Dorothea Tanning’s artistic output spans five decades. In the 1940s she produced figurative work within the Surrealist milieu, transitioning to more abstract “kaleidoscopic” images during the 1950s and 1960s, anthropomorphic soft sculptures in 1970s, and paintings that synthesized these approaches in the 1970s through 1990s. Many viewers lose the current that runs from one phase of her work into the next. A more complete experience of Tanning’s oeuvre, however, finds her creative intentionality and command of the canvas rising irresistibly to the surface throughout.
Gallery Wendi Norris is pleased to present an exhibit of Dorothea Tanning’s work animated by the idea of transformation. The booth will include seminal works that range dramatically in scale and idiom that together unveil Tanning’s exploration of a shifting morphology of the human body across time. Following an acclaimed retrospective at the Tate Modern, London, and Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid, this presentation will share the essence of Tanning’s work with an American audience. It will also mark the recent publication of the monograph Dorothea Tanning: Transformations (Lund Humphries, 2020).
