Articles

The Invention of Dora Maar

Dora Maar

Ambitious, talented, independent and politically committed, Maar was much more than Picasso’s inamorata and carved out a career of stunning variety that took her from advertising and erotica, through street photography, surrealism and landscape painting, to a final intriguing experiment with abstract photography. It’s just a shame that in their anxiety to restore the reputation of forgotten female artists, Tate Modern is reluctant to tell Maar’s story in the context of the men in her life and we learn little about Maar the person and the extraordinary company she kept. The real Dora Maar remains elusive.

Ólafur Eliasson: Modern day renaissance man serves up a smorgasbord

Ólafur Eliasson Big Bang Fountain (2014)

This show is a smorgasbord. Some works combine Eliasson’s social and environmental concerns with his unique talent to engage our brains and our senses. With others, the gap between the message and the modest impact of the work is so big, Eliasson becomes preachy and overly earnest. But the show’s scale and the inclusion of add-ons about Eliasson’s wider interests at least ensure that like any good smorgasbord, there’s something for everyone.