The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Untitled

Untitled

1974
(American, 1907–2007)
America, 20th century
linen, cotton, metal, wood; warp-faced plain weave with appliquéd blue jean fragments and buttons
Overall: 200.2 x 66.3 cm (78 13/16 x 26 1/8 in.)
Gift of The Textile Arts Club 1975.39
© Lenore G. Tawney Foundation
Location: not on view

Description

Lenore Tawney is internationally recognized as a pioneer in post-World War II American art. She transformed the traditional two-dimensional textile surface into expressive three-dimensional forms and expanded the media of collage and assemblage. In 1955, Tawney began radical experiments in weaving by leaving open spaces between the vertical warps. She created startling juxtapositions between unwoven and woven areas, which she displayed as three-dimensional hangings in space instead of on walls. In 1974, Tawney created a series of weavings based on the American flag. Other versions include the same red and natural linen stripes with buttons either on painted newsprint or, in a miniature version, on denim. As with many artists who have created renditions of the flag since Jasper Johns displayed his flag paintings at the Leo Castelli gallery in New York in 1958, Tawney's bold work reflects both social and political sentiments. In a note written to the museum's textile curator in 1975, when this "flag" was donated by the Textile Arts Club (now the Textile Art Alliance), an affiliate group of the CMA, she described its significance: "For years I had thought of flags and banners. So I finally did it. . . . After the long series of exposures of the Nixon crimes (and others) I felt our flag was being shamed, hence it is 'untitled.' It goes back to beginnings. Instead of Betsy Ross's petticoat, a friend gave me her blue jeans, and the blue jean buttons are the stars, dark and not proud. But still the true sentiments of that early time are there, the 'true-blue,' the good and strong linen."
  • Park, Betty. "Fiber Art: An Uncommon Thread." Fiberarts, March/April 1982. Loveland, CO: Interweave Press LLC. p. 78-79
    Wardwell, Anne E. Material Matters: Fifty Years of Gifts from the Textile Arts Club, 1934-1984 : [Exhibition] 21 November-30 December 1984, the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Museum, 1984. p. 42
    Tawney, Lenore, Kathleen Nugent Mangan, and George Erml. Lenore Tawney: A Retrospective : American Craft Museum, New York. New York: Rizzoli, 1990.
    Rubin, David S. Old Glory: The American Flag in Contemporary Art : June 14-August 14, 1994, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, 1994. p. 32-33, no. 69, listing p. 62
    WIlson, Anne. "A Plea for Broader Dialogue." Fiberarts, Summer 1994. Loveland, CO: Interweave Press LLC. p. 52-56
    Stein, Judith E. "The Inventive Genius of Lenore Tawney." Fiberarts, September 1995, Vol. 24, no. 2. Loveland, CO: Interweave Press LLC. p. 28-34
    Kingsley, April. "Unraveling the weave." Fiberarts, March / April 1995, Vol. 21, Loveland, CO: Interweave Press LLC. p. 45-51
    Russell, Carol. "An Emissary for American Artists." Fiberarts, November 1996. Loveland, CO: Interweave Press LLC. p. 48-53
  • Object in Focus: Untitled, 1974, by Lenore Tawney [linen, cotton: warp-faced plain weave with appliqued blue jean fragments and buttons 1975.39]. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 13-August 13, 2000).
    Old Glory: The American Flag in Contemporary Art. Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH (June 14-August 14, 1994).
    Material Matters: Fifty Years of Gifts from the Textile Arts Club. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 21-December 30, 1984).
    Form and Fiber: Work of Toshiko Takaezu and Lenore Tawney. The Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 14-November 2, 1979).
    Year in Review: 1975. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 3-March 7, 1976).
    Year in Review for 1975. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1976).
  • {{cite web|title=Untitled|url=false|author=Lenore Tawney|year=1974|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1975.39