"Quilts from the Pilgrim/Roy Collection" WMQFA Exhibit

Warmth, Comfort, Style, Fashion & Fine Art: Quilts from the Pilgrim / Roy Collection celebrates the extraordinary quilt collection of Gerald Roy and Paul Pilgrim, recognized as one of the most influential private collections of American quilts in the United States. At its peak, the Pilgrim/Roy Collection comprised more than 1,500 quilts and has played a foundational role in shaping the understanding, study, and appreciation of quilts as works of art.

Pilgrim and Roy entered the field as gallery owners, antique dealers, and trained artists, approaching quilts as powerful expressions of color, design, and artistic intention—made primarily by women. With little formal knowledge of quilt history or technique at the outset, they applied the same critical eye they brought to fine art, allowing color to guide their collecting. Their approach was deeply influenced by Josef Albers’ theories of color interaction. Roy notably recalled his first encounter with an Amish quilt: “What is a Josef Albers’ painting doing hanging on a clothesline?”

Their collecting philosophy prioritized innovation and what they termed “the mark of the maker,” referring to evidence of creative decision-making, experimentation, and individuality. This approach enabled them to assemble a collection that presents 19th-century quilt makers as bold and sophisticated artists, whose work often anticipated the visual language of 20th-century Abstract Expressionism and Color Field painting.

Pilgrim and Roy began collecting prior to the quilt revival of the 1970s and 1980s and played a key role in establishing the National Quilt Museum in Paducah. The lasting significance of their collection was acknowledged in the landmark exhibition Quilts and Color: Quilts from the Pilgrim/Roy Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 2014.

Presented at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts, Warmth, Comfort, Style, Fashion, & Fine Art invites viewers to experience quilts as objects of warmth and comfort—and as enduring works of style, fashion, and fine art. The exhibition features over thirty quilts from the Pilgrim/Roy Collection, which at the conclusion of the exhibition will become a permanent part of the Museum’s collection. Accompanying the exhibition is a fully illustrated exhibition catalogue with essays by Gerald Roy and Senior Curator Emily Schlemowitz.