Dora Maar: Who is She?

Dora Maar was a successful professional surrealist photographer by her mid twenties. She became the lover and muse of Pablo Picasso and their relationship lasted all through World War 1. Dora inspired and collaborated on his greatest anti-war masterpiece, Guernica. Her art career was self-made and encompassed passionate radicalism, finding God, and a long life as a self-secluded painter.

Ironically labeled as the “weeping woman” and a social recluse, my research (which took me to Menerbes, France) argues that though she had valid reasons to weep, she was actually too proud to do it in public. Her beauty and her relationship with Picasso has gravely minimized her story as a talented and devoted artist. Even when she avoided seeing people later in life, she reached out regularly to old friends on the telephone, safeguarding her time for her religious and artistic devotions.

My 20-page illustrated zine covers major points of her life and work- from where she lived, what inspired her, who were her allies to what makes her stand out among her peers.