Dorothea Tanning
Étude pour Cousins
1910
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August 25th, Galesburg, Illinois. Second daughter of Andrew and Amanda Tanning.
Amanda and Andrew Tanning
Dorothea Tanning with her mother, Amanda Tanning
Dorothea Tanning
![](/images/work_image/thumbs_small/small/10.2.02Childhooddrawingthumb.jpg "<i>"The Waiter Smiles..."</i>")
"The Waiter Smiles..."
Untitled (Portrait of Girl)
1926
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Education in Galesburg public schools. Graduation 1926 from high school (the building burned down in 1965). Two grades had been “skipped” thus creating a lifelong weakness in arithmetic.
Dorothea Tanning in her studio, Galesburg, Illinois
Dorothea Tanning, Galesburg High School Yearbook, Senior Year
1927
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Employment at The Galesburg Public Library (the building, with its 200,000 volumes, burned to the ground in 1958).
1928
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Matriculation at Knox College in Galesburg, a liberal arts school, ergo, no applied art courses. Dorothea draws and paints in spare time. Illustrations for school publications.
Dorothea Tanning
Cover for The Siwasher, March 27, 1929
Cover for The Siwasher, April 27, 1929
Cover for The Siwasher, February 25, 1930
![](/images/work_image/thumbs_small/small/31.2.21IllustrationforTheGaleWomensFraternities2.jpg "<i>"Women's Fraternities"</i> (illustration for Knox College Yearbook)")
"Women's Fraternities" (illustration for Knox College Yearbook)
“The Sophmore and Freshman Classes” (illustration for Knox College Yearbook)
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August. Escapes to Chicago where an ex-library pair of friends, turned city dwellers, offer her a room in their apartment. Gains employment at a downtown restaurant as a hostess (carrying menus, seating diners). Enrolls at The Chicago Academy of Art, afternoon classes. Length of stay, three weeks. Attends instead the great rooms of The Chicago Art Institute where the paintings, gazed at almost daily, give her splendid instruction in how to make art.
Dorothea Tanning, Chicago
1933
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Operates marionettes at The Chicago World’s Fair. The booth: Buster Brown Shoes. The director of the show: Meyer Levin. The play: Buster Brown Foils Twillinger.
1934
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October. New Orleans. First exhibition, watercolors in a bookshop gallery.
1935
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May. To New York. Finds work as freelance commercial artist.
Dorothea Tanning
1936
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December. Discovers dada and surrealism at the monumental exhibition of Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism, at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Self-Portrait
1937
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Autumn, winter, San Francisco. Draws for The Coast, a monthly magazine. (Covers and cartoons). The magazine folds after six issues.
Dorothea Tanning, San Francisco
Cartoon for The Coast, May 1938
Cartoon for The Coast, July 1938
Cartoon for The Coast, August 1938
Portrait of Mary Louise
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Return to New York. Shares apartment on East 58th Street with artist Ronnie Elliot.
Dorothea Tanning, New York
1939
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July. Boards the steamship Niew Amsterdam for France, a cherished destination. But a month in deserted Paris, city gasping on the brink of war, ends with a precipitate 2 day flight to Stockholm, home of paternal relatives. This involves countries (Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany) she had not expected to visit. September. Paints family portraits of Stockholm cousins. October. Last boat (Gripsholm) back to New York.
Tango
Untitled
Portrait of Gunnar Thaning
Dorothea Tanning aboard the Gripsholm to New York
1940
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New York. Advertising art, chiefly for Macy's. Rents apartment at 327 E. 58th Street.
Fashion ad for Macy's
Fashion ad for Macy's
Untitled
Untitled (Study for Deirdre)
Deirdre
Beyond the Esplanade
The Golden Ball
Music Hath Charms
1941
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Meets Julien Levy, gallery owner who signs her on for his gallery. A marriage to Homer Shannon, writer, after an off-and-on, 8-year liaison, ends in separation after six months and divorce a year later. Meets John Cage and his wife Xenia. Pearl Harbor brings the United States into the war.
The Magic Flower Game
Please do!
1942
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A number of European surrealists are in residence as refugees. Dorothea Tanning’s painting brings new friendships and new perspectives to her life, including Max Ernst.
Children's Games
Birthday
Concerning Wishes
A Parisian Afternoon (Hôtel du Pavot)
Untitled
Untitled
Voltage
1943
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Begins long friendship with Joseph Cornell who shows his films at Gypsy Rose Lee’s house on east 63rd Street. Summer in Sedona, Arizona with Max Ernst, surrealist painter. Fall: Participation in Dreams That Money Can Buy, a film by Hans Richter.
