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Author Falls, Susan, author.

Title Overshot : the political aesthetics of woven textiles from the Antebellum South and beyond / Susan Falls & Jessica R. Smith.

Publication Info. Athens : The University of Georgia Press, [2020]
©2020

Item Status

Description 1 online resource (xvii, 176 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations (some color)
Physical Medium polychrome
Description text file
Note "A Sarah Mills Hodge Fund publication"--Title page verso.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents Setting the loom -- Said to have been made by slaves -- Plain-style people -- Pioneer sisters -- An optical art -- Unfolded.
Summary "In the decades preceding the Civil War, coverlets became popular in rural white American households. Often woven by itinerant professional male weavers at the specification of women for use in their homes, these coverlets represent a distinctly American tradition that reflects a rich legacy of folk textiles. Examples of these coverlets are exhibited in both northern and southern states, although in different contexts. They are sometimes exhibited in slave quarters along the seaboard in Georgia and South Carolina in association with plantation properties, as well as in piedmont areas in association with the antebellum yeomanry. These southern textiles are particularly interesting not because of their uniqueness within American textile production in the first half of the 19th century, but because they are most often attributed, in the context of the museum display, to everyday African American slave use, and sometimes to slave production. There is a distinct contrast between the aesthetics of slave house textiles (which are usually bold, hand spun, artisan woven overshot with double weave undulating geometrics) and those of the plantation houses (which tend to be associated with polychromatic European imported printed and woven designs). What can we learn by examining the exhibition and interpretation of these textiles within narratives of American history? This book seeks to answer that question through the examination of these critical questions: How do these textiles arrive in museum collections? How does their placement in slave and servant quarters position them within a history of African American enslaved people's material culture, when in fact they might have been cast offs from an owner? And, finally, in investigating the politics of contemporary exhibition practices, how do appearances resulting from mode of production shape the production of history? Through these explorations, Falls and Smith contend that these exhibits can tell us far more about America's lifestyles today than they might accurately represent the past, particularly with regard to ideas about race, class, gender, the value of women's work, and the separation of private versus public spaces"-- Provided by publisher.
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Subject Hand weaving -- United States -- History -- 19th century.
Hand weaving.
United States.
History.
Chronological Term 19th century
Subject Textile design -- United States -- History -- 19th century.
Textile design.
Coverlets -- Southern States -- History -- 19th century.
Coverlets.
Southern States.
Southern States -- Social life and customs -- 1775-1865.
Manners and customs.
Chronological Term 1775-1865
Subject Museum exhibits -- Social aspects -- United States.
Museum exhibits -- Social aspects.
Museum exhibits.
Aesthetics -- Political asepcts -- United States.
Aesthetics.
Chronological Term 1775-1899
Genre/Form Electronic books.
Electronic books.
History.
Added Author Smith, Jessica R., 1971- author.
Other Form: Print version: Falls, Susan. Overshot. Athens : The University of Georgia Press, [2020] 9780820356679 (DLC) 2019033185 (OCoLC)1112807944
ISBN 9780820357720 (electronic book)
0820357723 (electronic book)
9780820356679
0820356670
9780820357713 paperback
0820357715 paperback