1927
At
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Employment at The Galesburg Public Library (the building, with its 200,000 volumes, burned to the ground in 1958).
1928
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Matriculation at Knox College in Galesburg, a liberal arts school, ergo, no applied art courses. Dorothea draws and paints in spare time. Illustrations for school publications.
Dorothea Tanning
Cover for The Siwasher, March 27, 1929
Cover for The Siwasher, April 27, 1929
Cover for The Siwasher, February 25, 1930
“The Sophmore and Freshman Classes” (illustration for Knox College Yearbook)
![](/images/work_image/thumbs_small/small/31.2.21IllustrationforTheGaleWomensFraternities2.jpg "<i>"Women's Fraternities"</i> (illustration for Knox College Yearbook)")
"Women's Fraternities" (illustration for Knox College Yearbook)
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August. Escapes to Chicago where an ex-library pair of friends, turned city dwellers, offer her a room in their apartment. Gains employment at a downtown restaurant as a hostess (carrying menus, seating diners). Enrolls at The Chicago Academy of Art, afternoon classes. Length of stay, three weeks. Attends instead the great rooms of The Chicago Art Institute where the paintings, gazed at almost daily, give her splendid instruction in how to make art.
Dorothea Tanning, Chicago
1933
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Operates marionettes at The Chicago World’s Fair. The booth: Buster Brown Shoes. The director of the show: Meyer Levin. The play: Buster Brown Foils Twillinger.
1934
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October. New Orleans. First exhibition, watercolors in a bookshop gallery.
1935
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May. To New York. Finds work as freelance commercial artist.
Dorothea Tanning
1936
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December. Discovers dada and surrealism at the monumental exhibition of Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism, at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Self-Portrait
1937
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Autumn, winter, San Francisco. Draws for The Coast, a monthly magazine. (Covers and cartoons). The magazine folds after six issues.
Dorothea Tanning, San Francisco
Cartoon for The Coast, May 1938
Cartoon for The Coast, July 1938
Cartoon for The Coast, August 1938
Portrait of Mary Louise
At
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Return to New York. Shares apartment on East 58th Street with artist Ronnie Elliot.
Dorothea Tanning, New York
1939
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July. Boards the steamship Niew Amsterdam for France, a cherished destination. But a month in deserted Paris, city gasping on the brink of war, ends with a precipitate 2 day flight to Stockholm, home of paternal relatives. This involves countries (Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany) she had not expected to visit. September. Paints family portraits of Stockholm cousins. October. Last boat (Gripsholm) back to New York.
Tango
Untitled
Portrait of Gunnar Thaning
Dorothea Tanning aboard the Gripsholm to New York
1940
At
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New York. Advertising art, chiefly for Macy's. Rents apartment at 327 E. 58th Street.