Portrait of Muriel Levy
Profanation
Sunflower Landscape
Daphne
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
My Life in the Blue Room
Angelic Pleasures
Moeurs Espagnoles
Green Sun with Pirates
"Blind Date"
Simplified Botany—The Land
Dorothea Tanning, Sedona, Arizona
1944
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Summer at Great River, Long Island with Max Ernst, Julien and Muriel Levy. Autumn. First one person exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery.
Fantastic Heliotherapy
Rapture
Self-Portrait
Rêve de Luxe (Dream of Luxury)
A Mrs. Radcliffe Called Today
Fête Champêtre
Invitation to the exhibition "Dorothea Tanning," Julien Levy Gallery, New York, 1944
Cover for the brochure for the exhibition "Dorothea Tanning," Julien Levy Gallery, New York, 1944
Dorothea Tanning, Great River, Long Island
Illustration for Ramon Sartoris’s If Caesar Be
Illustration for Ramon Sartoris’s The Clue of the Wrong Thing
Illustration for Ramon Sartoris’s From Core to Rind
The Civilizing Influence
Endgame
1945
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Summer in Amagansett, Long Island. A nuclear bomb is dropped on Hiroshima, another on Nagasaki. End of war. Dorothea Tanning meets George Balanchine who asks her to design a forthcoming ballet The Night Shadow. Works on ballet sets and costumes until November when she is stricken with encephalitis. By the end of the year she is recovering enough to finish the designs.
Chess Tournament at Julien Levy Gallery, January 6, 1945
Dorothea Tanning, Amagansett, New York
Beautiful Girl
The Truth About Comets
Dorothea Tanning, press photo for solo exhibition at Caresse Crosby Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Cover Design for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo Souvenir Program, 1945-46 season, featuring The Night Shadow, a ballet by George Balanchine
Poet, costume design for The Night Shadow, a ballet by George Balanchine
The Sleepwalker, costume design for The Night Shadow, a ballet by George Balanchine
Set design for The Night Shadow, a ballet by George Balanchine
A Guest, costume design for The Night Shadow, a ballet by George Balanchine
A Guest, costume design for The Night Shadow, a ballet by George Balanchine
Oh, Dorothea Tanning!
Dorothea Tanning and Max Ernst, New York, performing in Hans Richter's film Dreams That Money Can Buy
1946
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February. Dorothea Tanning returns to Arizona. From there she learns that The Night Shadow is premiered at the Metropolitan Opera House (Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo) to much acclaim. October 24th. Marriage with Max Ernst in double ceremony with Man Ray and Juliet Brouner in Beverly Hills. Meanwhile Sedona visitors, Marcel Duchamp, George Balanchine with wife Tanaquil Leclercq, Roland Penrose, Lee Miller, Caresse Crosby.
Portefeuille (Pocketbook)
Guardian Angels
The Temptation of Saint Anthony
The Young Student (Le Jeune Étudiant)
Portrait of Julie Man Ray
Dorothea Tanning, Max Ernst, Man Ray, and Juliet Browner, Hollywood, California
Dorothea Tanning, Sedona, Arizona
Dorothea Tanning and Max Ernst, Sedona, Arizona
Dorothea Tanning in her studio, Sedona, Arizona
1947
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Dorothea and Max build a house in Sedona. Visits from friends who find their way to Sedona: Cartier-Bresson with John Malcolm Brinnin, Kay Sage and Yves Tanguy, Vittorio Rieti...
Self-portrait
Max in a Blue Boat
Temoins du drame (Witnesses)
Maternity
Le Petit Marquis (The Little Marquis)
A Very Happy Picture
Fatala
Untitled for Le Surréalisme en 1947
Avatar
![](/images/work_image/thumbs_small/small/lesquatreventsthumb171.jpg ""Rêvez-le ou ne le lisez pas"")
"Rêvez-le ou ne le lisez pas"
Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning, New York
Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning, New York
Angel in Mauve and Orange (Study for Anges gardiens)
Asleep in the Deep
Dorothea Tanning, Sedona, Arizona
Dorothea Tanning and Max Ernst in Sedona, Arizona
Dorothea Tanning and Max Ernst with his sculpture, Capricorn
1948
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January. Second exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York.
