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The Arts Intel Report

Dora Maar: Behind the Lens

Dora Maar, Picasso in Antibes, 1936-1937.

June 16 – Aug 18, 2024
12, 14 Whitfield St, London W1T 2RF, United Kingdom

“All [Picasso’s] portraits of me are lies. They’re all Picassos. Not one is Dora Maar,” said the woman in question. Maar was Picasso’s muse in the late 1930s and early 40s, and more specifically the subject of his “weeping woman” portraits. When she died in 1997, most French newspapers didn’t take notice. Le Monde published coverage 10 days later, and characterized her merely as Picasso’s melancholic ex-girlfriend. Finally, Maar’s photographs are getting attention. On view in this exhibition are intimate shots of Maar and Picasso, as well as her rare Surrealist photograms. Expect to see a new and possibly darker side to their relationship. “When Dora met Picasso, she was already a gifted artist and her surrealist photographs were considered revolutionary,” Amar Singh, the exhibition’s curator, told The Guardian. “But Picasso was extremely controlling and psychologically abusive, and she was discouraged by Picasso to continue with her photography.” —Elena Clavarino

Photo courtesy of Amar Gallery