Morris David Dorenfeld: Tapestry Artist (3/30/1937-2/13/2023)
Long after studying painting at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League in New York City, Morris David (Morrie) Dorenfeld found his true medium at the age of 42, when he discovered an abandoned barn loom, massive and awe-inspiring, like a piece of sculpture, in an empty New Hampshire farmhouse attic. Shortly thereafter, upon moving with his partner Bob Davis to Midcoast Maine in 1978, he fully embraced weaving. In his forty-five years as a fiber artist since then, Morrie mastered the art of creating large tapestries—paintings in fiber—and was among the few practitioners in the world who developed this medium into a fine art form. His colorful, bold compositions, simultaneously simple and complex, coupled with his determination to express his inner life, place him in the proud tradition of self-exploration that energized Abstract Expressionism.
Morrie’s debt to the work of Abstract Expressionists such as Mark Rothko and Philip Guston can be seen in his bold, uninhibited use of color. The depth in his weavings comes not from the illusory distance of perspective but from pure color that elicits emotion. Morrie embraced the plasticity of Hans Hoffman’s push–pull theory and the color intensity of Guston. In his work, pools of color do not recede to suggest depth but rather push forward to create tension within the larger field.
Morrie created vibrant, evocative, powerful work—blending color, form, and line into luminous, passionate compositions. Even as all artists owe a debt to those who came before, Morrie created work that evolved to be independent of influence. Through his choice of medium and his personal experience, he developed his own voice—and his own visual truth. As Katharine Cartwright has written, “According to master tapestry weaver Patricia Armour of New Zealand, currently there are only about 1,000 tapestry weavers in the world, and only a handful of those create tapestries that may be deemed ‘fine art.’ Dorenfeld ranks among them.”
As Morrie described it, “Being a painter by training, I use the loom to weave wool tapestries – paintings in fiber. The weavings rely on compositions of harmony, proportion, balance, and above all the visual music of color. Brilliant primary color itself is the subject of the artwork—color is king.”
Working directly with wool contributed to Morrie’s sense of connecting with nature. As he said, “It has warmth that is inviting. There is a softness to the yarn, more friendly than paint. You are building the canvas at the same time you are composing the tapestry—building the piece itself, the structure.”
Morrie worked on a treasured vertical Finnish Varpapuu tapestry loom, around which his life and home revolved. In a time-consuming process, Morrie would beat the weft down by hand with a hardwood fork and with his fingers, using small butterfly hanks of yarn. As Morrie noted, “This procedure requires concentration and patience, but, when taken from the loom, the piece is tight as a drum and the total, each single pick, is fully known.” After taking a completed tapestry off the loom, Morrie would reinsert all the loose yarn ends between the front and the back of the piece, complete the top and bottom braids (or sinnets), and sew on the burlap sleeve that holds (and hides) the hardwood support needed to hang the tapestry.
As he aged and his eyesight began to fail, this process became increasingly challenging. Yet Morrie continued to weave, as much by feel as by sight, and was working on the fifth in his Light at the End of the Tunnel series until shortly before he died. Along with his self-effacing good humor, frugality, love of gardening and birds, and his humility and decency, what defined Morrie was weaving on his loom. Thanks to his creative contributions and dedication, tapestry art is earning its rightful place among the fine arts. For more information about Morrie’s life and work, contact the Morris David Dorenfeld Foundation (morrisdaviddorenfeldfoundation@gmail.com).
—Christopher Brewer Williamson; photos supplied by the Morris David Dorenfeld Foundation
Christopher Brewer Williamson is the author of THE TAPESTRIES OF MORRIS DAVID DORENFELD: PAINTINGS IN FIBER, Custom Museum Publishing, 2023