Object number2019.24.1

Look Underneath

Date2013

Artist Louisiana Bendolph (American, born 1960)

CultureAmerican

MediumColor softground etching with aquatint on Somerset white paper

EditionEdition 8 of 50

DimensionsPlate: 28 1/2 x 24 3/4 in. (72.4 x 62.9 cm)
Sheet: 36 1/2 x 31 3/4 in. (92.7 x 80.6 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, Betsy Mudge Wilson, class of 1956, Memorial Fund in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Africana Studies Program

On View

Not on view

Period21st c

Classification(s)

SignedOn recto, signed lower right margin in pencil: Louisiana Bendolph

InscribedOn recto, by artist, lower right margin in pencil: 2013; lower center margin: LOOK UNDERNEATH; lower left margin: 8/50

MarkingsOn recto, embossed with Paulson Fontaine's printer's chop in lower right margin corner

Provenancepurchased from Paulson Fontaine Press

Vassar Exhibitions

Interwoven Histories: Prints by the Gee’s Bend Quilt Collective

Exhibition HistoryInterwoven Histories: Prints by the Gee's Bend Quilting Collective, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Gallery, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, September 9 2023 - January 28, 2024

Label TextGrowing up in rural Gee’s Bend, Alabama, Louisiana Pettway Bendolph worked in the field owned by her great-grandparents, helping to pick cotton and vegetables year round. She recalls spending her downtime playing with siblings under the quilts while her mother, Rita Mae Pettway aka Rabbit, and aunts worked on them. At 19 years old, she married Albert Bendolph, the son of quiltmaker Mary Lee Bendolph, whose work can be seen nearby, and began taking up the practice more consistently. Although among the younger generation of quilters, Pettway Bendolph’s works are featured in a number of exhibitions and publications along with previous generations of quiltmakers. In her print Look Underneath, Pettway Bendolph orients the viewer to recall the childhood memory of observing decorative blankets made by loved ones from below. Bendolph’s signature use of color and geometric composition which she mastered in her quilts are directly captured in this multi-colored print on paper through the etching and aquatint processes.

DescriptionBlack, yellow, grey, white, and blue rectangular strips arranged in a vertical rectangle from the center out or vice versa.

Terms

quilting

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu