Movement, Style, School or Type of Art:
Surrealism
Date and Place of Birth:
January 5, 1900, Paris
Life:
Yves Tanguy came to painting late (in his early 20s) after a work by Giorgio de Chirico fired his imagination and changed his destiny. He taught himself to paint and, at the urging of his friend André Breton, became an enthusiastic member of the Parisian Surrealist movement in 1925. Through constant work, Tanguy quickly gained assurance as a painter, and recognition for his faintly sinister - and purely Surrealistic - landscapes executed in muted colors and filled with mysterious objects.
He met, and subsequently married, the American Surrealist painter Kay Sage - which led to Tanguy's move to the United States in 1939. Though the country in which he took citizenship (in 1948) was more economically stable than war-torn France, he never achieved the popularity (or sales) that Salvador Dalí enjoyed. Nonetheless, it was Tanguy to whom the next generation of artists turned for inspiration, leaving him with the reputation of a "painter's painter" which continues to this day.
Important Works:
- Mama, Papa is Wounded!, 1927
- Promontory Palace, 1930
- The Sun in Its Jewel Case, 1937
- Multiplication of Arches, 1954
- Imaginary Numbers, 1954
Date and Place of Death:
January 15, 1955, Woodbury, Connecticut
How To Pronounce "Yves Tanguy":
eve tahn·gee
The "g" is soft, as in "gum," not hard as in "gem."
Quotes From Yves Tanguy:
- "I believe there is little to gain by exchanging opinions with other artists concerning either the ideology of art or technical methods. Very much alone in my work, I am almost jealous of it. Geography has no bearing on it, nor have the interests of the community in which I work."
- "The painting develops before my eyes, unfolding its surprises as it progresses. It is this which gives me the sense of complete liberty, and for this reason I am incapable of forming a plan or making a sketch beforehand."
Recommended Books About Yves Tanguy
- Yves Tanguy. (exh. cat). New York: Acquavella Galleries, Inc., 1974.
(Note: The above link leads to an out-of-print exhibition catalogue, made available online by Aquavella Galleries. The Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view and/or save the file.)
- Soby, James T. Yves Tanguy. Arno Press; 1972 (Reprint ed).
- von Maur, Karin. Yves Tanguy and Surrealism. Hatje Cantz Publishers; 2001.
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