On Time Off Time
Lettre d'Amour (Love Letter)
My Favorite Dinner Party
Early Eye
Autoportrait
Toy Theater
Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning, Sedona, Arizona
Dorothea Tanning and Max Ernst, Sedona, Arizona
Dorothea Tanning and Max Ernst, Sedona, Arizona
Dorothea Tanning
Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning
Dorothea Tanning
1949
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July. Departure for Paris, France, which is still recovering from the war. Find a home of sorts: two maid’s rooms on the top floor of 13 quai St. Michel. Dorothea Tanning works at the lithograph atelier of Edmond Desjobert to produce her first album of lithographs, Les Sept Périls Spectraux (The Seven Spectral Perils).
Palaestra
Very Small Nude
Fantasy Figure
L'Auberge
Untitled (Study for Troisième péril from Les 7 périls spectraux)
On Fire
Drawing for Musical Chairs
![](/images/work_image/thumbs_small/small/Legendcover.jpg ""Legend"")
"Legend"
![](/images/work_image/thumbs_small/small/Abysscover1949.jpg ""Abyss"")
"Abyss"
1950
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Summer in the south of France. August at 10 rue du Bateau in Antibes. An afternoon with Picasso, Francoise Gilot and babies at Vallauris will be remembered, as of course he knew it would. October. Exhibition of lithographs at Galerie Les Pas Perdus, rue des Ciseaux, in Paris. Again for Balanchine a new ballet, The Witch, in collaboration with The Sadler’s Wells Ballet Company of London. Scenery and costumes by Dorothea Tanning, with choreography by John Cranko. Performed at Covent Garden, August 18th.
The Mirror
![](/images/work_image/thumbs_small/small/50.2.02lenef1.jpg "Illustration for "Lettre Inédite du Marquis de Sade à Madame de Sade," <i> Almanach Surr</i><i>é</i><i>aliste du Demi-Si</i><i>è</i><i>cle</i>")
Illustration for "Lettre Inédite du Marquis de Sade à Madame de Sade," Almanach Surréaliste du Demi-Siècle
High Wires
Metamorphose (Metamorphosis)
Bâteau bleu (The Grotto)
Cover for Les 7 périls spectraux
Premier péril (First Peril) from Les 7 périls spectraux (The Seven Spectral Perils)
Deuxième péril (Second Peril) from Les 7 périls spectraux (The Seven Spectral Perils)
Troisième péril (Third Peril) from Les 7 périls spectraux (The Seven Spectral Perils)
Quatrième péril (Fourth Peril) from Les 7 périls spectraux (The Seven Spectral Perils)
Cinquième péril (Fifth Peril) from Les 7 périls spectraux (The Seven Spectral Perils)
Sixième péril (Sixth Peril) from Les 7 périls spectraux (The Seven Spectral Perils)
Septième péril (Seventh Peril) from Les 7 périls spectraux (The Seven Spectral Perils)
Dorothea Tanning, Paris
Untitled (Set Design for an Unrealized Ballet)
Dorothea Tanning, Paris
Set design for The Witch, a ballet by John Cranko
Castle Midnight, costume design for The Witch, a ballet by John Cranko
The Girl (before), costume design for The Witch, a ballet by John Cranko
The Girl, costume design for The Witch, a ballet by John Cranko
The Boy, costume design for The Witch, a ballet by John Cranko
The Butlers, costume design for The Witch, a ballet by John Cranko
Bat Demon, costume design for The Witch, a ballet by John Cranko
Monstre, costume design for The Witch, a ballet by John Cranko
1951
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Back in Sedona, Arizona. April, exhibition at American Contemporary Gallery, Hollywood. Visit of Dylan Thomas.
Interior with Sudden Joy
Musical Chairs
A Drawing for Midnight
Katchina and Her Soul
Avignon
Bon soir (Good Evening)
Set design for Bayou, a ballet by George Balanchine
Bride, costume design for Bayou, a ballet by George Balanchine
Groom, costume design for Bayou, a ballet by George Balanchine
Costume design for Bayou, a ballet by George Balanchine
Costume design for Bayou, a ballet by George Balanchine
![](/images/work_image/thumbs_small/small/CPLY.jpg ""On the Paintings of Bill Copley"")
"On the Paintings of Bill Copley"
1952
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Another ballet, Bayou, with Balanchine and music by Virgil Thomson. Teaches a class in painting and drawing at the University of Hawaii (summer session).
