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Waters Above the Firmament

Beige, square textile with a large circle filling the piece. The circle is bisected laterally, with light-blue vertical striations at top and a beige effect at bottom that includes some darker striations. Short fringe at top and bottom.
© Lenore G. Tawney Foundation

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  • Beige, square textile with a large circle filling the piece. The circle is bisected laterally, with light-blue vertical striations at top and a beige effect at bottom that includes some darker striations. Short fringe at top and bottom.

Date:

1976

Artist:

Lenore Tawney (American, 1907–2007)
United States, New York, New York City

About this artwork

Lenore Tawney’s Waters above the Firmament owes its striking character to the simplicity of its basic concept: a large circle set into a square. This simplicity is complicated by the weight Tawney has given to the upper half of the circle, in which the warps are made of paper and fabric coated in thick blue paint. Here Tawney, known for her pioneering exposure of the warp (vertical thread element), provided a variant on that theme: she wove the circle with slits that open at regular half-inch intervals, emphasizing a third dimension, a device she utilized in many of her weavings. Trained in sculpture at the Institute of Design in Chicago and an alumna of the School of the Art Institute, Tawney’s exploration of weaving as a sculptural enterprise fits well within her body of work, which also includes laminated boxes and collages as well as constructions composed of such materials as eggshells and chairs.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Textiles

Artist

Lenore Tawney

Title

Waters Above the Firmament

Place

New York City (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1976

Medium

Linen, warp-faced weft-ribbed plain weave with discontinuous wefts; 18th/19th century manuscript pages cut into strips, attached, and painted with Liquitex acrylic paint; braided, knotted, and cut warp fringe

Dimensions

397.6 × 369 cm (156 1/2 × 145 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

H. L. and Mary T. Adams, Harriott A. Fox, and Mrs. Siegfried G. Schmidt Endowments; purchased with funds provided by Laurance H. Armour, Jr. and Margot G. Armour Family Foundation, Mrs. William G. Swartchild, Jr., Joan Rosenberg, Joseph W. Fell, and the Textile Society

Reference Number

1983.203

Copyright

© Lenore G. Tawney Foundation

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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