Quite frankly astonished by how much I enjoyed this book. I thought I would like it for the subject matter. I knew to dormer and interested in her work, but knew very little of her life. This way of exploring it, through an address book she left behind, was absolutely charming, wide ranging, and just plain fun and informative. Thanks so much for the Chance to read it!

I received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a disappointment. The author, Benkemoun, buys her partner a “new” vintage agenda. What she didn’t expect is to find a list with telephone numbers and names from the French Surrealist scene: Picasso, Braque, Balthus, Giaccometti, Leiris, Ponge, Staël…the list goes on. The agenda belonged to no other than Dora Maar, Picasso’s ex-mistress and muse. Forever remembered as The Weeping Woman, Maar was an artist of her own right and intimately knew the snobs and hip artists of Paris.

By jumping from name to name, Benkemoun recounts the history of the people on that list, as well as their connections to Maar, unravelling the life of a complicated, depressive, bitter, sad and racist woman.
As expected, the author includes the complex inter-personal webs of the people in Maar’s life and circle. What emerges is an unsurprising depiction of people that create – oftentimes – impactful art but people that are also full of themselves. People that conversed and changed art, who usually belonged to leftist circles and fought Nazis, but that were also oftentimes incredibly vain, self-centered and abusive. For anyone who knows Picasso, it comes to no surprise that his behavior towards Maar and other women was asshole-ish at best, abusive at worst. Almost every person in this book seems to enjoy actively hurting others for attention, infamy and pleasure. No doubt that many had positive aspects and could do good – some of Maar’s friends seem to have been good people who care for her and helped her the best they could – but it seems that cruelty was a sport to them. Cruelty and selfishness. If you like to read about the lives of some of the most well-known Surrealist artists and dive into gossip, this is the book for you.

Of course, the focus is on Maar and how she felt about her life. In some part, Benkemoun manages to humanize a person that has lost her own identity in society. Forever The Weeping Woman and Picasso’s former mistress, Maar was first and foremost a person of her own right. An artist that gave up her career as a photographer because Picasso couldn’t have an equal partner. After he broke up with her by making his new twenty-something mistress his official mistress, Maar seems to have fallen into a deep depressive episode.
I can sympathize with a person that has lost so much to an abusive person and has to piece together a new identity after public humiliation and giving up much of herself for a man that never truly respected her.

What I cannot sympathize with is the fact that Maar was a fascist and anti-Semite. Benkemoun does everything in her power to minimize Maar’s political views, attributing her anti-Semitism to: mental illness; her Nazi father (he was a Croatian fascist); artistic provocation; a joke; her fundamentalist Catholicism; her frustration with not becoming a famous artist on her own merits.
Benkemoun thinks that because Maar used to be in leftist anti-fascist circles that she also must have been not-anti-Semite and that is ridiculous. It’s obvious that the author doesn’t know how hatred of minorities works and thinks, like many, that it starts with wanting to eradicate them and not, like it actually does, with “jabs” like: “I don’t want to work with Jews” or “Jews control the world” or “Those fucking homos”, etc. etc. All things Maar has said and thought, as proven by this book. Also, anti-Semitism is also present in leftist circles, albeit less prominent but there is also discrimination amongst those who supposedly fight discrimination. I mean, even withing the LGBQT community there are people that are racist or against trans rights, so maybe she shouldn’t see this as a zero-sum game.
It’s also highly likely that Maar was in those leftist circles because she was with Picasso and not because she actually believed in any of the politics. From all the evidence, it seems that she didn’t give a fuck about the Nazis and them killing Jews, she was only scared that she could be confused as one and be deported. That is all. And that is all in the book, laid out by Benkemoun, who still hesitates calling her anti-Semite until the very last page. And when she finally calls her an anti-Semite, she immediately explains her hatred as frustration. Unfounded frustration but nonetheless a result of “being scorned” by the art world that was ruled by Jewish people. This is conspiracy Nazi level stuff and it remains largely undiscussed.

There is no doubt that Maar suffered greatly because of Picasso but Maar was equally abusive to other people. Yes, I feel for her and understand that her adoration of Picasso – a repulsive person – made her suffer. Picasso messed her up big time. But Maar was also incredibly abusive, despotic, racist, homophobic, manipulative, self-aggrandizing and snobbish like pretty much anyone in her circle. Her mental illness and depression do not excuse her behavior. I can relate, as a depressive person myself and as someone that struggles to find their own career in a competitive field, to Maar’s suffering in regards to her mental health, lost identity and stagnating art but none of this is an excuse for her abhorrent behavior and views and Benkemoun wants to free Maar from her sins by being vague or giving her countless reasons for being an anti-Semite, homophobe, racist or abusive person.

