Born May 10, 1907 – Died September 24, 2007) was an American fiber artist who became an influential figure in the development of woven sculpture as an art medium.

In 1946 she attended Chicago Institute of Design. She studied with Moholy-Nagy, cubist sculptor Alexander Archipenko and abstract expressionist painter Emerson Woelffer, among others, and in 1949, she studied tapestry with the Finnish weaver Martta Taipale at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina.

In 1957, she moved to New York City, where she became associated with a generation of artists includingEllsworth Kelly, Robert Indiana, Agnes Martin and Jack Youngerman. Since then, Tawney lived and worked mainly in New York City, where she died, aged 100.

From the beginning her early works broke with tradition.

Tawney emphasized the individuality of each thread, either singly as a visible entity or grouped together thrust boldly through the confines of the selvedge. It was a first step in ignoring the restrictions of rectangularity prescribed by the loom.

Tawney’s love of words, in particular her knowledge of poetry and mystical writings, was an integral part of her art. Her journals are reflections of her readings, her experiences, her travels, her visual encounters, and her life’s quest of centering both the artist and the person. Many of her works incorporate handwritten and printed manuscripts in a variety of languages 

Lenore Tawney. “Lekythos, 1962,Linen, 50” x 31 x 2”

Lenore Twaney. “The Path”, 1962. Line, 24k gold 90” x 24”.

She considered much of her repetitive and labor-intensive work — the thousands of knotted threads in “Cloud Sculpture,” for example — a form of meditation.

Left Lenore Tawney. “Black woven Form (Fountain)”, 1966 Line 103’ x 15”.

Right Lenore Tawey “Inside the Earth, a Mountain”, ca 1965. Lenin 103” x 16” x 3”

Lenore Tawney working on “Vespers” in her South Street studio , 1961 Linen. 82” x 21”

Lenore Tawney. “Vespers”, 1961 Linen. 82” x 21”

Lenore Tawney. “ The Judge”, 1961 Linen. 124” x 14”

Lenore Tawney. “Lost and Proud”, 1957. Line,wool, and silk 43” x 52”.

Lenore Tawney. “Lekythos, 1963,Linen, 50” x 31”

All along her works were studies in contrasts: some as open and diaphanous as spider webs.

Lenore Tawney. “Bound Man”, 1957 Wool, silk, and goathair. 84” x 36”Collection of Museum of Arts & Design, purchased by American Craft Council, 1958

Lenore Tawney. “Ark veil”, 1963 Linen and gold wire, 120” x 54”

Lenore Tawney at her Beekman Street studio, 1966.

A view of Lenore Tawney in her studio.

Lenore Tawney. “Red Sea”, 1974,Linen, 93” x 84”

Like other artists, she explored the motif of circle in the square and proved that abstraction, rather than being the sole domain of sculpture and painting, had an equally powerful ally in the medium of fiber, rendering it less static. 

Lenore Tawney. “Morning Redness”, 1974,Linen manuscript paper , and Liquitex, 36” x 36”

She permitted light to penetrate between meticulously woven slits. The partial addition of manuscript paper added a quality of utter timelessness. The circle in the square remained an important aspect of her work as she continued to use it in line drawings, collages and assemblages

"Throughout the work, Tawney's intention is the same -- to represent what is not seen , to express the essence. Frequently, she does this through the use of basic, universal symbols such as the circle within the square (representing the unity of self) or the cross (representing the meeting of opposites and the point at which linear and eternal time meet). The surfaces of ["Tau" and "In Fields of Light"] are interrupted only by slits in the tapestry that reinforce their strong geometry, and form and color are distilled to their essence. On this scale, the viewer is literally enveloped 'in fields of light.'" Kathleen Nugent Mangan, from the catalogue for Tawney's Exhibit at the Stedelijk Musuem, Amsterdam, 1996

In Fields of Light, 1975, linen, 9 x 8 feet, 4 1/2 inches

 Lenore Tawney, Union of Water and Fire, 1974

The Crossing, 1998, waxed linen, 96 x 48 x 24"

"The crossing: the point at which Energy is transformed, day into night, positive into negative. Prayer is transformation, the point at whichEnergy changes..." C. Vicuna 1998

 Tawney’s New York loft, as seen in 1994, was a room-scale collage, filled with her spatial arrangements of objects, and serving as her studio, gallery, meditation sanctuary and home. Photo/William Seitz.

from Lenore Tawney: Signs on the Wind, Postcard Collages, p. 47, to Jack Lenor Larsen,