The Bride

Lenore Tawney American
1962
Not on view
The Bride represents a breakthrough moment in the career of Lenore Tawney, when she created what she called "woven forms." It combines multiple weaving techniques in a work with a variable width forming an unconventional shape, a structure of the artist’s own invention. Here, she used warp-faced plain weave, warp-faced plain weave with discontinuous weft, and gauze. The widest areas of weaving at the bottom are held in place with metal rods; in the central section, ostrich feathers are inserted in the weft direction. Influenced by ancient Peruvian woven caps with human or camelid hair braids, Tawney ended the warps with braided and knotted fringes. This experimentation with the beginning or end of a weaving was characteristic of the 1960s fiber arts movement, in which Tawney was a major figure.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Bride
  • Artist: Lenore Tawney (American, Lorain, Ohio 1907–2007 New York)
  • Date: 1962
  • Medium: Linen, feathers, wood
  • Dimensions: 12 ft. 2 in. × 19 3/4 in. (370.8 × 50.2 cm)
  • Classification: Textiles
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Lenore G. Tawney Foundation and Lila Acheson Wallace Gifts, 2023
  • Object Number: 2023.643
  • Rights and Reproduction: Lenore G. Tawney Foundation – lenoretawney.org
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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