I appreciate the effort of trying to making Maar a person and showing her character, positive attributes and flaws, but Benkemoun trivializes and rationalizes too much of Maar’s views, to the point of white-washing her. Only a person with immense privilege and with no skin in the game can push the negative aspects of Maar aside and say that they love this person because she was brave and strong.
In essence, this book is about privilege – Maar’s, that of her circle, the men, the author, the translator. I found this book to be incredibly frustrating and disappointing because it does something I love – find a riddle and solve it with archival material and digging, digging, digging! – but turns it sour by being superficial and ultimately white-washes a person that held terrible views of marginalized people. The misogyny in this book is called out pretty consistently, but the rest? Racism? Anti-Semitism? Homophobia? Named but ultimately excused with the flimsiest of “arguments”.


If you want some gossip and drama in form of a quick and accessible read, then this is for you.

I received an advanced digital copy of this book from the author, Getty Publications and Netgalley.com. Thanks to all for the opportunity to read and review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

In Finding Dora Maar, the author happens upon an address book tucked into a vintage Hermes diary. Through extensive research, she dis covers that it belonged to the legendary surrealist painter and photographer Dora Maar.

After so long as being regulated to the position of Picasso's mistress and muse, his "Weeping Woman", here we see Dora Maar through her interactions with the most notable artists and thinkers of the Surrealist movement. We see her as a cantankerous old woman who humiliates a Jewish art dealer, an angry young woman, heartbroken and sad.

An awesome surrealist take on the biography style. The author takes entries at random, hopping through time and people.

5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended.

I loved this book and wrote an entire article on Dora: https://www.artandobject.com/articles/dora-maar-picassos-weeping-woman-revealed-0

"In the end, I wrote down this sentence, copied and pasted so often on the internet, I don't know how to credit it: "She was Pablo Picasso's mistress and muse, a role that eclipsed the entirety of her work." A cruel legacy that preserves only the role of mistress and casts an entire life's art in the shadow of a giant. Cruel but irrevocable."

After Brigitte Benkemoun discovers Dora Maar’s 1951 address book on eBay, she decides to delve into the life of the incredible artist and photographer using this found object as a guide. Opening up Maar’s life in unexpected ways, Benkemoun captures her vivid personality and volatile friendships without hiding her often troubling views. A thoroughly researched, yet light and funny read, I really enjoyed how Benkemoun speculated on some of the aspects traditional biographies might leave out. This book truly captures Maar's personality, voice and temperament!

While the address book offers a unique way into this artistic scene, at times I felt like it caused the narrative to feel a bit awkward; it wasn’t chronological, jumping back and forth between artists, writers, poets, painters and places, so it was sometimes hard to keep up. Benkemoun often introduces famous figures without a proper preamble, which is fine if you’re a Maar fan and know how these characters slot together, but meant I found myself stopping to Google these famous names and this did take away from my enjoyment of the book.

A light, fun look at Dora Maar’s fascinating life and friends, but perhaps best read alongside a more thorough biography.

Thanks so much for NetGalley and Getty Publications for this ARC!

Biography of controversial Dora Maar who we primarily know as Picasso's lover but she was so much more. Photographer, artist, poet, incredible woman.

Interesting and fascinating book.

How well you'll enjoy this very well-written book will depend on this:

Are you fascinated by all things French, especially artists from the French avant-garde?

Are you fascinated by people behaving badly and having operatic emotional meltdowns or do they make you want to run away? Far, far away?

Here's the story: a woman buys a used address book on ebay that turns out to have belonged to the artist Dora Marr who was connected to many of the leading artists of her day including Picasso, Éluard, Fini, Breton and so on. This turns the author into a sleuth who uses the address book to uncover how and why these figures were connected to Marr, uncovering many fascinating (to some) and unsavoury (to me) biographical details along the way.

While being attracted to the framing narrative I was much less fascinated by Marr herself and by page 100 became very tired indeed of her company and could not bring myself to finish the book. Having said that, I can see that for sleuth-loving Francophile readers who want to know more about the artistic circles of Marr and Picasso et. al, this would be a fascinating read. Mais pour moi, non! Non! Et encore non!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read a advance review copy in exchange for a fair review.

I very much appreciated this unique format of Dora Maar from such an attentive and thoughtful observer. Engaging and well-written.

