American artistDorothea Tanningcelebrates her 98th natal day today , so in her honor and at the request of reader Peter , we ’ll take a tone at her life and artwork , peculiarly her 1942 self - portrait , " The Birthday . “
1.Many descriptions of " The Birthday" reference the costume - alike jacket Dorothea Tanning draw herself wearing . Thejacket was indeed a costume—“some previous Shakespearean costume,“as Tanning describe it . At the fourth dimension , Tanning " did n’t have any money to throw off on frivolities,“ so she and others shopped at thrift stores and would wear " really onetime , from another time" clothes .
2.While Tanning is often referred to as the " last support Surrealist" or the " oldest make it Surrealist,“ she rejects such description of herself . The Surrealist movement stop in the " ˜50s and , according to Tanning , her own body of work " had moved on so far by the " ˜60s thatbeing called a surrealist today cause [ her ] feel like a fossil!“
3.Tanning ventured on her own to New York City at the age of 20 , hoping to one day make it to Paris . She finally arrived in Paris " just four weeks before Hitler started his March . “ As Americans were being tell to go home , she locomote to her uncle ’s business firm in Stockholm on a geartrain with Hitler Youthand get the last sauceboat out of Gothenburg in September 1939 . It was another 10 years before she was able-bodied to repay to France , at which spot she stay in France for " 28 unbelievable years . “
4.In 1946,Tanning wed Max Ernst in a double wedding with Man Ray and Juliet Browner . Their crowd also included Peggy Guggenheim ( Ernst ’s third married woman ; Tanning was his fourth),Marcel Duchamp , Renà © Magritte , Salvador Dali , Pablo Picasso , Dylan Thomas , and Truman Capote .
5.Originally , Tanning take in fame for her art , but in late years she has also receive acclaim for her writing . Her poetry is often published inThe New Yorker , as well as in theNew Republicand theYale Review , and she was also included inThe better American Poetry 2000 . She has also written two autobiographies and a novel , as well as designed theater and concert dance exercise set and costumes .
