Sheila Hicks & Lenore Tawney
in Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
8 November 2024 – 2 March 2025
Opening on 8 November 2024 National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa will present The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s tour exhibition, ‘Weaving Abstraction in Ancient and Modern Art’, continuing until 2 March 2025.
The group exhibition features works by Sheila Hicks, Olga de Amaral, Lenore Tawney and Anni Albers alongside pieces by Andean artists from the first millennium BCE to the 16th century. The constructive nature of weavings, arising from the grid formed by the vertical and horizontal elements of the loom, prompted the formal investigation of geometric designs that emphasise the integral relationship between structure and design in the textiles. Each of the four modern artists featured, including Tawney, developed innovative approaches to an ancient medium through deep study of Andean techniques. Shown together, these ancient and modern weavings reposition the place of textiles in global art history.