I have, more than once, found treasures on eBay. It was no surprise to me that someone would try and sell some relative's treasure as an ordinary item. But for a spouse to be wise enough to grab a purchased item (fka treasure) and recognize it for what it is? Then to write a book about it? Genius! I had to read this book.

With an artist parent, I've grown up with books, prints and histories of painters. Especially those from France or who lived in Paris. Student work, copies of copies. . .all around us as we grew up. It was lovely, and an education all on its own. The network these artists built up as they developed and evolved was something of which I was aware, and the idea of someone's 1951 contact list with notes falling out of eBay into the hands of an interested author. . .well. It answers all one's non-fiction reading needs: drama, history, fandom, mystery and am I in it? (ie 7 degrees of separation rule).

The fun-for-me part was that I knew nothing of Dora Maar. I knew of Picasso and Lee Miller, Ray Man and others, but knew nothing of Dora Maar. The author takes the reader through her process, step-by-step, showing research found and connections made. She clearly claims assumptions and proposed theories (of which there are few). With all of these a very distinct picture of Dora Maar develops, tumbled together in positive and negative space. She was a woman with mighty competition in a man's world; an artist in her own right, but robbed of that consideration by having played "muse."

Brigitte Benkemoun presents her examination and research deftly, providing a reader in 2020 of exactly what it took Dora to play in that era's whimsical playground; what alliances were required, what gains for sacrifice, what cost victory, where hides love and shines betrayal, how fleeting fame, how long the lonely, and that lifelong, ever moving "why?" when tallying up the value of worth. . . all of this pulled from a modest, ordinary address book. Brilliant!!!

4 stars, shining light on brilliance in subject and execution.

A super sincere thanks to Brigitte Benkemoun, Getty Publications and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review. It was a bright spot in an otherwise grey time.

Gripping account of the poets, painters and different socialites who crossed paths with the mysterious photographer and poet Dora Maar. The author has tried to reconstruct the life of Dora Maar based on her 1951 address book that has found its way to the author by accident. With not many people in the address book alive, the author lets it speak to her. The outcome is a flowing description of the possible life events, triggers and moods of a person who constantly reinvented her, and still remains largely elusive.

Brigitte Benkemoun’s husband buys a vintage diary on eBay and finds an address book included in the package from 1951 belonging to Dora Maar, who was Picasso's famous "Weeping Woman." So begins the search for information on Dora Maar and her fabulous life. This book is a fascinating account of one woman's life and the people who shaped her.

Finding Dora Marr by Bridget Benkemoun
I was interested in this character made so famous by Picasso’s images of her as The Weeping Woman but I did not really feel as if the book told me much more than I already knew. I thought the idea of the book was a fascinating way of discovering more about a character. The author purchased online an old address book; in it she found the names and addresses of famous artists and people of note in the art world. ( I thought it was strange that you would buy an address book second hand as it is a very personal item.)
She set about discovering more about the owner of the address book and so Dora Marr was unveiled. The book did not really work for me in that I did not feel as if the author told me anything new and many of the leads she followed to discover more did not lead her to anything but speculation. A good idea but not a book which I enjoyed as much as I hoped I would. Many thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to review this book in return for an honest review.

Finding Dora Maar, by Brigitte Benkemoun, reconstructs the life and times of a photographer and painter who worked in France from the early 1930s onwards. Benkemoun’s route into her subject is both serendipitous and unusual: after her husband lost his prized Hermès agenda, she bought a replacement on eBay - and found Dora Maar’s 1951 address book inside! So begins two years of detective work as she investigates the people in the address book, and what they can tell us about Maar’s life and character.

I must admit, I’d never heard of Dora Maar before, but Benkemoun’s approach and enthusiasm swept me up and absorbed me into the world of Maar and the artists, writers and others she knew - and ceased to know - over the course of her adult life. The author’s use of a single object to open up a whole history is reminiscent of Gillian Tindall’s work - however, unlike Tindall’s most recent book, The Pulse Glass, Finding Dora Maar radiates positivity and excitement. I loved following Benkemoun as she had ‘eureka!’ moments and uncovered new insights into the artist. I also liked how she paid attention to who was and wasn’t listed in the book, and whether their details were up-to-date, to deduce the status of Maar’s various relationships at that particular point in time.

Maar was the model for Picasso’s Weeping Woman, and her relationship with him coloured her whole life, even after they split for good after ten years together in 1945 (Maar died in 1997). Like the women in Polly Samson’s A Theatre for Dreamers, her (willing and devoted, but still…) service to the great master stymied her own career, and in return, he treated her appallingly and steered her away from photography and towards painting. While Maar was undoubtedly talented in both areas, I feel this was a shame - I was particularly attracted by Benkemoun’s image of a young Maar making a perilous climb to capture photos of conditions inside a mine, as well as her street photography.

