Sans Titre (Mannequin-Étoile)

Dora Maar

Dora Maar’s artistic career is often overshadowed by her role in Pablo Picasso’s work, as both his frequent model and muse and the documentarian of the making of his Guernica (1937). Maar had an active and respected career as an avant-garde photographer and Surrealist artist. A prominent member of the Parisian avant-garde, her friends and lovers included Georges Bataille, Yves Tanguy, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and André Breton. Maar had originally studied painting but turned to photography after modeling for Man Ray’s photographs. She produced portraits, nudes, landscapes, fashion photographs, and photomontages. Her montages frequently featured strong architectural elements and narratives. Among Surrealist circles, she was applauded for her understanding of the movement’s emphasis on naturalism; Maar also wrote poetry.