Surrealism
www.dorotheatanning.org

Dorothea Margaret Tanning (August 25, 1910 – January 31, 2012) was an American painter, printmaker, sculptor, writer, and poet. Her early work was influenced by Surrealism.

Born in Galesburg, Illinois, Aug. 25, 1910, Dorothea Tanning became a leading Surrealist painter beginning in the 1940s in France. Her work focuses on adolescent sexuality and also explores the unconscious and the irrational. She has lived a long life and continues in her 90s to make paintings and sculpture. Her first solo exhibition in America was not until November, 2000, and was held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

She attended Knox College in Galesburg for two years and after several years of traveling, settled in New York City and became a member of the Surrealist group that exhibited at the Julian Levy Gallery. She also produced stage and costume designs for the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo and the New York City Ballet. In 1948, she married artist Max Ernst, whom she met when he came to her New York studio to look at her work. They had a double wedding with Man Ray and Juliette Browner, and Tanning and Ernst were married until his death in 1976.

Personal Exhibitions

1934 Dorothea Tanning, New Orleans
1944 Dorothea Tanning, Julien Levy Gallery, New York, April
1945 Dorothea Tanning, Caresse Crosby Gallery, Washington, D.C., March 15-April 10
1948 Recent Painting by Dorothea Tanning, Julien Levy Gallery, New York, January
1950 Sept Périls Spectaux: Lithographies en Couleurs par Dorothea Tanning, Galerie Les Pas Perdus, Paris, May
1951 Dorothea Tanning, American Contemporary Gallery, Hollywood, California, April 4-23
1952 Exposition à Honolulu
1953 Dorothea Tanning, Alexandre Iolas Gallery, New York, January 14-31
1954 Dorothea Tanning:Peintures, Galerie Furstenburg, Paris, May 7-30
1955 Dorothea Tanning, Arthur Jeffress Gallery, London, February 22-March 19
1959 Dorothea Tanning, Galerie Edouard Loeb, Paris, May 26-June 13
1959 Dorothea Tanning, Galerie Mouradian & Vallotton, Paris, May 26-June 13
1959 Accueil: Dorothea Tanning, Galerie Le Point Cardinal, Paris, April
1961 Dorothea Tanning, Alexandre Iolas Gallery, New York, April. (also in 1965)
1961 Dorothea Tanning, Galleria Galatea, Turin, October
1961 Exposition Le Point Cardinal, Paris
1962 Dorothea Tanning: Peintures 1959-1962, Galerie Mouradian Vollotton, Paris, May 15-June 6
1963 Dorothea Tanning: Bilder, Gouaches, Zeichnungen, 1957-1963, Galerie der Speigel, Colgne, June 14-July 30
1964 Dorothea Tanning: Bilder, Gouaches, Zeichnungen, 1957-1963, Amerika Haus, Berlin, February
1964 Exposition Galerie Der Speigel, Cologne
1965 Dorothea Tanning, Galerie Le Point Cardinal, Paris, May 24-June 15
1965 Exposition Galerie Alexandre Iolas, New York
1966 Dorothea Tanning: Peintures Récentes et Petites Sculptures d'Or, Galerie Le Point Cardinal, Paris, May 24-June 30
1966 Exposition Galerie d'Art Moderne, Bâle
1967 Rétrospective à Knokke Le Zoute
1967 Exposition Galerie Alphonse Chave, Vence
1969 Dorothea Tanning, Galerie Alexandre Iolas, Geneva, March 26-April 30
1970 Exposition Le Point Cardinal, Paris
1971 Dorothea Tanning: Sculpture, Galerie Alexandre Iolas, Milan, February 23-March 18
1973 En Chair et En Or, etchings, Galerie Editions Georges Visat, Paris, June
1974 Dorothea Tanning: Oeuvre, retrospective, Centre National d'Art Contemporain, Paris, May 28-July 8
1974 Exposition Galerie Jean Krugier, Genève
1975 Dorothea Tanning, Galerie Bel'Art, Stockholm, November-December
1978 Dorothea Tanning: Drawings, Watercolours, and Collages, J.P.L. Fine Arts, London, February
1979 Dorothea Tanning: Ten Recent Paintings and A Biography, Gimple and Weitzenhoffer, New York, October-November
1980 Dorothea Tanning, Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona, March 30-April 21
1983 Dorothea Tanning: Paintings. Stephen Mazoh Gallery, New York, September 27-October 29
1987 Dorothea Tanning, Feingarten Galleries, Los Angeles, April 3-May 31
1988 11 Paintings: Dorothea Tanning, Kent Fine Art Inc. New York, May 18-June 18
1989 Dorothea Tanning: Between Lives, Runkel-Hue-Williams Ltd., London, September 15-October 13
1990 Dorothea Tanning: Messages, Nahan Contemporary, New York, March
1992 Dorothea Tanning: Hail Delirium! Print Retrospective, The New York Public Library, New York, May 9-July 18
1993 Dorothea Tanning: Works 1942-1992, Camden Arts Center, London, September 17-November 21
2000/1 Dorothea Tanning: Birthday and Beyond. Philadelphia Museum of Art, November 2000—January 2001
2005 Dorothea Tanning: Insomnias, Paintings from 1954-65, Kent Gallery, New York


