Description

The UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archives (BAMPFA) has received a transformative and unparalleled bequest of 3,000 quilts created by an estimated 400 African American women. The collection was formed by Eli Leon (1935 – 2018), a Bay Area psychotherapist who made his first purchases in the mid-1980s from the celebrated quilter Rosie Lee Tompkins (d. 2006) at a local flea market. In addition to making purchases, Leon traveled throughout the American South, at one point on a Guggenheim fellowship, to document the lineages, styles and techniques associated with the quilters and their work. His collection ledgers, research archive, and correspondence were bequeathed to BAMPFA along with the collection.
BAMPFA  seeks support for the personnel, services, and materials required to begin work on the collection that now constitutes 15 percent of the museum’s entire holdings. The museum has prioritized cataloguing, photographing, and conducting a conservation survey of the quilts. While the majority are in good condition, having been carefully stored by Leon, some objects will require treatment. The completed conservation survey will also provide a set of recommendations for the permanent housing and long-term storage of the quilts, and will be used in anticipated funding requests to the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the and National Endowment for the Humanities.
After the collection processing is completed, project personnel will identify approximately 100 collection highlights, including quilts by such well-known makers as Tompkins, Laverne Brackens, Willa Ette Graham, and Arbie Williams, to be featured in a major exhibition scheduled to open in 2022. Preparation for the exhibition will include the completion of oral-history interviews with the living artists, and the production of a fully-illustrated, multi-author exhibition catalogue to be published by University of California Press. BAMPFA also plans a robust array of public and school programs, as well as the integration of the exhibition into curricula in Art History, Art Practice, and African American Studies.
The proposed grant would fund dedicated term positions including: project registrar; project conservator; and project curator. It would additionally underwrite costs associated with the production of the 2022 exhibition and catalogue.
The placement of this rare and expansive collection in a public institution, where it will be made increasingly accessible through documentation, exhibition, and publication, will significantly advance scholarship and popular understanding of these remarkable objects, in the context of African American culture and the field of textile arts. The project provides an exemplary opportunity for the American Art Program to continue its support for permanent collections and specifically for projects that bring them before new audiences in compelling ways.
Recommendation:   That the Directors of the Henry Luce Foundation approve a three-year grant of $500,000 to the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, University of California for the African American quilt collection project: support, exhibition and catalogue.