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Dorothea Tanning was an American artist and writer. She was nicknamed “Dottie”. Her influences came from books and considered a literary career. At the age of sixteen, she became a library assistant in Galesburg. In 1928 Tanning started attending Knox College, yet only attended classes for 3 weeks and became a primarily self taught artist. In 1935 she moved to New York as a freelance illustrator for Macy’s. In 1942 Tanning met Ernst who came to visit her studio, who would later become her husband. Later she shifted again to painting 3d sculpture works with textiles.

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Through What Are You Looking At? Dorothea Tanning can be linked to Max Ernst. As he was a German artist who was an influential figure in the surrealism movement. Tanning traveled in 1939 to meet new artist and introduce herself but was out of luck due to the war that was about to embark. She later aquatinted and met Ernst who then later visited Tanning's NYC studio.The two became married in a double wedding with Man Ray.

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Birthday was a rebirth for Tanning. It put her on the artistic map as well. From realism to self portraits was an entire new world, hence rebirth. Ernst gave Tanning the title.

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The title is inspired by Mozart " a little night music"
It is a reference to her childhood.
The sunflower is a common flower in her hometown and stands as a symbol of her identity.
Tanning wrote herself of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, "It's about confrontation. Everyone believes he/she is his/her drama..."

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Tempête en Jaune (Tempest in Yellow) 1956

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Tempête en Jaune (Tempest in Yellow) 1956

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Tanning herself said of this phase in her career, "my canvases literally splintered. Their colors came out of the closet, you might say, to open the rectangles to a different light. They were prismatic, surfaces where I veiled, suggested and floated my persistent icons and preoccupations, in another of the thousand ways of saying the same things."This painting is the beginning of the end in some ways. It is the beginning of where her career shifts toward her mid career style.

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Translates to Reclining Nude. It stands in defiance to the traditional female sitter of classical painting. With a relaxed posed. She used tennis balls to highlight the backbone of the body. While it itself is a heavy sculpture it is vulnerable and delicate piece in comparison.

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The only large sale installation Tanning did. The installation is rumored to illustrate boredom or the desire to disappear. It is also stated that it may connect to violence someone encountered through the human pieces.

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Tanning was a necessary active role model for younger women also trying to break free of restrictive views of womanhood to become independent artists.
Her earlier paintings, in which children confront the viewer scantily clad with unsettling knowledge, establish a definite and interesting link to the photographs of Sally Mann.

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‘Gradually, in looking at how many ways paint can flow onto canvas, I began to long for letting it have more freedom’