Dorothea Tanning Retrospective at Tate Modern

This spring, Tate Modern in London hosts a major exhibition of American artist Dorothea Tanning (1910–2012), the first large-scale survey in 25 years. Featuring 100 works spanning seven decades, the retrospective traces her evolution from early Surrealist paintings and enigmatic sculptures—first encountered in New York in the 1930s—to her later work as a painter, poet, and writer. Her last poetry collection, Coming to That, was published at age 101. A turning point came in the 1940s when her 1942 self-portrait Birthday caught the attention of fellow artist Max Ernst, whom she married in 1946; her work then blended the familiar with the unusual, exploring desire and sexuality. In the mid-1960s, Tanning used her sewing machine to create original "soft" sculptures, anthropomorphic forms between bodies and objects, which inspired many Surrealist sculptors and contemporary figures like Louise Bourgeois and Sarah Lucas. The exhibition runs from February 27 to June 9, 2019, at Tate Modern, Bankside, London.