Faith Ringgold
American, born 1930

The Sunflower Quilting Bee at Arles,
1996

Lent anonymously

Images of the power of women may become images of the power of women artists. Ringgold has been active in finding a strong identity for women and especially African-American women in the contemporary art world, which has neglected women artists even more than earlier periods have neglected them. Ringgold has made paintings on cloth and has been influenced by quilt-making. This print joyously extols famous African-American women by summoning them to a quilting bee (in imagination) and putting them in the context of Van Gogh's sunflowers. It is art within art within art we see here, with Van Gogh benevolently looking on.


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