In 2010 the American Folk Art Museum in New York City featured an exhibit entitled Quilts: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum, collecting some of the most stunning quilts of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and we sure wish we had been there to see it. But you can sample some of the amazing quilts that were on display in this retrospective of the exhibit.

From the Folk Art Museum:

"“Quilts: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum” anchors the Year of the Quilt, the museum’s celebration of a glorious American art form and the creative contributions of three centuries of talented women. Highlighting textile masterpieces in the collection, the exhibitions include recent gifts, bedcovers that have rarely been on view, and important cornerstones of the museum’s comprehensive quilt holdings. Given the rarity of the fabrics used in most of the museum’s historic quilts, the fine workmanship, and the quilts’ well preserved condition, it is clear that they are examples of “best” bedcovers, saved for use on special occasions or when company visited. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when quilts no longer needed to be made for mere warmth, quiltmakers used the art form to express their creativity within the confines of popular decorating trends. Most recently, contemporary fiber artists have taken the opportunity to transcend time and place, using the historical concept of a quilt as a starting point for their artistic, and often social and political, statements."

The Quilts: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum exhibit was on display at the Folk Art Museum in New York City, NY from October 5, 2010 to July 8, 2011.

Click Here, or the image below, to learn more about the exhibit.