Dorothea Tanning

Tanning is an American painter, printmaker, sculptor, writer, and has also designed sets/costumes for ballet and theatre. Born in Illinois, Tanning lived in Paris for twenty-eight years then moving to New York. There she exhibited with Julien Levy Gallery and met the German painter Max Ernst in 1942. She married Ernst four years later, in a double wedding with Man Ray and Juliette Browner. Ernst introduced her to the circle of the Surrealists. Her best-known work, Eine kleine Nachtmusik is a dark painting laden with symbolism; ironically named after Mozart's light-hearted serenade. This painting marks in her career when she was a member of the surrealist group for a while, but later her painting style became more lyrical. Tanning returned to New York in 1978 after the death of Ernst. In nineties, Tanning has often published poetry in The New Yorker and is completing several books. Her most recent novel is Chasm (2004).