Pictures from Pieces – Quilts from the Eleanor Bingham Miller Collection

Beatrice Pettway (American, 1928-1988)
Gee’s Bend, Alabama
Quilt, about 1965
Cotton denim, corduroy
76 1/2 × 67 1/2 in. (194.3 × 171.5 cm.)
The Speed Art Museum, gift of Eleanor Bingham Miller 2021.15.3
Photograph by Bill Roughen

Attributed to Virginia Mason Ivey (American, born 1828)
Logan County, Kentucky
Quilt, about 1860
Cotton, silk, silk velvet
84 3/4 × 105 in. (215.3 × 266.7 cm.)
The Speed Art Museum, gift of Eleanor Bingham Miller 2021.15.7
Photograph by Bill Roughen

Kentucky, probably Valley Station area
Quilt, about 1850
Cottons
98 × 92 1/2 in. (248.9 × 235 cm.)
The Speed Art Museum, gift of Eleanor Bingham Miller 2021.15.8
Photograph by Bill Roughen

Kentucky, probably Bowling Green area
Quilt, about 1860
Cottons
87 × 66 1/2 in. (221 × 168.9 cm.)
The Speed Art Museum, gift of Eleanor Bingham Miller 2021.15.5
Photograph by Bill Roughen

Kentucky, possibly Glasgow area
Quilt, about 1880
Cottons
76 1/2 × 67 in. (194.3 × 170.2 cm.)
The Speed Art Museum, gift of Eleanor Bingham Miller 2021.15.2
Photograph by Bill Roughen

Sally Foster Sheriff (American, 1867-1936)
Flossie Sheriff McClure (American, 1892-1975)
Lexington, Kentucky
Quilt, about 1910-1915
Cotton, wools, and silks
83 3/4 × 71 3/4 in. (212.7 × 182.2 cm.)
The Speed Art Museum, gift of Eleanor Bingham Miller 2020.1
Photograph by Bill Roughen

Probably Kentucky
Quilt, about 1910-1920
Cottons
78 1/2 × 71 in. (199.4 × 180.3 cm.)
The Speed Art Museum, gift of Eleanor Bingham Miller 2021.15.6
Photograph by Bill Roughen

Kentucky, probably Louisville area
Quilt, about 1930-1940
Cottons
95 × 75 3/4 in. (241.3 × 192.4 cm.)
The Speed Art Museum, gift of Eleanor Bingham Miller 2021.15.9
Photograph by Bill Roughen

Hannah Huxley (American, born England, 1801-1876)
New Castle County, Delaware
Quilt, 1832
Cottons
109 × 112 in. (276.9 × 284.5 cm.)
The Speed Art Museum, gift of Eleanor Bingham Miller 2021.15.1
Photograph by Bill Roughen

English
Quilt, about 1830-1850
Cottons
104 × 105 3/4 in. (264.2 × 268.6 cm.)
The Speed Art Museum, gift of Eleanor Bingham Miller 2021.15.4
Photograph by Bill Roughen

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Pictures from Pieces – Quilts from the Eleanor Bingham Miller Collection

March 18 – August 21, 2022

Gallery 2

Pictures from Pieces celebrates the recent, generous gifts of ten American quilts from Louisville’s Eleanor Bingham Miller. Miller began seriously collecting quilts—particularly those made by Kentucky women—in the 1980s, inspired by her work as one of the co-founders of the Kentucky Quilt Project, a landmark program devoted to documenting Kentucky quilts, their histories, and their makers.

The quilts, spanning over a century from the 1850s to the 1960s, are intricate testimonials to their makers’ diverse creative talents; each artist possessed a unique eye for transforming pattern and color into works of art. Highlights include an exceptional, circa 1860 Kentucky quilt—one of seven Kentucky examples in the exhibition—attributed to Virginia Mason Ivey (American, born 1828) of Logan County. Her masterful composition echoes the state’s natural bounty with its imagery of cherry trees, flowers, and grapes. Another highlight: a dynamic, two-sided quilt created by Beatrice Pettway (American, 1928-1988) of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. On one side, she recycled denim work clothes into a strip pattern that recalls the lives and labors of those who originally wore the denims. The pensive quality of this side gives way on the reverse to a vibrant color study, using corduroy fabrics in classic 1960s shades of red, orange, green, and blue.

Contributing sponsor:
Hardscuffle Inc.
Exhibition season sponsored by:
Cary Brown and Steven E. Epstein
Paul and Deborah Chellgren
Arthur J. and Mary Celeste Lerman Charitable Foundation
Debra and Ronald Murphy
DavFam Art Fund