In her own way, Dora Maar is part of the Picasso legend. She was an important source of inspiration insofar as she fascinated him and became a privileged witness to the artist's return, which led him to explore poetry, photography, and engraving.
Henriette Theodora Markovitch was the full name of this respected artist, a member of the circle of Parisian intellectuals such as Georges Bataille and André Breton. At the same time as Picasso and even before they met personally, they showed in some of the same exhibitions, such as the international surrealist show held in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in May-June 1935. Given the quality of her photographs and her skills in journalism and photomontage, driven by a surrealist spirit, she brought a breath of fresh air to Picasso at a time when he was troubled by his breakup with his wife Olga and by the birth of Maya, his daughter with Marie-Thérèse: from the winter of 1935 to the beginning of 1936, he had felt that we was no longer capable of painting.
After they met, Dora Maar's surrealistic art and photography had a powerful impact on the Spanish artist's work. He plunged into new visual explorations: Dora's presence was particularly influential; her visual talents and qualities were what led him to combine engraving and photography in an innovative manner. In fact, he approached photography in its industrial, primitive form, and then photogravure, with outstanding results. Together, Maar and Picasso explored the alchemy of photography, producing manipulations such as gravures, burns, and reliefs on the negatives or the prints, without hesitating to venture beyond the usual production processes. This piece from 1936 is an excellent example. Two years after the picture was taken at his studio at 23, rue de la Boétie, Picasso decided to rework the copper plate.
Picasso pursues complexity here by engraving a female figure that is enmeshed in the photograph slipping between the paintings, appearing to emerge from the gap between the closet and the fireplace. The effect, achieved with burin and scraper strokes applied directly to the copper plate, announce the subsequent experiments in lithography that he would continue to pursue until the last years of his life. Against the backdrop of this living room and studio, we see a large-breasted female nude, with a clearly marked body and a garland of flowers in her hair, typical of Picasso's iconographic vocabulary. Positive and negative proofs were printed, producing entirely different effects. Shown here in its positive version, the piece conveys a spectral impression in an unusual atmosphere that suggests surrealism.
Initiated and assisted by Dora, Picasso handled the qualities of engraving and photography with subtlety and became aware of their expressive potential, achieving unprecedented effects.
This piece is the conclusion of a beautiful encounter between two artists and lovers, Dora and Pablo, of their desire to play with image and of their shared urge for innovation.
Nude in the Studio, second artist's proof A [a], late 1936 or early 1937, etching, scraping and burin on industrial copper plate, positive proof on laid paper, 23.7 x 14.1 cm, Musée national Picasso Paris, MP 2767.
1 / 3
Summary