Argument
Lumière du foyer (Home Light)
La Rose et le Chien (The Rose and the Dog)
The Guest Room
La Truite au bleu (Poached Trout)
The Philosophers
Dernières Nouvelles (Letters from Home)
Some Roses and Their Phantoms
Untitled
Dorothea Tanning with film crew on the Colorado River, Arizona, for a scene in Hans Richter’s film 8 x 8: A Chess Sonata in 8 Movements
Dorothea Tanning, New York, performing in Hans Richter's film
8 x 8: A Chess Sonata in 8 Movements
Dorothea Tanning and Max Ernst, Sedona
Dorothea Tanning and Max Ernst, Honolulu
Dorothea Tanning and Max Ernst, Honolulu
1953
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January. Will o the Wisp, New York City Ballet, scenery and costumes by Dorothea Tanning. March. Return to Paris. A temporary studio produces new works: Tableau Vivant, Death and the Maiden, Family Portrait.
![](/images/work_image/thumbs_small/small/Tanning_PoemforInvitation_IolasGallery_1953.jpg ""Interiors with..."")
"Interiors with..."
Intérieur (Interior)
Death and the Maiden
Drawing for Dimanche après-midi (Sunday Afternoon)
Dimanche après-midi (Sunday Afternoon)
Untitled (Set Design for Bayou)
Les Trois Garces
Tango
1954
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First Dorothea Tanning exhibition in Paris at Galerie Furstenburg. Travels in Italy. Acquisition, with Max Ernst, of a farmhouse in Huismes, Indre et Loire, an area often called the garden of France. Work and pleasure in this house will occupy most of the next ten years.
Dorothea Tanning in her studio, Paris
Red Drama
Valse bleue (The Blue Waltz)
Portrait de famille (Family Portrait)
Katchina Coquette
Tableau vivant (Living Picture)
Le Balcon
Nue endormie (Sleeping Nude)
Halloween en noir (Halloween in Black)
1955
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An exhibition in London, Dorothea Tanning, at the Arthur Jeffress Gallery. A new period in her painting, sometimes referred to as prismatic, begins with Le Mal Oublié (The Ill Forgotten). Begins long association with Georges Visat, master etcher, and the etching process.
Le Mal oublié (The Ill Forgotten)
Dorothea Tanning, Huismes, France
1956
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Once more in Sedona. Performs in Hans Richter’s film, 8 x 8
L'Imposteur mérovingien (The Merovingian Imposter)
Tempête en jaune (Tempest in Yellow)
Vorace veracité
1957
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Here it must be said that all efforts to preserve Max Ernst’s American citizenship have failed. The McCarran-Walter Act, a ghoulish piece of legislation enacted by the American congress during the McCarthy era is directed against foreign-born Americans. In October Dorothea Tanning returns, with Max Ernst, to France.
Les Tricheurs
Midi et demi (Half Past Noon)
Insomnies (Insomnias)
À mi-voix (Whispers)
Dorothea Tanning
1958
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Move to 58, rue Mathurin Régnier, an address difficult of pronunciation for Dorothea in taxicabs. Divides time between Paris and Huismes studios.
Untitled
Le Soir chez nous (Tonight at Our House)
Voleurs (Robbers)
Melées Nocturnes
Hospitalité (Hospitality)
Une lune dans l'autre (The Moon Inside)
Les Passetemps d'un miroir
En Rapport
Naufrage en rose (Shipwreck in Pink)
Cover for Accueil (The Welcome)
Frontispiece for Accueil (The Welcome)
Accueil (Welcome)
La Dame au cou nu
Lettre pour Arabelle (Letter for Arabelle)
Nuit (Night)
1830
La Grande Mannequin cherche et trouve sa peau (The Great Mannequin seeks and finds his skin)
1959
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Acquires a “studio” (120 square feet of space) at 27 rue St. André des Arts. There is a ten foot wall for painting a ten foot canvas, Éperdument (hard to translate ... Frantically? Desperately?), Two Words and Anges Mordus (Fanatical Angels).
Une Étoile tombée
Elle peint aussi (She Paints Too)
Le beau temps qui vient
Chiens ombragés (Dogs in the Shade)
Sotto voce II (Whispers II)
Tamerlan (Tamerlane)
The Moonstone Effect
O Saisons! (O Seasons!)
Peau (Skin)
Nuage (Cloud)
L'Enchanteresse (Temptress)
Dorothea Tanning in her studio, Huismes, France
Dorothea Tanning in her studio, Huismes, France
Dorothea Tanning in her studio, Huismes, France
1960
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In Huismes, Jean Desvilles produces a film, Le Regard Ebloui (The Astonished Gaze) on the paintings of Dorothea Tanning (Les Productions Tanit, Paris).
Untitled
Femme baroque (Baroque Woman)
Visite jaune (Visite éclair)
No Contest
Untitled
Untitled
Ignoti Nulla Cupido
Photographer unknown, from Michael Ochs Archives
Dorothea Tanning, Huismes, France
1961
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Judith, a play by Jean Giraudoux, directed by Jean Louis Barrault is produced at the Théâtre de France with costumes by Dorothea Tanning. Meets Karlheinz Stockhausen, composer of avant garde music.
