232. Dancing at the louvre, from the series The French Collection, Part I; #1. Faith Ringgold. 1991 CE Acrylic on canvas, tie-dyed, pieced fabric border.

• Materials
  • The artist uses the American slave art form of the quilt to create her works
  • Quilts were originally meant to be both beautiful and useful–works of applied art
  • These quilts are not meant to be useful
  • Quilting is a traditionally female art form
  • The artist combines the traditional use of oil paint with the quilting technique
• Content
  • Figures in Ringgold’s works often act out a history that might never have taken place, but that the artist would have liked to have taken place
  • The artist created a character named Willia Marie Simone, a young black artist who moves to Paris. She takes her friend and three daughters to the Louvre museum and dances in front of three paintings by Leondardo da Vinci
  • The story is spelled out in text written on the borders of the quilt
  • This is the first of twelve quilts in a series
• Context
  • Faith Ringgold is a New York-born, African-American artist
  • The quilt has a narrative element
  • Feminist and racial issues dominate her work
  • Her works often reflect her struggle for success in an art world dominated by ales working in the European tradition