Dorothea Tanning was the last living member of the Surrealist movement. After studying briefly at the Art Institute of Chicago School in 1930, she went to New York City where she learned about art by going to galleries and studying the art on exhibit. She was deeply impressed by an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, "Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism" (1936), and this impelled her towards painting (she was also a sculptor, writer, stage designer, model, and movie actress). After meeting Max Ernst in 1942 at the Julien Levy Gallery, she became part of the group of exiled Surrealists living in New York during World War II. Her first one-woman exhibition took place at the Julien Levy Gallery in 1944. Although she married Max Ernst in 1946, his work had no perceivable influence on her. Beginning in the late 1930s, she painted young women and their sexual fears and fantasies in a hyper-realistic way; beginning in the 1950s, however, her work became more abstract with sexual and violent images not quite clearly discernable. Despite the well-known photograph of Tanning and Ernst in Arizona, they spent much of their time in France from the late 1940s until his death. She is consequently much better known in Europe than in the U.S., though she is finally beginning to be as well known in her native country as in her adopted one. The deluxe art review, XXe Siècle devoted a special number to an Homage to Dorothea Tanning (which included an original lithograph by Joan Miró in her honor).

Bibliography: General works: Jean Christophe Bailly & Robert C. Morgan, Dorothea Tanning, trans. Richard Howard (NY: G. Braziller, 1995); abbreviation below: T (illustrates a selection of her prints, but not a complete catalogue raisonné); Alain Bosquet, La Peinture de Dorothea Tanning (Paris: Pauvert, 1966); Peter Schamoni, Max Ernst. Maximiliana. The Illegal Practice of Astronomy. Hommage a Dorothea Tanning (Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1974); Dorothea Tanning, Another Language of Flowers (NY: George Braziller, 1998); Dorothea Tanning, Birthday: A Memoir (San Francisco: The Lapis Press, 1986); Centre national d art contemporain. Dorothea Tanning (Paris: CNAC, 1974); XXe Siècle, Homage to Dorothea Tanning (Paris, 1977; in addition to Miró's lithograph [Cramer 233] and lithographs dedicated to her by André Masson and Roberto Matta, other contributors to the volume include André Breton, John Cage, Joseph Corness, Max Ernst, Pontus Hulton, James Lord, André Masson, Roland Penrose, John Russell, Patrick Waldberg, and Robert Penn Warren; Patrick Waldberg, Dorathea Tanning et les enfants de la nuit (Brussells: 1967); Sarah Wilson, Dorothea Tanning. Between Lives—works on paper (London: Runkel-Hue-Williams Ltd., 1989).

Prints: Dorothea Tanning, Hail Delirum- A Catalogue Raisonne of the Artist's Illustrated Books and prints, 1942-1991 (NY: NY Public Library, 1992); abbreviation below: HD.

Dorothea Tanning (American, 1910-2012) was the last living member of the Surrealist movement. After studying briefly at the Art Institute of Chicago School in 1930, she went to New York City where she learned about art by going to galleries and studying the art on exhibit. She was deeply impressed by an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, "Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism" (1936), and this impelled her towards painting (she was also a sculptor, writer, stage designer, model, and movie actress). After meeting Max Ernst in 1942 at the Julien Levy Gallery, she became part of the group of exiled Surrealists living in New York during World War II. Her first one-woman exhibition took place at the Julien Levy Gallery in 1944. Although she married Max Ernst in 1946, his work had no perceivable influence on her. Beginning in the late 1930s, she painted young women and their sexual fears and fantasies in a hyper-realistic way; beginning in the 1950s, however, her work became more abstract with sexual and violent images not quite clearly discernable. Despite the well-known photograph of Tanning and Ernst in Arizona, they spent much of their time in France from the late 1940s until his death. She is consequently much better known in Europe than in the U.S., though she is finally beginning to be as well known in her native country as in her adopted one. The deluxe art review, "XXe Siècle" devoted a special number to an "Homage to Dorothea Tanning (which included an original lithograph by Joan Miró in her" honor). In 1947 Tanning was invited to contribute to "Le Surrealisme en 1947," a collection of etchings by just about every important artist involved in Surrealism, edited by Marcel Duchamp and André Breton, printed in Paris by Mourlot, and published by Maeght Editeur in an edition of 999 impressions on velin, of which ours is one. Tanning's contribution was this untitled etching. The image shows the subject reaching behind her to gather her long hair. Tanning was born to be a Surrealist. Signed in the plate lower right "DT." Image size: 150x101mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