Visite éclair (Lightning Visit)
Costume Design for Judith: Judith
Costume Design for Judith: Holopherne
Matinée classique
Kenningar
Untitled
Untitled
Touristes de Prague III (Tourists of Prague III)
Avant-propos (Foreword)
L’Armade Invincible (The Invincible Armada)
Dorothea Tanning and Max Ernst, Huismes, France
1962
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In Paris. Move to 19 rue de Lille. In Huismes visits are too numerous for Dorothea Tanning, who nonetheless finds time to paint: an exhibition of very small canvases at the Galerie Edouard Loeb and a simultaneous show at the Galerie Mouradian-Vallotton of larger works.
Amis ou ennemis? (Friends or enemies)
Aux environs de Paris (Paris and Vicinity)
Plus fort que moi (Beyond Me)
Éperdument (To Distraction)
Ce soir au palais (Tonight at the Palace)
Anges mordus (Driven Angels)
Untitled (Plate 1)
Untitled (Plate 3)
Untitled (Plate 4)
Untitled (Plate 5)
Untitled (Plate 6)
Untitled (Plate 2)
Untitled (Plate 7)
Untitled (Plate 8)
Untitled (Plate 9)
1963
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An almost year-long bout with sciatica diminishes Dorothea Tanning’s studio activity. Finishes Chiens de Cythère (Dogs of Cythera) on canvas tacked to the rue de Lille dining room wall. In Huismes more visits by, among others, Georges Bataille, Jean Arp, Dominique de Menil. November assassination of President John F. Kennedy devastates all.
Lunatiques (Lunatics)
Deux mots (Two Words)
Chiens de Cythère (Dogs of Cythera)
Une lacune à combler (A Gap to Be Filled)
Untitled (“Pen and Wash Drawing”)
Orphans
Das Weisenhaus (Orphanotropium)
Dorothea Tanning and Max Ernst
1964
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Move from Huismes to Seillans, a hilltop village in Provence. The house, an ex-hotel called, unbelievably, La Dolce Vita, has plenty of rooms to paint in.
La Chienne et sa muse (The Dog and Her Muse)
Far From
In 3/4 Time
Untitled
Memoires d'un touriste (Memories)
Demain (Tomorrow)
Frontispiece for Demain (Tomorrow)
Untitled for Demain (Tomorrow)
1965
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Painting and duties, in Seillans, in Paris, even in New York. The paintings are prismatic. Meets Robert Penn Warren and Eleanor Clark, in residence at Magagnosc, near Grasse.
Pelote d'épingles pouvant servir de fétiche (Pincushion to Serve as Fetish)
To the Rescue
Un Pont brulé (A Burnt Bridge)
L'Heure mauve (The Mauve Hour)
Nue Couchée (Reclining Nude)
Le Soir à Salonique (Evening in Salonika)
Elles se détachent, majestueuses (Majestically)
Le Soir à Saragosse (Evening in Saragossa)
Les Infatigables (The Indefatigables)
Study for Les Infatigables (Indefatigables)
Phantom
Un Double plaisir (A Double Pleasure)
Untitled
Et Dieu passa aux aveux (And God Confessed)
Flying Dutchman
Asìle du Bruit
Château Mouton Rothschild Wine Label
Untitled
A Dog Barked in Paris. It Was As If the Night Had Barked.
La Pomme promise (The Promised Apple)
Même les jeunes filles (Even the Young Girls)
Eclipse
Pour Gustave l'adoré
Fuite (Flight)
Totem
Nuage (Cloud)
Mlle. Pieuvre (Miss Octopus)
Le Nil (The Nile)
Katchina
Groutcho
Le Cœur (Heart)
L’Avant-garde (The Avant-garde)
1967
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A retrospective Dorothea Tanning in Knokke-le-Zoute, Belgium. Begins building a house in Seillans. This project will occupy Dorothea Tanning for three years from the drawing of plans, writing of letters, bringing wine to the workers, arranging moorish tiles, with more drawings...
Study for À la dérive (Adrift)
À la dérive (Adrift)
Europa
Tirage au sort (Lottery)
Un Beau Mensonge (A Beautiful Lie)
Mother and Child
D.T. avec son chien savant (D.T. with her smart dog)
Nue Couchée (Reclining Nude)
The Artist as a Dog
![](/images/work_image/thumbs_small/small/PoemforChaveinvitation1967.jpg ""Untitled"")
"Untitled"
Untitled (“Ink Drawing”)
1968
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In the Salon de Mai her canvas, called The Descent into the Street, a title lifted from some newspaper or other, provokes wonder. How did she know there would be a monster student uprising, now, complete with tear gas and overturned buses (not in the painting).
