Emma Lewis on Dora Maar

WELCOME BACK to SEASON 2 of The GWA Podcast!! In Episode 14 (or Ep1, S2!)  of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the brilliant Tate Modern curator, Emma Lewis on DORA MAAR!!  And WOW was it incredible to record at Tate Modern where Emma has curated the HIGHLY critically acclaimed ~ and first ever UK retrospective ~ of the great French photographer and painter (on view until 15th March, don’t miss – https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/dora-maar!!) Maar was one of the most celebrated Surrealist photographers who lived in Paris in the early half of the 20th century. She exhibited widely in the 1930s, featuring in all six Surrealist exhibitions around the world, yet why is it that she has only really been celebrated since her death in 1997!? After setting up a studio in her early 20s Maar THRIVED and earned herself some of the biggest commissions from the brands of her day, creating some of the most inventive and creative adverts for shampoo to anti-ageing cream. Always capturing the ‘modern woman’, Marr also ventured to the streets of London and Barcelona where she captured the surreal aspects of the every day. In 1935 she met Picasso, with whom she collaborated and taught photography – and ended up documenting the metamorphosis of Guernica. But it was in this relationship that she took up painting agin, capturing a very tense and painful few years through her work “The Conversation”, but it is also this work that Emma reveals majorly influenced her former lover... In this episode we learn just HOW pioneering, brilliant, and radical Maar was for her day; her constant influence on the surrealists (and Picasso...!); and life post 1946, where her post-War career took a turn and she ventured for the south of France. TUNE IN NOW.  Further information:  https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/dora-maar https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/dora-maar-15766/seven-things-know-dora-maar Dora Maar EVENTS! Curator's talk with Emma Lewis at Tate Modern –  https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/dora-maar/curators-talk-dora-maar Panel discussion at Tate modern –  https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/dora-maar/surreal-nature-reality Thank you for listening!! This episode is sponsored by the National Art Pass and the Affordable Art Fair! @artfund: artfund.org/great To receive a free tote bag with your National Art Pass, enter the code GREAT at checkout!  @affordableartfairuk: https://affordableartfair.com/ Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Sound editing by @_ellieclifford Artwork by @thisisaliceskinner Music by Ben Wetherfield https://www.thegreatwomenartists.com/