On Fire
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Object Details
- Date
- 1949
- Artist
- Dorothea Tanning, born Galesburg, IL 1910-died New York City 2012
- Sitter
- Dorothea Tanning
- Dorothea Tanning
- Exhibition Label
- The breathless, fleeing girl with clothing in flames epitomizes Tanning’s surreal narratives. The ambiguity of the half-clothed figure suggests a state of metamorphosis. Her forward thrust is thwarted by a brick wall that swallows her forearms. As in a nightmare. Tanning had fled Paris on the brink of war in 1939, and she returned in 1949 to a devastated city. Despite the possible biographical connection, the meaning of this image is unclear because, as the artist explained, “My work is about the enigmatic, about leaving the door open to imagination.”
- Graphic Masters II: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2009
- Topic
- Disaster\fire
- Occupation\art\painter
- Occupation\art\sculptor
- Occupation\art\designer
- Occupation\art\printmaker
- Portrait female\self-portrait
- Portrait female\full length
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Graphic Arts
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by Mrs. Gibson Fahnestock
- Data Source
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Object number
- 1995.10
- Type
- Drawing
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Medium
- pencil and colored pencil on paper
- Dimensions
- sheet and image: 13 7/8 x 9 7/8 in. (35.4 x 25.1 cm)
- Metadata Usage
- Not determined
- Record ID
- saam_1995.10