C'est le soleil (HD 34.3). Original color etching, 1973. Published in En chair et en or / In flesh and in gold (Editions Georges Visat, 1973). 100 portfolios containing 12 etchings signed and numbered in pencil on Arches paper and 12 etchings signed and numbered on Japon nacré paper. Our impression on Arches. There were also 20 HC impressions. Image size: 276x216mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Corps et visage (HD 34.5). Original color etching, 1973. Published in En chair et en or / In flesh and in gold (Editions Georges Visat, 1973). 100 portfolios containing 12 etchings signed and numbered in pencil on Arches paper and 12 etchings signed and numbered on Japon nacré paper. Our impression on Japon nacré. There were also 20 HC impressions. Image size: 276x216mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Sur le grain (HD 34.7, T. 317). Original color etching, 1973. Published in En chair et en or / In flesh and in gold (Editions Georges Visat, 1973). 100 portfolios containing 12 etchings signed and numbered in pencil on Arches paper and 12 etchings signed and numbered on Japon nacré paper. Our impression on Japon nacré. There were also 20 HC impressions. Image size: 276x216mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Midi et demi (HD 34.11). Original color etching, 1973. Published in En chair et en or / In flesh and in gold (Editions Georges Visat, 1973). 100 portfolios containing 12 etchings signed and numbered in pencil on Arches paper and 12 etchings signed and numbered on Japon nacré paper. Our impression on Arches. There were also 20 HC impressions. Image size: 276x216mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Week-end (HD 34.12, T300). Original color etching, 1973. Published in En chair et en or / In flesh and in gold (Editions Georges Visat, 1973). 100 portfolios containing 12 etchings signed and numbered in pencil on Arches paper and 12 etchings signed and numbered on Japon nacré paper. Our impression on Japon nacré. There were also 20 HC impressions. Image size: 276x216mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Composition pour le CNAC (HD 42, T. 304). Original color lithograph, 1974. 500 signed and numbered impressions. This print was commissioned by the Centre National de l'Art Contemporain in Paris for her 1974 retrospective. Image size: 480x380mm. Price: SOLD.

Les demeures d'Hypnos: Combat (HD 47, T. 322). Original color lithograph, 1976. 99 signed and numbered impressions. Image size: 250x390mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Composition for XXe Siecle (HD 41, T. 312). Original color lithograph, 1974. 75 signed and numbered impressions on Arches paper, of which this is one. There is also a larger edition of the print unsigned without margins; the signed impression is printed on paper with large margins; the unsigned one is trimmed to the edges of the image. There were also 20 signed artist's proofs on Arches numbered E.A.1-E.A.XX and several proofs. Image size: 315x246 on wove paper. Mat size: 495x345mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

We have one impression of the unsigned image available as well, priced at Please call or email for current pricing information.

Etched Murmurs (HD 51, T. 304). Original color etching, 1984. 25 signed and numbered impressions. Printed at The Litho Shop in Santa Monica, this print is from the Sam Francis estate.. Image size: 314x210mm. Price: SOLD

Etched Murmurs (see T. 304). Original etching, 1984. 30 signed and numbered impressions. Printed at The Litho Shop in Santa Monica, this print is from the Sam Francis estate.. Image size: 314x210mm. Price: SOLD.

The maid is late because she laid her mate (HD 31, T. 318). Original color etching, 1971. 125 signed and numbered impressions; there were also 35 HC impressions for contributors. Published in Hommage a Marcel Duchamp: monument a Christoph Colomb et à Marcel Duchamp (Paris: Editions Georges Visat, 1971). Image size: 261x172mm. Price: SOLD.

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