Life & Work Timeline

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

1938

Cartoon for The Coast, May 1938

Cartoon for The Coast, July 1938

Cartoon for The Coast, August 1938

Portrait of Mary Louise

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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

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New York. Advertising art, chiefly for Macy's. Rents apartment at 327 E. 58th Street.

Fashion ad for Macy's

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Untitled (Study for Deirdre)

Deirdre

Beyond the Esplanade

The Golden Ball

Music Hath Charms

1941

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Meets Julien Levy, gallery owner who signs her on for his gallery. A marriage to Homer Shannon, writer, after an off-and-on, 8-year liaison, ends in separation after six months and divorce a year later. Meets John Cage and his wife Xenia. Pearl Harbor brings the United States into the war.

The Magic Flower Game