Finding Dora Maar: An Artist, an Address Book, a Life

I knew very little about Dora Maar going into this, other than that she was a photographer and the subject of Picasso's famous "Weeping Woman" painting. The author, Benekemoun, through a used address book and the names/addresses she finds within, presents a complex portrait of Maar as artist, friend, lover, patient, pet owner, and more. It's an incredibly humanizing portrait, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't shed a few tears at the end.The details of Maar's life presented in the book come from previously published information on Maar, as well as Benekemoun's own research/investigations. Some of Benekemoun's assertions are obviously speculative but she spent two years doing research on Maar, so I'll let her have those. Plus, Benekemoun herself is such an important character in this book, it doesn't seem out of place for her to insert her speculations.Benekemoun also quite successfully paints a picture of Paris, and the artists, writers and philosophers, that thrived in mid 1900s. At times I could picture myself sitting in one of the sidewalk cafes.I also very much loved the treatment. Is it biography? Yes. It is a memoir? Yes. It is a mystery? Yes, somehow, even though you know know owned the notebook from the beginning, it is a mystery.I very much enjoyed Finding Dora Maar.

For anyone interested in art, this is an astonishing book. There’s an introduction and sometimes a history of the famous and not-so-famous. And it’s the kind of book that you could read again and learn more and be fascinated again.

A sidelight on an interesting (if somewhat disturbed) person in the Picasso orbit.

A very interesting read shedding light on one of Picasso's many muses.

Received this book as a gift, and I was glad I did! Starts out like a mystery, but quickly becomes an unfolding of a complex personality. With ever entry in her address book, we find out a little more about Dora Maar. You do not need to be an art major to read and enjoy this book. Enjoy!

Horrible person not worth reading about

3.5/5 stars for me. Thank you to NetGalley, Getty Publications, and author Brigitte Benkemoun for allowing me to read the e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I loved the premise of this book: the author's husband lost his wallet and is determined to find a high-quality similar replacement. After a long search, a very similar wallet becomes available on eBay! When it arrives, the author is delighted to find it's a true objet trouvée as it contains contact information for many modern artists who were creating during the 1940s. At that point, Benkemoun is on a mission to identify its owner. She diligently researches the names in the address book to determine dates, locations, and which person they might have had in common. . . Dora Maar, one of Pablo Picasso's lovers and an artist in her own right (photography and painting). Benkemoun tracks down the facts of her life as well as possible, then makes a few educated guesses where missing pieces of the history exist. The interconnectedness and also the dramatic separations of this time is fascinating and one can just imagine the ideas that flowed around their dinner tables! This is more the biography of an address book and her social interactions than Dora Maar herself as details of her life begin when she is in her 20s. Overall, a very interesting book, but it left me wanting more information about her life and her work, which was outside of the scope of this book.

The author's solving of the puzzles in this book was somewhat interesting: who owned the unidentified address book and who were some of the cryptically mentioned people in it. The solving of the puzzles was probably worth a magazine article but not an entire book at least as thinly elaborated on by this author.

An amazing story of art and artistes in a seminal time that challenged the world's perceptions of art and life. Brilliantly imagined. I literally couldn't put it down!

A wonderful unmasking of the owner of an address book and contacts .I am presently illustrating the entire volume for my own amusement of all the entries along with work by Dora. The magic of found object on the internet.

Un racconto splendido particolaramente per chi che ama arte e storia. A thrilling account of the detective work behind the discovery of an address book belonging to Dora Maar. The books takes the reader on a journey of her life, those men and women of the surrealist period in Paris and beyond and those influences which made her both an excellent photographer and notable artist. At times bogged down in details, the book remains an excellent window into the world of the period and of Maar and Picasso in particular.

Dieses Buch habe ich auf englisch gelesen, da es erst im August 2021 auf deutsch erscheinen wird.Stellt Euch mal vor, dass Euer Partner wieder mal sein Adressbuch verloren hat und Ihr ersteigert das glitzergleiche auf Ebay und entdeckt darin 20 Seiten Adressen namhafter Personen (überwiegend Künstler) aus den 50er Jahren. Wem kann dieses Adressbuch gehört haben? Wer stand in Verbindung zu all den Personen? Die Autorin war nicht wenig überrascht zu erfahren bzw. mittels Recherche auf Dora Maar als ehemalige Besitzerin zu stoßen!Die Kapitel beginnen mit dem jeweiligen Namen und der Adresse und handeln von den einzelnen Verbindungen, wobei sich manche (da gemeinsame Bekannte) auch überschneiden.Mittels dieser Kontakte, die Dora Maar Anfang der 50er Jahre noch im Adressbuch stehen hatte, begibt sich also Brigitte Benkemoun auf die Suche nach Dora Maar, versucht ein Bild dieser wahrlich geheimnisvollen Frau zu zeichnen, die völlig zu Unrecht lange Zeit nur als Muse und Geliebte von Pablo Picasso oder der weinenden Frau in seinen Bildern bekannt war. Dora Maar war aber weit mehr als das und bekommt nun endlich den Platz als eigenständige Künstlerin, der ihr schon lange gebührt hätte.Es hat Spaß gemacht sich mit der Autorin auf Spurensuche zu begeben und Stück für Stück dem Kern von Dora Maar näherzukommen. Ist es ihr gelungen? Ich glaube, es war ein Versuch... ein guter Versuch, aber eben ein Versuch. Noch heute ist nicht allzu viel über Dora Maar bekannt, hüllt sie sich noch 23 Jahre nach ihrem Tod in Geheimnisse. Sie war eine Person voller Widersprüche, glaubt man zumindest diesem Buch... ob man sie nun sympathisch findet oder nicht ist ohne Belang, denn sie fasziniert so oder so.Ich bin begeistert... nicht nur vom Buch, sondern vor allem von Dora Maar, die man in diesen Seiten erahnen kann, einer Frau mit unglaublich vielen Facetten und einem wahnsinnig interessanten und intensivem Leben!Umso mehr freue ich mich auf die Romanbiografie zu Dora Maar von Bettina Storks, von der ich bereits jetzt überzeugt bin, dass sie aus Dora mehr als einen Geist zwischen den Zeilen machen und sie in all ihren Farben zeigen wird... Gott, was freue ich mich drauf!!!Also: von mir gibt es eine klare Leseempfehlung und geballte Vorfreude auf Bettinas Storks Roman zu Dora Maar😍

The life of Dora Maar is interesting in that she surrounded by great artists, writers and painters including her time with Piccasso. It is a special history of a time and famous people not forgotten.