She Pioneered New Possibilities for Weaving and Inspired a Generation of Fiber Artists. Why Has Lenore Tawney Been Overlooked for So Long?
Katie White, artnet
September 2024
Over her 50-year career, the American artist Lenore Tawney created intricate, abstract fiber artworks that took on sculptural and even spiritual dimensions. Her works were an unprecedented vision of what textile art could be in New York’s mid-century art scene. Working for a time at the famed Coenties Slip in Lower Manhattan, Tawney worked amid a distinct downtown milieu that included Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, and Agnes Martin, the latter of whom was her close friend and confidant. A generation of fiber artists below her, including Sheila Pepe and Ferne Jakobs, have found inspiration in her works.