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Michelle Renee Kidwell
2 min readJul 8, 2020

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Book Review: Finding Dora Maar

Finding Dora Maar

An Artist, an Address Book, a Life

by Brigitte Benkemoun

Getty Publications

Arts & Photography. |. Biographies & Memoirs

Pub Date 19 May 2020

I am reviewing a copy of Finding Dora Maar through Getty Publications and Netgalley:

Finding Dora Maar merges biography, memoir and cultural history in one captivating book.

While searching for a replacement for his lost copy of Hermès Agenda Brigitte Benkemoun’s husband buys a vintage diary on eBay. When Brigitte opens it, the diary shows private notes dating back to 1951, as well as twenty pages of phone numbers and addresses for Balthus, Brassaï, André Breton, Jean Cocteau, Paul Éluard, Leonor Fini, Jacqueline Lamba, and other artistic luminaries of the European avant-garde.

Brigitte comes to the realization that the book belonged to Dora Maar, Picasso’s famous “Weeping Woman.” Dora Maar was a brilliant artist in her own right. The journal leads. to Benkemoun embarking on a two year long journey of discovery to learn more about this provocative, passionate, and enigmatic woman, and the role that each of these figures played in her life.

Finding Dora Maar is a fascinating of Picasso’s former mistress, as well as a talented artist of her own right, Dora Maar.

Five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

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Michelle Renee Kidwell
Michelle Renee Kidwell

Written by Michelle Renee Kidwell

Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge in the light: Helen Keller http://www.facebook.com/fansofMichellerkidwell

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