The Amish have been referred to as plain people, but there is nothing plain about their quilts. The artistry of the Amish tradition will be on full display at the de Young when the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco presents “Amish Abstractions: Quilts from the Collection of Faith and Stephen Brown” in the Caroline and H. McCoy Jones Textile Gallery. The show, which opens Saturday, features 48 full-size and crib quilts that showcase the diversity of the Amish quilt tradition, as well as the connoisseurship of collectors Faith and Stephen Brown.

Using a rich color palette and bold patterns, the quilts are visual distillations of Amish culture and a unique contribution to American textile history. The works’ abstract patterns complement their craftsmanship and complexity. On first encountering Amish quilts, the Browns recall, “We were amazed by the bold graphics and striking colors, the very opposite of what we had expected. And we couldn’t get over the way some quilts seemed to anticipate abstract artists such as Josef Albers, Victor Vasarely, Frank Stella, Mark Rothko, Sol LeWitt and Ellsworth Kelly, among others.”

The quilts in the exhibition originated in cities throughout Pennsylvania and the Midwest and date from the 1880s to the 1940s.

The de Young Museum is in Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco. It’s open Tuesday–Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. and Friday 9:30 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. It’s closed Monday. Admission is $10 for adults, $7 for seniors, $6 youths 13–17 and students with a college I.D. Members and children under 12 are free. The first Tuesday of every month is free.

For more information, visit www.deyoungmuseum.org or call (415) 750-3600.