Potential
La Descente dans la rue (Down into the Streets)
Lundi sans date (Monday without Date)
Les Intrigués de Pekin (Intrigued in Peking)
Chien de samedi
General Pandemonium
Maternités (Frieze)
Fête Champêtre
Dorothea Tanning in her studio, Paris
1969
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No discernible connection: in Paris a concert of new work by K. Stockhausen fires a new expression, cloth sculptures. Under the title Hôtel du Pavot (Poppy Hotel), a roomful of these may be seen in the permanent collection of the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. Americans walk on the moon.
Inutile (Useless)
Philosophie en plein air (Fresh-air Philosophy)
Ténèbres (Shadows)
Maverick
Xmas
Étreinte
De quel amour (By What Love)
Sketch for De quel amour (By What Love)
1970
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Move into new house, Seillans. A hundred years earlier it would have been called a “folly.” Stone columns and marble floors and high studios (two). But it was all hers, like a painting, unsigned, an indescribable experience, a qualified enchantment.
Study for Cousins
Cousins
Pages 14-15 from Projets de 1969-70, a sketchbook of designs for sculptures
Projets de 1969-70, a sketchbook of designs for sculptures
Verbe
Study for Ouvre-toi (Open Sesame)
Ouvre-toi (Open Sesame)
Emma
Canapé en temps de pluie (Rainy-Day Canapé)
Traffic Sign
Nue couchée (Reclining Nude)
Voyeurs
Witnesses
Untitled
Frontispiece for La Marée
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
1971
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Dorothea Tanning is in her big new studio. Sculpture, painting, planning for a future that seems endless. Works in lithography with lithographer Pierre Chave of Vence.
Untitled
Studies for Hôtel du Pavot, Chambre 202
Hotel (Page 4 for the exhibition catalogue Ouvre-Toi)
Les portes de l’enfer viennent de fermer (Page 11 for the exhibition catalogue Ouvre-Toi)
The Maid Is Late Because She Laid Her Mate
Untitled from Ouvre-Toi
Dorothea Tanning, Paris
Untitled (Frieze)
1972
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Paris and Seillans. Lithography with Pierre Chave. Continues cloth sculpture (until 1974). Meets Robert Ashley, avant garde composer.
High Tide
Blue Slave
Home at Last
Don Juan's Breakfast
Drawing after Xmas
Hôtel du Pavot, Chambre 202 (Poppy Hotel, Room 202)
Time and Place from Hôtel du Pavot, Chambre 202
Wall figure from Hôtel du Pavot, Chambre 202
Table Tragique (Tragic Table) from Hôtel du Pavot, Chambre 202
Révélation ou la fin du mois (Revelation or The End of the Month) from Hôtel du Pavot, Chambre 202
Wall figure from Hôtel du Pavot, Chambre 202
Les Dionysiaques (The Dionysiacs)
Quotidien (Quotidian)
Tweedy
En chair et en or
C'est au Soleil (It's in Sunshine)
Á ces rites (At these Rites)
Corps et Visage (Body and Face)
Quoi de plus (What More)
Sur le grain (Over the Grain)
Tu (You)
Á la nage (Swimming)
Parfois (Sometimes)
Midi et demi (Half-Past Noon)
Weekend
Astronomies
Tout est illusion peut-être (All Is Illusion, Maybe)
Reality
L'Inspiration vient en peignant (Inspiration Comes in Painting)
Dorothea Tanning and Max Ernst, Seillans, France
Dorothea Tanning in Seillans, France
Dorothea Tanning in Seillans, France
1974
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In Paris the Centre National d’Art Contemporain mounts a retrospective exhibition of Dorothea Tanning’s work.
Pour Gustave l'adoré
Untitled
Untitled
Petite angoisse
Le Chien s’empare du soleil tandis que . . . (The Dog Grabs the Sun While . . .)
Happiness Observed (And if You're Outside Looking In II)
Dorothea Tanning, Paris
Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning
At
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Max Ernst suffers a stroke. They are now in the Paris apartment. It is very sad.
Frieze
Delegates
Elysian Fields
Combat
Salomé
Champêtre (Rustic)
Oiseaux en péril (Birds in Peril)
Étude pour Le soir à Sedona (Study for Evening in Sedona)
1976
At
this
time...
