The Impact of Black Cultural Traditions on Abstraction

The omission of Black influences in art history and contemporary art has been perpetuated until recent times. Historically, European artists have received much of the acclaim for originating major art movements. For example, it is well known that many iconic painters such as Picasso and Matisse were greatly influenced by their exposure to African art. In fact, during his lifetime, Picasso expressed how his introduction to African sculpture revolutionized his art practice, which is clearly seen in the Cubist movement.¹1Denise Murrell, “African Influences in Modern Art,” Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, Essays, April 2008, https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/aima/hd_aima.htm.✕ However, the importance of African art was diminished and all but ignored because of its cultural origins and the belief that art by artists of color was primitive.

The roots of abstract art are evident in the quilt making of Black slaves. Long before Georgia O’Keeffe thought of abstraction, and prior to the discovery of nonrepresentational art by the likes of de Kooning, Pollock, Rothko, and others, Black American artists were exploring and mastering this genre of expression. Long overdue recognition belongs to Black quilt makers who worked in textiles and were taught sewing and quilting from a place of need and preserving legacy.

For these talented artists, the art form was not an exploratory or leisure activity but one born of necessity. After toiling long hours in fields not their own, skilled Black women spent their time imagining, arranging, and sewing castaways and scraps into warm coverings for family and community. They didn’t have the luxury of experimentation with a variety of media but made a way to use every piece. Through skillful application, geometric shapes, appliqués, and colorful patterns, they “painted” using the media of fabric to form the tops for these works of art. Quilts possess the same irregularities and absence of representation later seen in abstract paintings that have stood the test of time. As in many families, this vibrant heritage has been sustained through familial transference, much in the way my beloved father taught me to sew and make quilts.

Black quilt making may have been considered unsophisticated because its roots in African textile traditions differ from the symmetrical predictability seen in its White counterparts. However, it is in their uniqueness that quilts made by Black quilters express the colorful creativity of African culture. For example, Mary Lee Bendolph’s Housetop quilt (2004) seems very painterly in her approach to its design. Its vertical and horizontal geometric shapes lack uniformity in width, bending and changing direction, guiding the viewer’s eye through the piece. Bendolph’s masterful use of color, rather than being predictable, appears in various areas of the piece, tying the composition together—the hallmarks of an abstract artwork. Her ability to create and control the movement is testament to her skill and history as a Black woman and quilter. The inclusion of the influence of Bendolph and so many other Black quilters in the history of abstract art is long overdue and well deserved.