Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, 1943
Dorothea Tanning (American, 1910-2012)
Oil on canvas
16 1/8 x 24 in.
Tate Modern, London

We've lost 2 artists this week, one to old age and one to life itself it seems, so I thought I would focus on them for some daily art. Dorothea Tanning died yesterday at the age of 101. Who do you think of when you hear the term Surrealism? Most people start with Dali and go from there. One of my favorites has always been Dorothea Tanning. The painting I've posted is one of her most well known, but I highly recommend spending some time looking at others. There is a great website dedicated to her and her work at www.dorotheatanning.org. I will admit, that while I enjoy spending time with surrealist works, I've never quite gotten the hang of talking about them, though now as I start reading I realize that I never spent much time with Surrealism after I developed my interest in psychoanalysis and art (which would seem like it should have been obvious, but alas). I am going to share quote of Tanning from the short essay about the work from the Tate Modern.

Tanning has said: ‘It’s about confrontation. Everyone believes he/she is his/her drama. While they don’t always have giant sunflowers (most aggressive of flowers) to contend with, there are always stairways, hallways, even very private theatres where the suffocations and the finalities are being played out, the blood red carpet or cruel yellows, the attacker, the delighted victim....’ (Letter to the author, 1999)

Check out the full summary of the work.

I do now have quite the fascination with sunflowers though. One of the things I do love about the paintings of Tanning's I have seen and other surrealists such as Leonora Carrington, Yves Tanguy, and Max Ernst, is how intimate they are, this is not a large painting, you can stand in front of it and really spend time with the strange and wonderful story and detail.

Spider

Maman, 1999
Louise Bourgeois
Steel, marble
9271 x 8915 x 10236 mm
sculpture
Tate Modern, London (and other institutions, it was eventually cast in a series of 6)

I was able to use some of my own pictures (2004) for today's work (not the greatest, but I like the one with me in it :) Mom took it so the top of the spider is cut off ;). Maman (even has its own Wikipedia page) was originally commissioned as part of the Unilever Series for Tate Modern's Turbine Hall (where you see it in the picture)

Spiders are common in Bourgeois's work and allude to spinning, weaving, nurturing and protection (her mother was a weaver) despite their inherent creepy nature as well. Bourgeois has said, “The Spider is an ode to my mother. She was my best friend. Like a spider, my mother was a weaver. My family was in the business of tapestry restoration, and my mother was in charge of the workshop. Like spiders, my mother was very clever. Spiders are friendly presences that eat mosquitoes. We know that mosquitoes spread diseases and are therefore unwanted. So, spiders are helpful and protective, just like my mother. “ (Tate Press Release, 2008) This is the largest of her spiders (I've seen a few) and it commands a space even as large as Turbine Hall.

If you ever seen the work of Bourgeois you know how intimate yet unnerving it can be. Her biography is known to invoke the subjects of her work, as she often discusses it, and while fascinating, it also is curious to approach the work without as much biographical baggage, you may be inclined to spend some more time with it, and her titles often give you a starting point for her themes of femininity, isolation and and sexuality. At 96, Bourgeouis is still working and has already left a legacy of art which reaches indefinitely into the future.