While Benkemoun is full of enthusiasm for her project, that doesn’t mean she isn’t uncritical of her subject - far from it, in fact. Right from the start, she’s honest about the fact that Maar had a copy of Mein Kampf on her bookshelf, and that this made her doubt whether she wanted to continue with her research. Taking a whole-life approach, Benkemoun shows that this artist who at one time was very left-wing, hung out with the Surrealists, and had a succession of gay male companions, became homophobic and anti-Semitic as she grew more pious, mentally ill and isolated in her later years.

At times, Maar reveals herself to be so unlikeable that Benkemoun finds it a relief to take a break from her to find out more about her friends - including fellow painter Jacqueline Lamba, Vicomtesse Marie Laura de Noialles and long-time confidante Nadine Effront - all women worth reading about in their own right. We learn about the dynamics, beginnings and endings of Maar’s friendships with men and women, famous and obscure. While she is not always likeable, Maar never fails to be interesting.

Finding Dora Maar is a fascinating account of serendipity, the joy of research, and a complicated woman artist who moved in the best circles.

After accidentally stumbling upon a diary which enlisted phone numbers of all reputed painters and other such famous people, it was a painstaking process to find out who the diary belonged to, what was the relations with the owner of the diary and that lead to discovery of life on an extraordinary person. I have myself read a lot about Picasso however, Dora Maar always remained a fleeting reference. I always knew her as The Weeping Woman. After reading this book you know about a person with many talents eclipsed by another over awing personality.

Dora Maar always considered her in fusion of Picasso. When he painted, she felt that she was painting. His life was her life irrespective of how many women enter even though she had an overbearing personality and influence over Picasso's work.

So many people cared for her and claimed to be in love with her, but she was in love with a person who thought little or nothing of her beyond as a muse for his paintings. The difficult life she lived due to psychosis and depression before and after Picasso's death was unexplored and certainly piques interests of the reader.

An incredible story, and it’s great to see Dora getting the recognition she deserves. If you love modern art, you’ll love this.

An intriguing and well written story of a little-known artist, told as appealingly and skilfully as literary fiction. Great narrative nonfiction for art and history fans, and for book clubs.

Following the fabulous Dora Maar retrospective that opened at the Tate Modern at the end of 2019, there’s a lot of renewed interest in Dora as an artist, rather than her more-often touted position as Picasso’s muse and mistress. And thank goodness for that as Dora was a hugely original and risk-taking surrealist artist whose work in photography was pioneering – and that’s even before we take into account that she was very much a woman in a man’s world.

Only this book isn’t one to bolster that platform, sadly.

Brigitte has completed what feels like a twee, light-touch short book on Dora. Further, the book isn’t engaging, feels a little patronising, and by using an extremely stilted device of a character coming across Dora Maar’s old address book as a leap-off point, actually only removes us further from this fascinating woman.

There is no plot that this novel hangs off to create and maintain a narrative drive – within the first few sentences the address book has been purchased off eBay and, within a page, the new owner has (rather miraculously) deduced that this must be the address book of Dora Maar.

So, you have to shed the whole novelised setting to see if you can garner anything new about Dora, but sadly not. And, more than this, Dora’s life was incredibly dramatic – living in occupied Paris suffering nervous breakdowns – but the drama and emotional touch that these moments offer to the novelist were not taken. Instead, we have a dry, shallow book that doesn’t do much for its fantastic source subject.

Finding Dora Maar is a mystery with history. A woman discovers an address book and is determined to discover all the people the owner interacted with. It's an enriching read and keeps you guessing what she is going to uncover next. Some of the personalities I wasn't familiar with, but that didn't distract from the story. The book includes a lot of social history.

I absolutely love uncovering the past, especially when it involves art and history!
I was so involved with the novel and why Maar was who she was and why she did certain things!
Thank you so much NetGalley for letting my read this novel, I absolutely loved it!!!

A quirky biography of a fascinating woman artist, pieced together through the chance finding of an address book seemed like an absolute winner to me. I love this kind of literary, detective work. I was interested in finding out more about Dora Maar and this seemed ideal. I have to say that for others it might work, but for me this failed to hit the spot. It felt rather fragmented at times, and I found it difficult that there was a juxtaposition between what could be verified and what might have happened. I don't mind a fictionalised version of a life and I don't mind a straight biography, but this mix of the two seemed rather unbalanced to me.