Dora Maar

Description

This hardback Dora Maar exhibition catalogue is an accessible and elegant introduction to the practice and impact of an unsung surrealist master. It contains many of Dora Maar’s greatest works, interspersed with texts by a selection of pre-eminent critics and writers.

French photographer, painter and poet Dora Maar (b. Henriette Theodora Markovitch, 1907–97), was a remarkable artist who straddled both the artistic and commercial realms. Until recently, Maar’s work has often been overlooked in favour of her role as model and archivist to other artists, including Man Ray and Picasso – yet Maar had been making a name for herself on the avant-garde scene long before she met these men, having studied at Académie Julian, André Lhote’s atelier, École de Photographie de la Ville de Paris and the Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs. After it was exhibited in London at the International Surrealist Exhibition in 1936, her celebrated image Père Ubu became an emblem for the surrealist movement.

Texts include: ‘Fashion and advertising’ by Amanda Maddox; ‘Nude and Eroticism’ by Alix Agret; ‘Social Engagement’ by Florian Ebner; ‘Barcelona’ by Victoria Combalia; ‘Social and Political Engagement’ by Patrice Allain; ‘Found Surrealism’ by Dawn Ades; ‘Photo Collages’ by Karolina Ziebinska-Lewandowska; ‘Surrealist Exhibitions and the “Ubu” Portrait’ by Ian Walker; ‘Women of Surrealism: Maar’s constellation’ by Abigail Solomon-Godeau; Maar’s Portraits by Picasso’ by Emma Lewis; ‘Late Work’ by Damarice Amao; and ‘Late Negatives’ by Anne Cartier-Bresson.