Damarice Amao

“Do not visit the colonial exhibition”: reacting to the opening of the Paris Colonial Exhibition in Vincennes in 1931, the members of the Surrealist group denounced France's imperialist policy. The “Unframing Colonialism” exhibition proposes to review this unique episode and the visual images generated at the time through photography.
The exhibition uses the Photography Cabinet collection and documents from the Kandinsky Library to explore the tensions and ambivalence running through the production of the new photographic scene in Paris at the time: a pseudo-scientific fascination for so-called “exotic” cultures, fetishisation and eroticisation of black bodies, sharing in the renewal of ethnography and contributing to the elaboration of a new image of the nation. … (mehr)

Dora Maar is an exhibition catalogue and critical assessment that is both visually appealing and very informative.

Maar is one of those figures many of us have heard of, maybe even know of a work or two, but little beyond that. This book serves to introduce those of us in that group to the extensive body of work she produced as well as to her interesting life. While not a biography by any means we do walk away with an appreciation of what she chose to do and an understanding of why.

I think anyone interested in surrealism should have this book. In addition, anyone who wants to have a better understanding of what "the art world" was like will enjoy this as well. The essays delve into both the hows and the whys of many works of hers as well as an interesting discussion of the relationship between her and Picasso during the creation of Guernica. Fans of photography and painting will find much to like here.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (mehr)