Dora Maar
Tate Modern
20 NOVEMBER 2019 - 15 MARCH 2020
£13
I first heard of Dora Marr when studying the Modernist movement in A-Level Photography. This particular movement was one I took most of my inspiration from for my final pieces, as I found the distorted form and surrealist elements of the images absolutely fascinating. Maar’s career spanned many mediums and techniques, but it is undoubtedly her surrealist works of black and white photography which take centre stage in what she is remembered for.
Maar came from money: a privilege which allowed her to be experimental and challenging with her work, given she was not trying to conform to any ideals in order to make a living. Maar also had great wealth in the friends she made and relationships she pursued - being good chums with Man Ray and later schmoozing Pablo Picasso. Whilst involved and associated with these types of artists, Maar’s political leanings became ever more left, which was thus reflected in her surrealist works later to come. The surrealist movement aimed to transform human experience, by refusing the constraints of modern society and advocating for both intellectual and social revolution. Maar approached surrealism with 4 key themes: the erotic, sleep, the eye and the sea.
Works such as The Simulator evoke an eerie and haunting sense of entrapment and oppression. By retouching the windows to make them appear closed off, turning the vaulted ceiling upside down and collaging a distressed looking person, it appears as though the room is in a continuous circling nightmare. A haunting element also continues through her other works, particularly one of a still-life headless figure dressed up in a lilac dress and positioned as if posing for a portrait, and in the Portrait of Ubu, which depicts a baby Armadillo who appears more like an alien lifeforce, or something from a dream. Humour is also evident within many of her works, particularly ‘Forbidden Games’, which is a collage of two aristocratic men fooling around with each other: one dressed in drag riding the other, who is bent over on his knees. A child witnesses the men whilst hiding under a desk, a bemused expression on his face, suggesting even he knows that the act should not be happening.
Whilst these works were the highlight, other areas of the exhibition unfortunately fell a bit flat. Maar’s relationship with Picasso saw him encourage her to go to back to painting: a medium that doesn’t begin to compare with her works of photography. In fact, a whole room in the exhibition was dedicated to her supporting Picasso through the creation of Guernica, an odd addition, I thought, given the fact it retracted from Maar herself, and made the viewer focus on the man in her life. The whole point of having a solo exhibition of all of your greatest works is to show that you are not defined through your male counterpart, so shame on the Tate for allowing this to be even the smallest possibility.
Overall, Maar’s exhibition is worth seeing purely for the room of Photomontage’s. However, the rest of the exhibition is admittedly limp, and seems to have lost my affections since studying the works some 7 years ago.
OVERALL RATING: ***
https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/dora-maar
