Henriette Theodora Markovich, known as Dora Maar, was a French artist. Her primary medium was photography, although she also dabbled in poetry and painting throughout her life.
Maar was born in Paris but grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina before moving back to Paris in her 20’s. Here she attended classes at the Central Union of Decorative Arts, the School of Photography, École des Beaux-Arts, and the Académie Julian.
The earliest surviving photographs by Maar were taken in the early 1920s. By the beginning of the 1930s, Maar had set up a photography studio with Pierre Kéfer in Paris.
The two photographers worked in commercial photography, focusing on advertising, fashion, and nudes. Despite Maar’s father supporting her financially in the beginning, the studio went on to become very successful.
During her time in this studio, the influences of surrealism began to appear in her work with the frequent use of mirrors and dark shadows. Maar believed that art should represent reality through links to dreams and ideas, instead of simply reproducing what occurs naturally.
This experimentation led to Maar’s first publication in a magazine in 1932 followed by her first solo exhibition at the Galerie Vanderberg in Paris. The gelatin silver works she created during this surrealist period, filled with black and white photomontages, collages, and superimpositions, remain to be the most sought-after pieces of her work.
Today, Dora Maar is most famous for her 9-year relationship with Pablo Picasso. Picasso considered Maar to be his muse, and she was the subject of several of Picasso’s cubist and surrealist portraits. During this time, Maar documented the creation of one of Picasso’s well-known works, Guernica.
Maar eventually left Picasso, which caused her to drift away from photography and take up painting. These works remained unknown until after Maar’s death when they were discovered and sold at a posthumous sale in 1999. Here are some of the artworks by Piet Mondrian:
1. Double Portrait
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Dora Maar sandwiched two negatives of the same model and painted the background and hat and created the Double Portrait in the year 1930 in surrealism style.
2. Sans Titre
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The Sans Titre was made in the year 1934 by Dora Maar in surrealism style.
3. Candelabra
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Candelabra, made by Dora Maar in the year 1935 shows a naked woman holding candles.
4. Mannequin en vitrine
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‘Mannequin en vitrine’ was created in 1935 by Dora Maar in Surrealism style.
5. The Years Lie In Wait For You
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‘The years lie in wait for you’, is a portrait Maar took of her close friend Nusch Eluard, overlaid with a spiders-web In the year 1936.
6. Pere Ubu
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Père Ubu made in the year 1936 by Dora Maar is an iconic photograph of the surrealist movement. Maar’s creature highlights the bestial nature of Jarry’s antihero, whose greed, cruelty, and vulgarity were manifested in his horrid appearance.
7. Leonor Fini
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This portrait was created by Dora Maar in the year 1936 showing one of the most important women artists of the time Leonor Fini.
8. Arums
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‘Arums’ was created in 1934 by Dora Maar in Surrealism style.
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