Dora Maar | Biography (1909-1997)

Dora Maar

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Biography
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French photographer and painter.
Born: 1909 in Tours.
Died: 1997.

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Yugoslavian father and a French mother. Raised in Argentina.

Studied painting in Paris at the Ecole d'Art Decoratif, Academic de Passy, Academic Julien, and with Andre Lhote.

Gave up painting for photography during the mid 1930s; associated with the Surrealists between 1934 and 1937....

Pablo Picasso
Portrait of Dora Maar
c. Succession Picasso

BIOGRAPHY

Picasso met her in January 1936 at the terrace of the café "Les Deux Magots" in Saint-Germain- des Prés. Attracted by her black eyes and jet-black hair, he invested his friend, the famous poet Paul Eluard, to introduce him to this beautiful woman.

Their relationship was cemented a few weeks later when Picasso invited her in his flat of the rue de la Boetie in March 1936 and its duration (nearly nine years) coincided with the dark period spanning the years of the war of Spain and the Second World War.

She thus became the rival of the blonde Marie-Thérèse Walter who had given a daughter named Maya to Picasso. Contrary to the other women whom he had known, Maar was an artist who had a certain independence of mind but she eventually came to suffer from this relationship after she discovered she was sterile. Picasso, who was then aged 50, was charmed by this beautiful dark-haired girl and produced during their relationship of many sketches, watercolours and paintings which testify today of their moments of happiness.

dora maar She had however to yield to Picasso's whims as he had not given up Marie-Thérèse Walter. He went thus from one to another according to events and his mood. In Paris, still occupied by the Germans, he left her as a good-bye gift in April 1944 a drawing of 1915 representing Max Jacob his close friend who had just died in the transit camp of Drancy after his arrest by the Nazis.

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First photography exhibition at the Galerie deBeaune, Paris, in 1937.

One-woman exhibitions of painting inParis at Jeanne Bucher (1943) and Pierre Loeb (1945).

After a period of semimonastic life devoted to mystical experience,began exhibiting her paintings again during the 1950s.

Towards the end of her life, renounced her earlier association with Surrealism and lived in Menerbes (Vaucluse).

Exhibitions: Tenerife (1935), London (1936), New York (1937),Tokyo (1937), Amsterdam (1938).

Further Reading: Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement

Gallery
D O R A M A A R

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Picasso: Life with Dora Maar: Love and War 1935-1945 Hardcover
by Anne Baldassari | 2006
Dora Maar, famous for her relationship with Picasso, was a talented artist in her own right. She initially studied painting, but soon found a passion and gift for photography. This book sets the lives and work of these two artists within the context of major historical events of the time, bringing a legend to life, and allowing the reader unique access to two artistic minds

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Dora Maar: La Femme invisible Paperback
by Victoria Combalià | 2019
Dora Maar, au delà de Picasso, publié en 2013 par les Editions Circe (Barcelone) est le fruit de plus de vingt ans de travail de Victoria Combalía sur la photographe, compagne de Picasso, femme de talent au caractère passionné, mélancolique et fantasque mais aussi très humaine et pleine d´humour. Elle avait été l'amante de Picasso entre 1936 et 1943, avait photographié Guernica et avait été le modèle exceptionnel de la série La femme qui pleure du peintre de Malaga. Victoria Combalía a eu le rare privilège de pouvoir parler longuement avec Dora Maar en 1994 et d'organiser une première rétrospective de son travail photographique et pictural en 1995. Dora Maar était la fille d'un père yougoslave et d'une mère française mais avait été élevée en Argentine. Elle a tourné le dos à ses origines bourgeoises en devenant une militante politique de gauche, membre du groupe Contre-Attaque et amoureuse du philosophe et révolutionnaire Georges Bataille. En tant que membre du groupe surréaliste, Paul Eluard l'a présenté à Picasso. Dans une scène célèbre du café Les Deux Magots, Dora l'a séduit en jouant un couteau entre ses doigts et ses longs ongles peints en rouge. Avec lui, elle vécu une passion tumultueuse et mis en sourdine son activité créatrice. Elle est devenue sa muse, mille fois dépeinte dans sa beauté mais surtout comme un masque souffrant et tourmenté. Abandonnée par l'artiste, elle s'est réfugiée dans la religion et la peinture, vivant isolée dans son appartement parisien et dans sa maison de Ménerbes, dans le sud de la France. Dora Maar est décédée en 1997, laissant derrière elle une aura de mystère et d'attente.

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Dora Maar - Prisonnière du regard, Paperback & Hardcover
by Alicia Dujovne Ortiz | 2003
Dora Maar, Henriette Théodora Markovitch de son vrai nom, est née à Paris en 1907 d'un père croate, architecte, et d'une mère catholique fervente. Après une enfance austère passée à Buenos Aires, elle retourne à vingt ans dans sa ville natale et s'y impose comme photographe surréaliste. Muse de Man Ray, compagne du cinéaste Louis Chavance puis de Georges Bataille, elle ne tarde pas à faire sien un cercle esthétique qui révolutionne le monde de l'art de l'entre-deux-guerres. Intellectuelle torturée, artiste à la conscience politique extrême, elle deviendra " la femme qui pleure ", amante de Picasso livrée aux exigences du génie que leur rupture rendra folle, cloîtrée dans un mysticisme solitaire jusqu'à sa mort, en 1997. Ses portraits peints par Picasso seront alors vendus aux enchères, et son héritage âprement disputé puisque Dora choisit de tout léguer à l'Eglise. De Cocteau à Lacan, c'est toute une époque que dépeint Alicia Dujovne Ortiz. Au détour d'une enquête psychologique passionnante, elle fait défiler dans ces pages une pléiade d'artistes d'avant-garde et de grands esprits, et dresse le portrait d'une femme-image toujours mystérieuse, à laquelle la critique contemporaine attribue enfin le rôle qui lui revient.

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Dra Maar, Hardcover
by Damarice Amao (Editor), Amanda Maddox (Editor) | 2020
c. Estate of Dora Maar/ J. Paul Getty Museum
For the first time, a comprehensive exploration of Dora Maar's enigmatic photography reveals her as an extraordinary and influential artist in her own right.

Dora Maar (born Henriette Théodora Markovitch, 1907-1997) was active at the height of Surrealism in France. She was recognized as a key member of the movement and maintained professional relationships with many of its prominent figures, such as André Breton, Brassaï, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Man Ray. However, her standing as the one-time muse and mistress of Pablo Picasso--his famous "Weeping Woman"-- has long eclipsed her creative output and minimized her influence.

Richly illustrated with 240 key works showcasing Maar's inimitable acumen as a photographer, this book examines the full arc of her career for the very first time. Subjects include her innovative commercial and fashion photography, approach to the nude and eroticism, engagement with political groups, interest in socially concerned photography, affiliation with the Surrealist movement, and hitherto unknown work from her reclusive late career, providing a dynamic and multifaceted examination of an important artist.

This volume is published to accompany an exhibition on view at the Centre Pompidou Paris, France June 5 to July 29, 2019; the Tate Modern London, United Kingdom November 19, 2019, to March 15, 2020; and the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center April 21 to July 26, 2020.

Dora Maar items @ ebay.com (direct link to items)

Dora Maar items @ ebay.com (direct link to signed items) - they do pop up from time to time and are always astonishingly beautiful

Biography

whitney chadwick
Women artists and the surrealist movement
book 1989

(See and read why this is the most important book on surrealism, both male and female, ever written - more scans on the book than anywhere in the universe!)