Object number2022.17.1

To Climb a Ladder

Date1987

Artist Dorothea Tanning (American, 1910 - 2012)

CultureAmerican

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 47 1/4 x 41 3/8 in. (120 x 105.1 cm)
Framed: 48 3/4 x 43 x 2 in. (123.8 x 109.2 x 5.1 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, gift of Mrs. Frederick Ferris Thompson, by exchange

On View

On view

Period20th c

Classification(s)

Painting

BibliographyBailly, Jean Christophe. Dorothea Tanning. New York: George Braziller, 1995, pl. 163, p. 186 Carruthers, Victoria. Dorothea Tanning: Transformations. London: Lund Humphries, 2020, pp. 178-180 Caws, Mary Ann. “Person: Tanning’s Self-portraiture.” In The Surrealist Look: An Erotics of Encounter. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1997, pp. 72-73 Solomon, Tessa. “Dorothea Tanning’s Enigmatic Art Journeys Beyond Surrealism in a New Show at Kasmin.” ARTnews, March 9, 2022. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/artists/dorothea-tanning-kasmin-survey-1234620618/ Tanning, Dorothea. Dorothea Tanning: Web of Dreams. Exhibition catalogue. London: Alison Jacques Gallery, 2014, p. 33 Tanning, Dorothea. Dorothea Tanning: Doesn’t the Paint Say It All? Exhibition catalogue. New York: Kasmin Gallery, 2022, pp. 64–65 Lyford, Amy. Exquisite Dreams: The Art and Life of Dorothea Tanning. London: Reaktion Books, 2023, pp. 21-22ProvenanceKent Fine Art, New York (c. 1988-89);
Purchased by Peter Morris, Chicago;
Likely purchased by the Collection of the artist (c. 1990);
The Destina Foundation, New York;

Vassar Exhibitions

What Now? (Or Not Yet)

Body Matters

Exhibition HistoryDorothea Tanning: Mythic Talk, Cavaliero Fine Arts, New York, NY, May 12 - June 6, 1992;

Dorothea Tanning: Web of Dreams, Alison Jacques Gallery, London, United Kingdom, July 1 - September 27, 2014;

Dorothea Tanning, Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom, February 26 - June 9, 2019;

Dorothea Tanning: Doesn’t the Paint Say It All?, Kasmin Gallery, New York, March 3 - April 16, 2022;

What Now? (Or Not Yet), The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College,
Poughkeepsie, NY, January 21 - May 7, 2023;

Body Matters, The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, May 20 - September 10, 2023

Label TextActive in both the United States and Europe, Tanning achieved international renown for bold experiments across media—printmaking, painting, sculpture, and installation—as well as for an acclaimed body of fiction, memoir, and poetry. Her dreamlike, formally innovative works express a highly personal vision while encompassing broader themes of fear, fantasy, desire, obsession, and the interplay between the conscious and unconscious. In To Climb a Ladder the vertical “ladder” of amorphous figures, set against a dark background, suggests a dreamworld of interpenetrating bodies in a state of flux and transformation.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu