Monday, March 28, 2011

Joanna Semel Rose

Do you know who she is? Well neither did I until just recently, but I did a little search when I heard her name.

Joanna Semel Rose

She was an English Major, an art collector, an intellectual, prominent philanthropist, and doyenne of a leading New York real estate family. She was formerly the chairperson of the Partisan Review. However, what is most interesting to me is that she owns at least 650 quilts!

 Impressive yes, but it gets better than that. All of these quilts are red and white!

When asked by her husband what she wanted for her 80th birthday she suggested ...and I quote 
Something I've not seen before and something that would be a gift for New York City."  Seeing all of these quilts at the same moment would be the ideal gift.  "



This is what resulted from her birthday request.

"Infinite Variety"










An amazing quilt show displaying 650 quilts from 3 centuries. 







Here is an excerpt from what is written in the show booklet.


















3 comments:

  1. It's an amazing exhibit isn't it? I came across last night on Brooklyn bloggers site. she made the comment about how lucky she felt to live in New York and to be able to see the exhibit.

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  2. That exhibit looks so amazing. I fully admit I don't know much about quilting, but it looks like it be so interesting to visit! Like you said, I wouldn't want to live there, but there are certain times that events there would be well worth visiting!

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  3. I so wish I could see that exhibit. It looks so incredible. Imagine owning 651 red and white quilts... and she didn't even know how many she owned. Imagine what a thrill it was for her to see them all hanging... wow...

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