A Mi-Voix - Dorothea Tanning
Archival giclée
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Description
A haunting, atmospheric work from 1958, A Mi-Voix captures Tanning's transition into abstract Surrealism with its ethereal, ghost-like forms.
A Mi-Voix, painted by Dorothea Tanning in 1958, represents a shift in her practice away from the explicit narrative structures of her earlier Surrealist works. During this period, Tanning moved towards a more abstract, atmospheric mode of representation. The title, which translates to 'in a half-voice' or 'at a whisper', suggests a muted, internalised experience rather than a literal depiction of a scene.
The composition is dominated by ethereal, shifting forms that appear to dissolve into the surrounding space. Figures are suggested rather than defined, emerging from a monochromatic palette of greys, browns, and off-whites. The brushwork is fluid and gestural, creating a sense of movement and instability. Tanning uses light and shadow to model these ambiguous shapes, giving them a ghostly, translucent quality. The central area of the canvas contains darker, more concentrated marks that anchor the composition, contrasting with the lighter, more diffuse edges.
This work reflects Tanning's interest in the psychological dimensions of space and the human form. By obscuring the physical boundaries of her subjects, she invites the viewer to engage with the painting as a sensory experience. The lack of clear perspective or defined objects forces the eye to wander across the surface, tracing the interplay between the dark, skeletal structures and the soft, cloud-like washes of paint. It is an exercise in restraint, where the artist communicates through suggestion and tone rather than overt symbolism. The painting remains a significant example of Tanning's mid-career transition, demonstrating her ability to maintain the unsettling, dream-like quality of her earlier work while embracing a more painterly, abstract language.
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Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
A Mi-Voix - Dorothea Tanning
Artist Biography
Dorothea Tanning
She was born in Galesburg, Illinois, in 1910 and left for New York at twenty with twenty-five dollars. Her painting Birthday (1942) is a self-portrait: bare-torsoed, standing beside an infinite row of open doors, with a winged creature at her feet. Max Ernst saw it when he visited her studio. They married in 1946 in a double wedding with Man Ray and Juliet Browner. They lived first in Sedona, Arizona, then in Huismes, France, for decades. After Ernst died in 1976, she returned to New York.
She was published in The Yale Review, Poetry, The Paris Review, and The New Yorker, as a poet. She also wrote a memoir (Birthday, 1986), a novel (Chasm: A Weekend, 2004), and a second memoir (Between Lives, 2001). She endowed the Wallace Stevens Award at the Academy of American Poets. She died in 2012, in her Manhattan home, aged a hundred and one.
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