Post War and Contemporary Art

At the age of 50, in 1957 Tawney left her comfortable life in Chicago to live in a derelict loft on the southern tip of Manhattan. Wanting to live “a barer life, closer to reality,” her move brought her into contact with artists Robert Indiana, Ellsworth Kelly, James Rosenquist, and Agnes Martin. Before her relocation, Tawney was already creating gauzy tapestries in which areas of plain weave were juxtaposed with laid-in designs and large, transparent sections of loose weaving. Exposure to the avant-garde art world of her neighbors, Tawney began to experiment with open-warp techniques that went beyond the traditional rectilinear format and moved the fiber art into three-dimensional space.  When suspended from a ceiling, away from walls, the resultant complex shapes invite physical interaction not normally associated with weaving.

In addition to her weaving, in 1964 Tawney began to produce mixed media collages and assemblages that include feathers, twigs, pebbles, string, and bones. She would also collect rare books, often in foreign languages, and use their pages to cover boxes and place these found items within. She seemed to revel in not knowing what the pages signified and the serendipity of the words often meaning what she intended, once translated. The same year, she commenced studies of the Jacquard loom and to create mesmerizing, precise ink drawings that explore the density of the mechanized weaving process. From these drawings, Tawney began to integrate thread into her paper-covered boxes. 

Both coming from one of the largest private collections of Tawney’s work, Untitled (String Box), 1966, and The Radiant White Dove, 1967, represent this shift in the her oeuvre. Composed of an open container swathed in book pages, Untitled (String Box) is a combination of assemblage and Tawney’s work with the Jacquard loom. Thin strips of paper drift from the upper portion of the box and quiver with the slightest breath of air. They are anchored by the strong diagonals of overlapping threads that create a twisting vortex from top to bottom to create a vibrating form. Radiant White Dove equally possesses a sense of intransience. Dense strips of yellow-hued manuscript pages open to create a “nest” for a hidden egg. Tawney created a series of egg collages in 1967, including That Other Sea and One, Two, Three (locations unknown). The title is a direct reference to Carl Jung, for whom the dove was a potent dream symbol. Tawney studied Jung quite seriously, an interest she shared with her friend, psychiatrist Dr. Jack Weinberg, who was the original owner of this work. Long attracted by philosophies of both the East and West, these delicate, poetic pieces are imbued with intangible messages about inner peace and the fragility of life.

Tawney continued to work and travel for the remainder of her long life, going on extended visits to India in the 1970s as her interest in Eastern philosophies grew. Her dedication to spirituality greatly influenced her work and choice of subject matter. She saw her repetitive and labor-intensive work as a form of mediation and her ethereal weaving and assemblages can be viewed as acts of devotion in an ongoing spiritual quest. Throughout her vibrant career, Tawney was a “devoted artist of contemplation, vitality, daring, and vision who, out of thousands of threads, words, feathers, and knots, brought forth a profound and dancing unity.” (Donna Seaman, Identity Unknown: Rediscovering Seven American Women Artists, New York, 2017, p. 411)