The King of Beasts

1977

The King of Beasts, 1977. Lenore Tawney (American, 1907–2007). Pen and black ink and collage; image: 16 x 10 cm (6 5/16 x 3 15/16 in.); sheet: 16 x 10 cm (6 5/16 x 3 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Katharine Kuh 1981.186 © Lenore G. Tawney Foundation 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. Baby animals such as this lion cub can refer to vulnerability, rebirth, or the life force. 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.