ABOUT THE EMBASSY

The Fine Art Collection of the Embassy

Sunflower Quilt

Cloth:  A Heritage of Pattern

Addison/Ripley Fine Art

Côte d’Ivoire is a tropical, coastal West African country of more than sixteen million residents, bordered by Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso, Liberia, and Guinea.  The landscape features lush foliage, extensive lakes, a rugged coastline, and a flourishing avian life.  Home to more than sixty recognized ethnic groups and a strong French influence dating from colonial times, Abidjan is a cosmopolitan city often described as the “Paris of West Africa.” 

The Fine Art Collection of the New Embassy Compound (NEC) sets a strong cultural tone.  Its purpose, beyond the aesthetic enhancement of public spaces, is to further public diplomacy efforts and to enhance a personal connection to the new embassy.  The art program seeks to engage mission personnel, as well as visitors to the building, highlighting commonalities and fostering mutual understanding between Ivoirians and Americans.

The overall theme of this Fine Art Collection is cloth; thus, the vital core of the collection is based upon fourteen quilts from a fifty-member women’s community called Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective, located in rural southwest Alabama.  These large, distinctive creations are distributed in prominent locations throughout the building.  Bold, asymmetrical compositions in traditional patterns and strong colors are the basis for these distinguished, compelling art pieces.  As many of the quilt makers cite generations-old West African influences, especially Kente cloth patterns and colors, it is particularly appropriate that these quilts are displayed at the new embassy compound in Côte d’Ivoire.  The quilt makers combine African-American quilt traditions with a geometric simplicity reminiscent of Amish design and modern American art.  In some examples, the Gee’s Bend quilters have utilized pieces of cloth that have distinct African design elements.  In others, the artists have used recycled bits of cloth from their community and woven them into the designs on display in the embassy.  Currently, “The Quilts of Gee’s Bend,” an exhibition of quilts from the Collective, is touring museums in the United States with exhibitions in Houston, Washington, DC, New York City, Chicago, and Atlanta.

After the acquisition of the Gee’s Bend Quilts in the collection, the remaining selections were made from artists living through the United States.  Artists from Texas, New York, Colorado, Wisconsin, California, Georgia, Minnesota, Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC are represented.  In addition, works were selected from the Elliot Elisofen Archives at the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution, and from “African Ceremonies,” a highly original anthropological photographic work by Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher.

From Faith Ringgold’s “Sunflowers Quilting Bee,” which makes direct reference to the communal process of quilt-making, to the delicate abstract curves of Nancy Sansom Reynolds’ “Red Arcs,” carved from humble plywood, the inspiration for the entire Fine Art Collection derives from the visual and historic themes suggested by Gee’s Bend Quilts and from the texture and pattern of cloth.  The two early twentieth-century Dida Raffia skirts on display tie the quilts directly to the Dan peoples’ traditions in the Côte d’Ivoire.  Contemporary quilts by Robin Cowley, Janet Steadman, and Phil Jones are excellent examples of the strength and scope of quilt making as a fine art enterprise in the United States.  The markings on the trees in Maxwell Mackenzie’s large black and white photographs are suggestive of traditional West African body decoration.  Julia von Eichel’s “Untitled” work on paper, with its rich textural blues, has the feel of organic weaving.  The print by Synthia Saint James, “A Rock, A River, A Tree” draws upon the artist’s West African heritage for inspiration.

In its entirety, this Fine Art Collection includes sixty works in oil and watercolor, carved wood and mixed media, embroidery and quilting, and printmaking and photography.  The collection draws visual and intellectual connections between Côte d’Ivoire traditions and American art forms.  Throughout the building, the collection exhibits both contemporary and traditional expression while highlighting the vision, skill, and accomplishment of these artists and artisans.  Most works were created during the last several years, although in the case of Elliot Elisofen, his photographs were taken during his travels throughout Africa from 1970 to 1973.  In addition, many of the artists represented here such as Wolf Kahn, Synthia Saint James, Sam Gilliam, and Agnes Jacobs, have graciously loaned their work to the U.S. Department of State’s Art in Embassies program for many official U.S. residences throughout the world.

The generous advice and direction of many current and former United States Foreign Service personnel in the formation of the collection is gratefully acknowledged.  In addition, the discerning eye and professional expertise of the designers at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Building Operations made this project a truly collaborative endeavor.

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Artists included in this collection:  Nancy Pettway, Annie Pettway, Essie B. Pettway, Bettie B. Seltzer, Loretta Bennett, Lucy Witherspoon, Marlene Bennett, Mensie Lee Pettway, Stella Mae Pettway, Annie Mae Young, Arlonzia Pettway, Lucy Mingo, and Qunnie Pettway from the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective, Robin Wassong, Phil Jones, Robin Cowley, Faith Ringgold, Synthia Saint James, Janet Steadman, Julia von Eichel, Agnes Jacobs, Mavis Pusey, Sam Gilliam, Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher, Robert Natkin, Elliot Elisofen, Edith Kuhnle, Alex MacLean, Nancy Sansom Reynolds, Wolf Kahn, Maxwell Mackenzie, and Pamela Nelson.