Max Ernst dies, April 1st.
Evening in Sedona
Ma Tante (My Aunt)
Study for Murmurs
Murmurs
Maternity
Family
Heaven
Faith, Surrounded by Hope, Charity, and Other Monsters
Birthday 1976
I Love Max
Untitled
![](/images/work_image/thumbs_small/small/xxesiecletitle.jpg ""Dorothea, ses jeux, son enfer... (Dorothea, Her Lights and Shadows)"")
"Dorothea, ses jeux, son enfer... (Dorothea, Her Lights and Shadows)"
1977
At
this
time...
Grief begets hallucination. A crazily productive year. In January the Centre Georges Pompidou opens.
Poses en dehors de l'atelier (Poses Outside the Studio)
Study for Still in the Studio
Illusioniste
Tango Lives
Maternity
Portrait de famille (Family Portrait)
Dorothea Tanning: Numéro Spécial de XXe Siècle
1978
At
this
time...
On the fence. (Paris? Seillans? New York?)
Thoughtful Group
Glad Nude with Paws
Notes for an Apocalypse
Ornate Mother
Aura
Stanza
Dorothea Tanning, Stockholm
1979
At
this
time...
Exhibition of paintings, works on paper and a sort of biography under glass at the Gimpel-Weitzenhofer Gallery, New York. It floats, unperceived.
Still in the Studio
Study
Diner (Eat)
Project for a Fainting
Mayhem with Tepee
Pincushion to Serve as Fetish (large version)
Salut, délire! (Hail, Delirium!)
Dorothea Tanning
1980
At
this
time...
Dorothea Tanning completes her return to the United States.
Maternity V
Heartless
Woman Fleeing Fear Itself
Rehearsal
Fiesta
1981
At
this
time...
Installs New York apartment and studio, thus bringing the travels full circle. But, studio? The apartment is remodeled to create a studio space sacrificing several rooms. A body of work will be produced here during the next ten years.
Mean Frequency (of Auroras)
Pounding Strong
Dorothea Tanning, Paris
1982
At
this
time...
Short visits to Paris, to Seillans where abandoned friends hardly know they have been abandoned, but are glad to meet again.
Astrologies
Dantedoré II
Les Plages I (The Beaches I)
Les Plages II (The Beaches II)
Heated Gouache
Primitive Seating
Paws
Liar
Carrying On
1983
At
this
time...
Exhibition of recent painting at the Stephen Mazoh Gallery, New York. Works on paper at Stephen Schlesinger, New York, same dates.
Worlds in Miniature: Max Ernst and His Books
Letters
Heroines
Sequestrians
Daughters
Chaos
Door 84
Etched Murmurs
1985
At
this
time...
First of several stays in Santa Monica. Dorothea Tanning works at The Litho Shop, a splendid installation of lithography presses of friend Sam Francis.
Garden
Arabella
Untitled
1986
At
this
time...
Dorothea Tanning publishes a short memoir, Birthday, at Lapis Press, San Francisco.
Maenad III
Combat
Lesson 7
Friends of Friends
Ouija
More Murmurs on Paper
I
Nude Standing Nude
Rural Route
Different People
As Was
Birthday
Dorothea Tanning, New York
Dorothea Tanning. New York
1987
At
this
time...
Exhibition at Kent Fine Art, New York, of works on paper. Several regional exhibitions follow. Lithography in Santa Monica and in New York at the studios of Maurice Sanchez.
Poppies
On Avalon
To Climb a Ladder
Woman Artist, Nude, Standing
Sylvia
Cast-Off Lover
Last Act
1988
At
this
time...
Second exhibition at Kent Fine Art: Dorothea Tanning, Eleven Paintings. Work at Christian Guerin etching studio.
Early Politics
Self-Styled Hand
Still Calling Still Hoping
Deep Down
L'Education sentimentale (Sentimental Education)
A Crack in My Armor
Beastly Weather
Table of Contents
Mrs. Radcliffe Called Again (Left No Message)
Dream Bikes
Hotel
Emotion II
Otranto
Udolpho
Worlds in Collision
Large and Friendly
Further Chaos
Dorothea Tanning, New York
Dorothea Tanning, New York
1989
At
this
time...
Stephen Schlesinger Gallery, New York, exhibition of collages: Emotions. And at Runkel-Hue-Willliams in London, oils and works on paper: Between Lives.
Dorothea Tanning in her studio, New York
Dorothea Tanning, New York
Dorothea Tanning, New York
Dorothea Tanning in her studio, New York
"Some Parallels in Words and Pictures"
Dionysos SOS
Zealots
Rainy Day
Tango
Swarm
Between Lives
Message 5
Message 6
Message 9
Message 11
Message 12
1990
At
this
time...
