Chinese Souls - Wikipedia

Chinese Souls #2

Artist	Nancy Crow
Year	1992 (1992)
Type	Quilt
Dimensions	210 cm × 230 cm (81 in × 89 in)
Location	Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis
Owner	Indianapolis Museum of Art

Chinese Souls #2 is a quilt by American artist Nancy Crow, located at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was created in 1992 as part of a series of memorial quilts she began in response to an atrocity she witnessed in China in 1990.^[1]

Description

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Chinese Souls #2 is made of resist-dyed fabric which has been embroidered, machine-pieced, and quilted. The dying process created the circular patterns and rich array of hues. The spiraling embroidery adds energy to the composition. This combination of vivid colors, striking patterns, and social commentary is typical of Crow's work.^[1]

Crow performed the initial dying of the fabric, which was then resist-dyed by Lunn Fabrics. Crow cut and pieced the quilt alone in her studio, still hearing the cries of the condemned. She stopped frequently to weep. She then embroidered the quilt with the help of Marla Hattabaugh, Suzanne Keller, and Maria Magisano. Hattabaugh performed the hand-quilting according to the pattern created by Crow.^[2]

Background information

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According to the artist, "Chinese Souls quilts are my memorial to more than 60 teenage boys who were bound and loaded on two trucks to be driven to their execution for petty crimes. I witnessed this horrible incident when I was an exchange artist in China in September 1990. The boys were all wrapped with heavy ropes. In these quilts, the circles represent their souls and the bull’s-eye embroidery and the hand-quilting represents the ropes tied around their souls. The colors of the circles represent the individuals. I have always felt there is an eerie energy that radiates out from the surface of each of these quilts".^[3]

So intense was Crow's visceral reaction to the executions that she felt compelled to begin embroidering a grid of circles on the resist-dyed fabric she had with her, an intersection between the cross-hairs of a gun and the circles painted on the wall so the boys' parents would know where they had died. When she returned to the United States, she quickly produced a series of ten quilts based on the same theme, of which she considers Chinese Souls #2 to be the finest.^[4]

The artwork was sold by Nancy Crow to the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1996, where it has the accession number 1996.249.^[3]

References

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^ ^a ^b Lee, Ellen Wardwell; Robinson, Anne (2005). Indianapolis Museum of Art: Highlights of the Collection. Indianapolis: Indianapolis Museum of Art. ISBN 0936260777.
^ Crow, Nancy (2006). Nancy Crow. Elmhurst, Illinois: Breckling Press. p. 302. ISBN 1933308036.
^ ^a ^b "Chinese Souls #2". Indianapolis Museum of Art. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
^ Robertson, Jean (2002). "Oral history interview with Nancy Crow, 2002 Dec 18". Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 4 September 2012.

External links

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IMA page.

Indianapolis Museum of Art (Newfields)

Significant
artworks at the
Indianapolis
Museum of Art

African art	Face mask Senufo female ancestor figure Magbo helmet mask for Oro society Palace plaque depicting warrior Guardian figure Healing of Abiku Children
American painting and sculpture to 1945	Afternoon Tea Cliff Rock - Appledore Dorothy Hotel Lobby Hurricane Jimson Weed Morning at Grand Manan Preparing for the Matinee Red Kimono on the Roof Reflections Sunlight The Boat Builders The Flight of Europa The Love Song The Rainbow Tidying Up U.S.A. Untitled (The Birth)
Asian art	Bowl with two violet spots Cong-shaped vase Covered jar with carp design Fine Wind, Clear Morning Ksitigarbha bodhisattva Ritual wine server Shigaraki ware storage jar Vase with carved peony scrolls Vase with nine peach design
Contemporary art	Acton Courre Merlan Egyptian Barnyard LOVE painting LOVE (sculpture) The Quintet of the Silent They Waz Nice White Folks While They Lasted (Sez One Gal to Another) Untitled Landfield Untitled Judd Untitled Irwin
Decorative arts	Angel of the Resurrection Coffee service High chest of drawers Portland Vase Side chair
European painting and sculpture to 1945	Aristotle Battle Between Carnival and Lent Breton Women at a Wall Broek in Waterland Charing Cross Bridge Crucifix Crucifixion Enclosed Field with Peasant Entry of Christ into Jerusalem Entry of Christ into Jerusalem House in Provence Landscape near Arles Ma Jolie Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist and St. Mary Magdalene Man and Woman Peasant with a Wheelbarrow Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well Roman Capriccio: The Pantheon and Other Monuments Saint Luke Self-Portrait Rembrandt Still Life with a Chinese Porcelain Jar Still Life with Profile of Laval The Banks of the Oise near Pontoise The Boy The Channel of Gravelines, Petit Fort Philippe The Country Dance The Crucifixion Cranach The Fifth Plague of Egypt The Flageolet Player on the Cliff The Flight into Egypt The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist The House of the Deaf Woman and the Belfry at Eragny The Negress The Seamstress The Triumphant Entry of Constantine into Rome The Two Sisters The Valkhof at Nijmegen Triptych of the Annunciation Vorhor, the Green Wave
Art of the Americas	Haida ceremonial dance rattle
Oceanic art	Helmet mask (Tatanua)
Prints, drawings, and photographs	Blasting St. Vincent's Rock, Clifton Boreas and Oreithyia Galinthias Outwits Eileithyia by Announcing the Birth of Heracles Mother (Mutter) Moulin Rouge: La Goulue The Holy Family with the Dragonfly Young Woman in Blue
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Outdoor
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100 Acres	Bench Around the Lake Eden II Free Basket Funky Bones Indianapolis Island Park of the Laments Stratum Pier Team Building (Align)
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Deaccessioned
artworks

Leadership

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