With each room, the exhibit becomes more and more of a collection of repeating images: the train, the barn house, the American flag, Lincoln and Washington. Fading wooden dolls of soldiers and presidents fail to inspire, as do depictions of biblical stories in quilt form. To be valid Americana, the MFA must pull the exhibit out of its lily-white Northeastern provincialism. Harriet Powers, born a slave in Athens, Georgia, becomes the panacea. Her quilt depicts biblical scenes, natural events, and features tales of farming life. While the MFA calls the quilt extraordinary, the quilt appears to vary little from the others in the exhibit.
Red, white and blue cornfields and oceans, baskets, quilts, pots and portraits: this is America, the unprofessional artists’ legacy. The MFA certainly has a collection for and by the people, but for the price of admission, a trip to Grandma’s attic might better fill the yearning for Americana.