The Surrealists of the 1920s and '30s played a game they called "exquisite corpse," a collaborative activity in which each individual would add to a drawing or text without seeing the contributions of the other participants. The surprising results were thought to reveal the subconscious. A long–time member of the Surrealist group, Tanning continued to use the technique in work she did alone, here by cutting etchings into strips to allow for the mixing of parts.

Gallery label from

Wunderkammer: A Century of Curiosities, July 30–November 10, 2008.

Author (of text)Léna Leclercq
Medium Illustrated book with nine etchings, two with aquatint, and one with drypoint (eight pages cut horizontally into thirds)
Dimensions plate (each, uncut): 7 5/8 x 6" (19.4 x 15.3 cm); page (each, uncut): 12 x 9 3/4" (30.5 x 24.7 cm); overall: 12 5/16 x 10 1/8 x 3/8" (31.2 x 25.7 x 1 cm)
Publisher Éditions Georges Visat & Cie., Paris
Printer Éditions Georges Visat & Cie., Paris
Edition 91
Credit Gift of the Curt Valentin Estate (by exchange)
Object number 78.1967.1-9
Department Drawings and Prints

Explore more

Dorothea Tanning

Dorothea Tanning

American, 1910–2012 17 works online

In 1936 Dorothea Tanning visited The Museum of Modern Art on the occasion of Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism , an exhibition of nearly 700 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, and films that each presented a radical departure from day-to-day reality.

Learn more →
All works by Dorothea Tanning →

From MoMA Design Store

Installation views

We have identified this work in the following photos from our exhibition history.

How we identified these works
In 2018–19, MoMA collaborated with Google Arts & Culture Lab on a project using machine learning to identify artworks in installation photos. That project has concluded, and works are now being identified by MoMA staff.

If you notice an error, please contact us at [email protected].
Licensing
To reproduce installation views, please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations). You will need to include the object identification number found in the caption.
Feedback
This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please send feedback to [email protected].

Licensing

Artwork or archival images

If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA's collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).

Audio and film clips

MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit Circulating Film and Video Library.

Text from a publication or the archives

If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA's archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].

Feedback

This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please fill out this feedback form.