{"id":190,"date":"2021-11-21T05:59:29","date_gmt":"2021-11-21T05:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/emilymcalpine\/?p=190"},"modified":"2021-11-21T05:59:34","modified_gmt":"2021-11-21T05:59:34","slug":"the-surrealism-artist-who-outlived-the-rest-dorothea-tanning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/emilymcalpine\/2021\/11\/21\/the-surrealism-artist-who-outlived-the-rest-dorothea-tanning\/","title":{"rendered":"The Surrealism Artist Who Outlived the Rest: Dorothea Tanning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Art has always been the raft onto which we climb to save our sanity. I don’t see a different purpose for it now.<\/p>Dorothea Tanning, 2002<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

About Tanning<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1910 in Illinois, Dorothea Tanning, a soon-to-be-famous American painter, printmaker, sculptor, writer, and poet was born.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After going through life normally, 2 years into University at Knox, she dropped out and decided to study painting in Chicago. Five years later in 1935, Tanning moved to New York and supported herself as a business doing art commissions while painting her own pieces. Fortunately, while at the 1936 Museum of Modern Art\u2019s exhibition, Tanning came across not only the surrealism concept but also met the Macy\u2019s department store art director who offered to display her work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tanning has many talents which also include writing. During the 1990\u2019s\/2000\u2019s, her attention went closer into writing and poetry and would continue to do this until her eventual passing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, not until she established \u201cThe Dorothea Tanning Foundation\u201d. The motive behind this was to maintain her legacy and provide the public with an understanding of her, and all her work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Her Foundation’s website
https:\/\/www.dorotheatanning.org\/index<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Succeeding the execution of her online foundation, at the age of 101, Tanning, unfortunately, passed away, leaving her as the oldest living surrealism artist, and the memories of an impactful lifetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Inspirations\/ Early work<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tanning was heavily influenced by surrealism. However, over her long-standing 6-decade career in art, she began to develop her own individual style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During Tanning\u2019s early earlier years, she read multiple Gothic and Romantic books. These novels had an enormous impact on her artistic style and topics because they were filled with what she calls \u201cimagery of the imaginary\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coming from this influence, she was able to illustrate and reproduce her own dreams onto paper with close attention to detail.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
‘Birthday’ (1942)
https:\/\/www.artsy.net\/article\/artsy-editorial-dorothea-tannings-powerful-surrealist-art-defied-convention<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Specifically looking at one of her most renowned early pieces \u201cBirthday\u201d, which is a self-portrait that was an accurate duplication from one of her dreamlike situations. This was the beginning of many paintings portrayed in an \u2018unreal\u2019 setting, some involving erotic subjects, puzzling symbols, and empty space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The beginning of her own style<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the span of the 1950s, as Tanning and her paintings advanced, and she started leaning away from surrealism and her own style emerged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Ill Forgotten (1955)
https:\/\/www.dorotheatanning.org\/life-and-work\/view\/114<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Her paintings appeared more fractured and vibrant. Tanning strayed away from how surrealism had previously portrayed and was initially nicknamed \u201cprism\u201d paintings but was then retitled \u201cInsomnias\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAround 1955 my canvases literally splintered\u2026 I broke the mirror, you might say\u201d<\/p>Dorothea Tanning<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Tanning\u2019s work has frequently revolved around the female form and its movements, but around the 1960s was when her work expanded to abstraction and sculptures. Her pieces had barely recognizable aspects to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"\"
Children’s Games (1942)
https:\/\/www.dorotheatanning.org\/life-and-work\/view\/389<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
Insomnias (1957)
https:\/\/www.dorotheatanning.org\/life-and-work\/view\/81<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Along the way of her career she was experimenting with doors, wallpaper, and cloth as symbols to signify ethereal realms along with her interest in fluid space and how it creates a place for \u2018infinite possibilities\u2019. Tanning\u2019s creations feel like a fever dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

H\u00f4tel du Pavot, Chambre 202<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wanting to focus on the 3D body in fabric, Tanning commenced on a 5 yearlong \u201cadventure in soft sculpture\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
H\u00f4tel du Pavot, Chambre 202<\/em> (1970-73)
https:\/\/www.dorotheatanning.org\/life-and-work\/view\/132\/<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

My Thoughts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I first viewed Tanning\u2019s artwork, I was excited to do some more extensive research on her and the thought processes behind her work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think her work is very compelling, especially once I learned about how she views \u2018fluid spaces\u2019, and \u2018doors\u2019 to other realms. Viewing life in that perspective leaves constant possibilities on how to view the world, and often creates multiple perceptions to it, just as Tanning\u2019s art does. When you look at a piece of her art, the \u2018meaning\u2019 is often obscure and produces numerous results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
On Time Off Time (1948)
https:\/\/www.dorotheatanning.org\/life-and-work\/view\/241<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m personally really interested in that type of artwork, so it was hard to stop researching about her (sorry about the length of this blog post).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Heading image cite: https:\/\/www.dorotheatanning.org\/life-and-work\/view\/64\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research cites:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.dorotheatanning.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dorothea_Tanning<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.theartstory.org\/artist\/tanning-dorothea\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/artanddesign\/2019\/feb\/08\/dangerous-appetites-the-weird-wild-world-of-artist-dorothea-tanning<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

http:\/\/www.artnet.com\/artists\/dorothea-tanning\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/theconversation.com\/dorothea-tanning-an-unusual-surrealist-with-a-unique-female-gaze-131214<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2002\/02\/11\/tanning\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Art has always been the raft onto which we climb to save our sanity. I don’t see a different purpose for it now. Dorothea Tanning, 2002 About Tanning In 1910 in Illinois, Dorothea Tanning, a soon-to-be-famous American painter, printmaker, sculptor,… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13115,"featured_media":191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[21,67,68,69],"class_list":["post-190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-3","tag-21","tag-blog-4","tag-dorothea-tanning","tag-surrealism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/emilymcalpine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/emilymcalpine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/emilymcalpine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/emilymcalpine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/emilymcalpine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/emilymcalpine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":203,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/emilymcalpine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions\/203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/emilymcalpine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/emilymcalpine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/emilymcalpine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/emilymcalpine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}