impressionest style - and headed into the exhibit. Each painting was an exciting new experience for me as I examined the brush strokes, colors and style. What a genius. I can only aspire to make anything 1/20th as good. Had I seen paintings and, in particular, Monet's paintings before? Yes, I had. But never with the eye of a painter. Everything was transformed. I could imagine him painting in all of the dark colors first and then see the strokes and brighter colors as he gradually came "into the light" and then more strokes of dark where he had added too much light. Layer on layer of beauty and amazement. Some of the strokes thin and flat, others like glops of paint. The glittering and rippling of the water, the movement of the flowers with the wind. I could have stayed there forever looking at the paintings.

Next we drove over to the DeYoung in Golden Gate Park to see the Women of Gee's Bend exhibit. I had read about these women in the Life section of the Sunday Mercury News. The article was written because of new postal stamps coming out that will feature some of the quilts made by these women. The women are descendants of slaves in Gee's Bend, Alabama who started making quilts in the early 1800's. The quilts were made from any materials at hand - flour sacks, sugar sacks, old clothes. There was no money to buy fabric. They were made to use and keep warm. In 1997, a historian of African American art came upon a photo of one of the quilters and her quilt in a book of portraits of quilters. He found the quilter, Annie Mae Young and she offered him the quilt for free. He insisted on paying and she asked for $25. He countered with $3,500! Word got around town about the "crazy white people" overpaying for quilts and the man ended up buying more than 100 quilts. He also helped the women set up a Collective and began exhibiting the quilts worldwide. That resulted in the exhibit that we visited at the DeYoung. Today, some of the quilts sell for more than $20,000 and you can buy books, postcards and prints featuring them. As for the quilts themselves, each is different and unique. It is interesting to follow history through them. The cordoroys of the early 70's, the polyesters of the late 70's, fabrics with the red, white and blue, Vote, etc and other slogans of the 60's/70's. The designs and patterns often just look like a mishmash of patchwork until you realize how each of the odd sized pieces needed to fit together like a big puzzle. I think that Monet would have really appreciated their work! It was a good complement to his art.

The day was bright, sunny, warm and clear - a treat in San Francisco - and my only regret was in not bringing my camera. After enjoying the exhibits, the day ended beautifully with a glass of wine and some calimari at the Left Bank in Menlo Park.