"Pinwheel"—thirty-block variation

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    Photo: Stephen Pitkin/Pitkin Studio
c. 1950
Cotton and cotton/polyester blend
78 x 67 inches
Collection of
Souls Grown Deep Foundation
Description

Triangle patterns date to the earliest known American patchwork quilts of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Triangles also adorn textiles, beadwork, and woodcarvings from many West and Central African cultures. Triangle-based piecing processes have thrived in Gee’s Bend at least since the 1920s and 1930s, the dates of the oldest surviving quilts. According to many living quilters, these patterns were handed down from former generations.