Group Exhibitions
1937 De Young Museum Annual, De Young Museum, San Francisco
1941 Directions in American Painting, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
1943 31 Women, Art of This Century Gallery, New York
1944 Abstract and Surrealist Art in the United States, Cincinnati Art Museum, Denver Art Museum, Seattle Art Museum, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Art
1946 San Francisco Museum of Art Annual, San Francisco
1947 Surrealisme, Galerie Maeght, Paris
1948 The Temptation of St. Anthony, Knoeddler Gallery, New York
Howard Putzel Gallery, New York
1951 Surrealist and Abstract Art, The Brooklyn Museum, New York
1953 Six Artists: Gouaches, Acquarelles, Livres d'Art, Galerie René Drouin, Paris.
1954 Artists in Arizona, University of Arizona Art Museum, Tempe
1956 Exposition de Trois Peintre Americains: Max Ernst, Man Ray, Dorothea Tanning, Musee de Beaux-Arts de Tours, Tours, France
1962 Surrealismus: Phantastiche Malerei der Gegenwart, Kunstlerhaus, Vienna
1964 Hanover Gallery, London
1972 The Surrealist Experience, Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago
Les Peintres Belges et les Surrealistes, Musée d'Art et Industrie, Saint-Etienne, France
1977 Surrealism and American Art 1931-1947, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
1977 Paris/New York, Centre National d'Art Contemporain, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
1978 Dada and Surrealism Reviewed, Arts Council of Great Britain at the Hayward Gallery, London
1981 Art Americaine, Centre National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
1984 Surrealism in Chicago Collections, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
1984 Kafka, Centre National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
1987 Assemblage, Kent Fine Art Inc., New York
1987 The Anatomy of Drawing: An Exhibition of Nudes, Hooks-Epstein Galleries, Houston
1988 Enduring Creativity, Whitney Museum Fairfield County, Stamford, CT
1988 Venice Biennale, Summer
1988 Modern Masters II, Runkel-Hue-Williams, Ltd., London
1988 Convulsive Beauty: The Impact of Surrealism on American Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Fairfield County, Stamford, CT and Whitney Museum of American Art, Downtown at Federal Reserve Plaza, New York
1989 25th Anniversary Exhibition to Benefit the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, Leo Castelli, New York
1990 Bijoux d'Artistes, Atelier Hugo, London, Paris
1991 Selections from the Permanent Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
1993 Le Cadavre Exquis, The Drawing Center, New York
1999 Surrealism: Two Private Eyes/The Nesuhi Ertegun and Daniel Filipacchi Collections, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
2000 Sweet Dreams and Nightmares: Dada and Surrealism from the Rosalind and Melvin Jacobs Collection; Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami
2001-2 Surrealism: Desire Unbound, ...

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