Introduction
The work under review is one of the Gees Bend quilts. Specifically, it is a variation of the Log Cabin, also known as Housetop, by Lillie Mae Pettway, the daughter of Aolar Mosely (“Housetop-Twelve-Block,” n.d.). She made the blanket in 1965 of multicolor pieces of cotton, wool, and corduroy (ibid, para. 1). Currently, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts houses the work, having received it as a gift from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation. Although it may seem to be a collection of random rectangular motives, the name given by the artist hints that it is an abstraction of a roof of a simple wooden hut, but exaggeratedly patchy.
Elements of Design
The image, which depicts a top of a cabin, quite naturally is two-dimensional because Pettway hardly seeks to involve any motion in it; her main purpose apparently lies in showing the variety of colors. Therefore, the blanket comprises polychromatic pieces of cloth that are predominantly rectangular, due to which the shades do not mix, and the viewers can perceive each of them fully. This is possible even though the contours are thin up to complete invisibility and the lines are quite curved rather than straight.
Such smoothness also may serve to imply the soft texture, which the blanket actually has, judging by the above materials that the artist used. Another noteworthy point is its relatively large size; 77 x 65 inches is enough to wrap an adult (“Housetop-Twelve-Block,” n.d., para. 1). Along with the softness of cloth, the thinness of lines and the general warmness of colors, this creates a sense of a complete dive into coziness, which presumably is one of the artist’s main ideas.
On the contrary, as mentioned, the colors are bold, with no visible shadows, and the rectangular shapes of the cloth patches are distinct. In addition, notwithstanding the complementarity of the neighboring colors, the overall contrast of the blanket is quite high, which makes it bright. The above two-dimensionality means the lack of the foreground, middle ground, and background; this flatness enables perceiving all of the colors simultaneously. The symmetry of the blanket is built around the two central vertical lines, which divide it in three parts. Those parts, in turn, include smaller rectangular elements that form patchy squares. Although the central lines bear a print of digits and letters, no identifiable words accompany the work.
Opinions and Conclusions
As said above, the blanket apparently depicts a roof of a log hut in an abstract symbolic manner. The two observable subject matters are coziness and brightness, or vividness, which are possible to decode from the color decisions, lines, and materials. Presumably, Pettway seeks to express the emotions she associates with her home and life in it; the high contrast of the image can prove this assumption. Specifically, some patches are light, and some other dark, which may symbolize, respectively, happy and unhappy events or periods.
The medium probably has a similar meaning; although all of the materials are soft, wool may be itchy, which embodies the unpleasant occasions and negative emotions life can bring. The two-dimensional patchy form, therefore, serves to depict all sides of life at once, and the two central vertical lines, around which the author groups the motives, symbolize the life path. Considering all of the above, the meaning of the Housetop is the variety of events and feelings common people experience in their simple but dear homes.
Reference
“Housetop”– Twelve-Block “Half-Log Cabin” variation. (n.d.). Souls Grown Deep.