The Dora Decade: Picasso and Maar

February 26, 2006 6:58 AM

Dora Maar was immortalized by Picasso in many portraits, one of which is up for auction this May. Tho many are familiar with her face, fewer are aware that she was a respected surrealist photographer in her own right. An exhibit at the Musee Picasso in Paris documents the stormy and artistically rich decade of their relationship via the contents of Dora Maar's estate.
posted by madamjujujive (9 comments total)

A tortured goddess
Of Picasso's many muses, few were as influential on his art or person as the photographer Dora Maar. She was both the inspiration for his acclaimed Weeping Woman series and the butt of his infamous cruelty during, perhaps, his most productive years. After he left her, both their lives were never quite the same again


Picasso's saddest love
Jacqueline Roque, Picasso's enigmatic last muse, had a reputation as a scheming dragon. But an outstanding exhibition in Paris reveals the extraordinary beauty he saw in her
posted by matteo at 7:43 AM on February 26, 2006

and, as always:
*hugs mjjj*
posted by matteo at 7:44 AM on February 26, 2006 [1 favorite]

Thanks, madamjujujive.

I read all the links and this makes for a beautiful Sunday morning reading, with great images.
Thanks matteo for the other link too, although Jacqueline's is related, but mostly off Maars' topic.

I was lucky enough to pass through Paris in October 1998 and I saw the pre-auction show of Dora Maar's Picassos. I still have the catalog: great classical Picasso's portraits, drawings and paintings, but also hundreds of small bits of paper, match boxes, napkins, tiny pieces of metal or rock engraved, drawn upon or torn by Picasso. Very intimate small nothings: she kept everything and it's at the same time fascinating and pathetic.

But I had missed the other auction show with all her works. All the texts linked here give a great overall portrait of Dora Maar as an artist in her own right and undoubtly a formidable character. Over the years, I have seen here and there some of her photographs, but I have never stumbled upon, nor found on the Web, any of the paintings she did afterward.
posted by bru at 9:29 AM on February 26, 2006

Excellent, thank you.
posted by drpynchon at 9:55 AM on February 26, 2006

madamjujujive, wonderful FPP, thank you.

bru, here are images I think you might like of Dora Maar's works.

This is an interesting old photograph of hers.

Following Picasso's death, Jacqueline shot herself. And that is the end of the women in Picasso's life. The Tragedies of Picasso's Women.
posted by nickyskye at 10:02 AM on February 26, 2006

Excellent post and follow ups. lifts cup, tips hat.
posted by hortense at 12:48 PM on February 26, 2006

I'm embarrassed to say that La Baigneusse was the only one of her photographs that I recognized. Pere Ubu is outstanding and very creepy.

Thanks a lot for the post.
posted by OmieWise at 12:14 PM on February 27, 2006

Thanks for the posting !

Very interesting indeed ... I didn't know Dora Maar was the inspiration for "Weeping Women" series, that always fastinated me ... and consequently inspiration for el "Guernica", my favourite painting by Picasso...

http://www.fantasyarts.net/Picassos_weeping_woman.htm
"Weeping Woman is a most expressive and fantastical image of a woman in distress. The geometry and shapes in the painting are imaginative and outrageous, with bright colors, and shapes of boats and flowers that would be humorous except for the profound suffering of the woman. The woman’s eyes are like tipsy boats in a rough sea, spilling tears. Diamond shaped tears are also the nails of her hands, held up to her face in fright. With a single image Picasso expresses a complex array of human anguish; terror, despair, outrage, hysteria, and death".
posted by Brainstormer at 8:52 AM on March 2, 2006

Thanks for the comment, Brainstormer & welcome to Mefi!
posted by madamjujujive at 5:42 PM on March 2, 2006