An exhibition: Messages, works on paper, all about bicycles and gorillas, at Nahan Contemporary, New York. A first acquaintance with Key West to escape from New York winter.
Message 14
Dorothea Tanning, New York
Dorothea Tanning, New York
Fabius tourne dans son sommeil (Fabius turns in his sleep)
Untitled statement
Mother Saw It Coming
Large Drawing
Frontispiece
Paper Aunt I
Our helicopter shaking like a fist
A Mormon merman, God’s least lobbyist
Thunder or bamboos drumming in the mist?
Crested like palms, like waves, they too subsist
Elisabeth Schumann singing Bach
From the Zen Chapel comes that song by Liszt
Moments or years hence, having reminisced
![](/images/work_image/thumbs_small/small/cawscover.jpg ""Statement"")
"Statement"
1992
At
this
time...
Retrospective Print Exhibition at New York Public Library. And a new book, Volcanic Holiday, by poet James Merrill with eight color etchings by Dorothea Tanning.
Paper Aunt II
Smoke I
Portfolio (closed)
Portfolio (open)
Glimmerroom
1993
At
this
time...
Retrospective of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture at Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden. The same retrospective moves to London in September: Camden Arts Centre.
Family with Values
Flying Dutchman
Untitled
Un tissu de songes (Web of Dreams)
Untitled (Cadavre Exquis)
Dorothea Tanning, Key West
Dorothea Tanning, Key West
Dorothea Tanning in her studio, New York
1994
At
this
time...
Dorothea Tanning establishes the Wadsworth Prize for mastery in the art of poetry, awarded annually by the American Academy of Poets.
Blue Mom
1995
At
this
time...
A monograph on the arist’s work is published by George Braziller, New York.
Encyclopedia: I
Encyclopedia: II
Encyclopedia: III
Encyclopedia: IV
Encyclopedia: V
To Paint
![](/images/work_image/thumbs_small/medium/dorotheatanningcover_1.jpg ""Afterword"")
"Afterword"
![](/images/work_image/thumbs_small/small/kimmelmanimage.jpg ""Stain"")
"Stain"
![](/images/work_image/thumbs_small/small/cafereviewcover.jpg ""A Memoir (Charles Henri Ford)"")
"A Memoir (Charles Henri Ford)"
Untitled (after Idealists)
1997
At
this
time...
A series of twelve large-scale canvases depicting imaginary flowers painted over six months. These images inspire twelve poems by contemporary poets, and they are published together in Another Language of Flowers (George Braziller, New York).
Dorothea Tanning, New York, in an interview for
Man Ray: Prophet of the Avant Garde
Merrillium trovatum
Agripedium vorax Saccherii (Clog Herb)
Zephirium apochripholiae (Windwort)
Pictor mysteriosa (Burnt Umbrage)
Asclepius formidabilis (Griefbane)
Crepuscula glacialis (var., Flos cuculi)
Nephaster cyaneus (Cloudstar)
Flagrantis speculum veneris (Loveknot)
Convolotus alchemelia (Quiet-willow window)
![](/images/work_image/thumbs_small/medium_small/anotherlangflowers.jpg ""Another Language of Flowers"")
"Another Language of Flowers"
Dorothea Tanning, New York
Dorothea Tanning, New York
Dorothea Tanning, New York
![](/images/work_image/thumbs_small/small/Levybookcover.jpg ""The Julien Levy I Knew"")
"The Julien Levy I Knew"
1999
At
this
time...
Exhibitions of the flower paintings at the National Academy of Design and later at the Zabriskie Gallery. Exhibition of the past two decades’ work at the Boston University Art Gallery.
![](/images/work_image/thumbs_small/small/Parisreviewcover1999.jpg ""Report from the Field"")
"Report from the Field"
"Insomnia, my cousin"
![](/images/work_image/thumbs_small/small/yalereviewcover1999649.jpg ""No Palms"")
"No Palms"
Dorothea Tanning, New York
Dorothea Tanning, New York
2000
At
this
time...
Small retrospective exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, celebrating its acquisition of the painting Birthday.
![](/images/work_image/thumbs_small/small/southwestreviewcover.jpg ""Reckless Words"")
"Reckless Words"
![](/images/work_image/thumbs_small/small/gettysbergreviewcover2000.jpg ""Landscape with Postmark"")
"Landscape with Postmark"
"Aspects of Ice, Detail"
"Il a Trouvé la Mort"
"Are You?"
