Artwork Page for Owl 43 (recto)

Details / Information for Owl 43 (recto)

Owl 43 (recto)

1975

Lenore Tawney

(American, 1907–2007)
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Culture
America
Medium
pen and black ink and watercolor and collage
Support
Postcard
Measurements
Image: 15.7 x 10.5 cm (6 3/16 x 4 1/8 in.); Sheet: 15.7 x 10.5 cm (6 3/16 x 4 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Katharine Kuh 1981.177.a
Copyright
© Lenore G. Tawney Foundation
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

Lenore Tawney was a pioneering fiber artist known for large-scale public installations, but her postcard collages were personal missives to close friends on an intimate scale.

Description

This is one of 44 postcard collages in the CMA’s collection that the textile artist Lenore Tawney sent through the mail to her friend, the art dealer, curator, and critic Katherine Kuh between 1969 and 1981. Using natural objects and ephemera that she compiled over a lifetime, Tawney’s collages display the artist’s personal visual vocabulary and poetic response to materials. Recurring images—such as eggs, feathers, birds, baby animals, crosses, and circles—engage with universal themes such as vulnerability, resilience, infinity, and spirituality. Owls appear regularly in Tawney's imagery and could refer to evil, or wisdom.
A vertically oriented mixed media collage features a large, fuzzy owl cutout with mottled gray feathers and dark eyes. Two small, medium-light human feet rest on a green branch beneath the body. The background consists of teal washes over layered paper, featuring cursive script on our left and a blue postage stamp in the upper right. Scraps of printed text, numbers, and inverted Greek letters are scattered throughout the composition.

Owl 43 (recto)

1975

Lenore Tawney

(American, 1907–2007)
America

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