Lot Essay
Dorothea Tanning est née à Galesburg (Illinois) en 1910, dans une famille d’origine suédoise. Depuis son enfance elle exprime son désir d’être artiste et en 1930, elle part à Chicago où elle suit des cours du soir au Chicago Art Institute. Elle s’installe ensuite à New York, où l’exposition de 1936 Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism au MoMa, la marque profondément. Mais ce n’est qu’à partir de 1940 qu’elle rencontre les artistes de ce mouvement notamment les français en exil à New York. Elle côtoie notamment André Masson, Yves Tanguy, Salvador Dalí et Max Ernst qu’elle épousera plus tard. Elle reste très influencée par le Surréalisme, même si elle développe son propre style. Elle participe notamment à l’exposition 31 Women organisée par Peggy Guggenheim à New York, et aux Exposition internationales du Surréalisme à Londres en 1945, à paris en 1947, à Lima en 1954 et à Milan en 1959. En 1953, le couple s’installe à Paris jusqu’à la mort de Ernst en 1976. Dans les années soixante, son style s’éloigne du surréalisme pour se rapprocher de l’abstraction. Tout comme Leonora Carrington elle peindra jusqu’à la fin de sa vie en exposant jusqu’à ses 80 ans.
Dorothea Tanning was born in Galesburg, Illinois, in 1910, to a Swedish family. From a young age, she talked about wanting to become an artist. In 1930, she left for Chicago, where she took night classes at the Chicago Art Institute. She then settled in New York. There, the 1936 MoMA exhibition Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism had a profound effect on her. It was not until 1940, however, that she met the artists behind the movement, particularly French artists living in exile in New York. She frequented André Masson, Yves Tanguy, Salvador Dalí and Max Ernst, whom she would later marry. Surrealism continued to influence her work, even as she developed her own style. She participated in Peggy Guggenheim’s New York exhibition, 31 Women, and in the international Surrealist exhibitions in London (1945), Paris (1947), Lima (1954) and Milan (1959). In 1943, she and now-husband Ernst moved to Paris, where they lived together until his death in 1976. In the 1960s, her style diverged from Surrealism, becoming more abstract. Like Leonora Carrington, Dorothea Tanning would paint until the very end, continuing to show her work at the age of 80.
Dorothea Tanning was born in Galesburg, Illinois, in 1910, to a Swedish family. From a young age, she talked about wanting to become an artist. In 1930, she left for Chicago, where she took night classes at the Chicago Art Institute. She then settled in New York. There, the 1936 MoMA exhibition Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism had a profound effect on her. It was not until 1940, however, that she met the artists behind the movement, particularly French artists living in exile in New York. She frequented André Masson, Yves Tanguy, Salvador Dalí and Max Ernst, whom she would later marry. Surrealism continued to influence her work, even as she developed her own style. She participated in Peggy Guggenheim’s New York exhibition, 31 Women, and in the international Surrealist exhibitions in London (1945), Paris (1947), Lima (1954) and Milan (1959). In 1943, she and now-husband Ernst moved to Paris, where they lived together until his death in 1976. In the 1960s, her style diverged from Surrealism, becoming more abstract. Like Leonora Carrington, Dorothea Tanning would paint until the very end, continuing to show her work at the age of 80.