Nativity In Nature

Lenore Tawney (1907-2007)
NATIVITY IN NATURE
1960
Cotton, linen, wool, silk and metallic threads
130" x 126"

Commissioned by The Interchurch Center in 1959, Nativity in Nature is installed on the west wall of the narthex of the chapel. It depicts the Virgin and child in a landscape surrounded by owls, a heron and other water birds, amidst rich foliage. The Virgin appears only in outline and the Christ child is represented simply by light. The chapel's architect, Frederick Dunn, commented the tapestry...has all the dignity of a Byzantine mosaic, which dignity owes much to the simple drafting of the figures. The concept is most poetic in that the Christ Child is shown only as a blaze of light. In the Bible, John (1:4-9) speaks of Jesus as light. The tapestry was restored, cleaned and relined in May, 1994 by approved museum archival preservation methods.

Nativity in Nature is an important early work of this internationally known weaver who pioneered methods of open weaving in monumental tapestries as early as the 1960s. She went on to become nationally known and internationally famous for her abstract compositions and innovative techniques in this traditional medium. A major exhibition her tapestries including drawings assemblages, collages and sculpture opened at the American Craft Museum in 1990, traveled to the Art Institute of Chicago and was shown in 1991 at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C. Ms. Tawney lived and worked in New York City.